Pilot Mountain State Park, about 100 miles north of Charlotte, saw more than 1 million visitors in 2023. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
More than 20.1 million people visited North Carolina state parks in 2023, per the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation.
Why it matters: State parks have been slammed, as Axios' Zachery Eanes wrote, a trend that started during the pandemic when state parks reopened and people flocked to the outdoors.
By the numbers: While it's a 4% increase from 2022, attendance is still shy of the 22.8 million record set in 2021. State parks saw a slight drop in attendance in 2022 as people resumed pre-pandemic activities, Katie Hall, a public information officer for the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, told Zachery.
In 2023, five state parks had at least 1 million visitors: Falls Lake, Fort Fisher and Kerr Lake state recreation areas, and Fort Macon and Pilot Mountain.
Jordan Lake State Recreation Area remained the most popular spot, logging more than 2.5 million visitors last year. That made it the first state park to reach the 2 million mark in one year.
Of note: The North Carolina state parks system acquired more than 2,890 acres in 2023.
