Last Hoorah to see the rest of the parks on my list! (Day 1 Lake Norman State Park & Crowders)

**Lake Norman State Park & Crowders Mnt State Park are on the Indigenous Peoples land of the Catawba and Keyauwee Peoples**

So very fittingly, I saved 9 state parks to do in 4 days before my birthday! :o

And it felt like nothing went according to plan!

I started the trip at Lake Norman state Park! Got to catch up with my 2nd family while there and it filled my tank with so much love to start my journey to catch up with them! :)

I kayaked at the Park's pond! It was a perfect place for a casual boat ride on some water!

Next, I went to Crowders Mountain State Park!

I was planning to backpack in to their campsites, which are like a mile from the parking lot. I looked at the weather report and there was like a 20% chance of rain until 7 and then 0% chance through the night so i decided not to bring my backpack rain cover! BIG MISTAKE!

5 minutes into my hike to the peak, the clouds opened up and there was a downpour! I figured I'd just leave my stuff at the campsite and just set up camp that evening when there was a ZERO percent chance of rain. But after I got back to my campsite, literally what felt like 5 seconds after I sat down...... RAIN.

At this point, I was tired and soaking wet and dreading having to put up my tent in the rain in mud and possibly have my gear soaked the whole rest of the trip, so I decided to commit the ultimate backpacking sin and just got a hotel for the night!

The hike was gorgeous though! And I hope to go back one day soon to take in the views at the peak of Pinnacle point. One thing cool about the view is you can get a 360 view at the top and the multiple view points along the way!