How many years had we lived in North Carolina before visiting the Uwharrie National Forest? Too Many! We always wanted to go camping at Badin Lake but never seemed to get there. We decided it was time to check this one off our list. We searched Campendium and Recreation.gov and settled on Arrowhead Campground near the town of Troy, North Carolina.
Arrowhead Campground
The GPS led us through the forest to the road to the campground. Quickly the road turned from pavement to gravel. When we arrived at the campground, we noticed it was relatively empty. We surmised the emptiness was partly due to our middle of the week arrival and partly due to the shoulder season. We found a first-come first-serve site that met our needs. Site 24 was heavily wooded and had a great picnic area to cook out.
We noticed all the hard wood trees around. The tree canopy was perfect for squirrels! We were delighted to see a blonde tailed squirrel scampering around our site.
It turned out that the campground was indeed very quiet during our visit at the end of April. The shoulder season afforded us some much needed quiet time to work on Venus, our camper. Plus, being there before the busy season allowed us to escape the hustle and bustle of the summer crowds looking for fishing, hiking, boating, and off-road vehicle trails. We didn’t mind the solitude and took advantage of the relatively empty trails.
Arrowhead Campground Trail
We discovered the campground had a nice paved perimeter loop trail. It was only a couple miles but nice to hike around in the evening after supper.
One evening we decided to catch the sunset over Badin Lake. We found a spur trial off the loop that lead to the Cove Boat Ramp. The Cove area had a few fisherman casting from the shore. As we passed by the fisherman, we looked for tight lines. Didn’t see any action from the shore that moment so we carried on. From the Cove, we hiked the Badin Lake Trail.
Badin Lake Trail
We noticed a few more fisherman out in boats as the lake opened up before the start of the trail. We hiked the trail as it hugged the shoreline of the lake.
The sun was going down as we passed by a good spot for viewing the sunset. We checked the All Trails app to see where we were and made a mental note to return about 45 minutes later. We continued on for 20 minutes or so enjoying the trail. We noticed wild flowers and backpacking sites along the way.
Soon it was time to turn around to get back to our sunset spot. It was perfect for sunset! We snapped some photos then made our way back to camp in the twilight.
Campsite Cooking
The next morning was our final day at Arrowhead. We decided to cook out one last time before packing up. We reflected on our time there as we devoured a batch of whole wheat oatmeal pancakes.
We had a wonderful trip to the Uwharrie National Forest. It was good to get to know the area for future visits.