My top three with descriptions courtesy of Great Outdoor Provision:
Troutman
Lake Norman grew out of a Duke Power Company power project on the Catawba River begun in 1959 and completed in 1964; the parked formed in 1962, while the lake was still filling. Among the recreational benefits resulting from the new Lake Norman was the opportunity to take a long lakeshore hike. Actually, only about half of the Lake Shore trail subscribes to its name, and technically the water it buddies up to is Hicks Creek before it becomes part of the lake. While most trails aren’t ideal for summer hikes, this one is, passing near the park’s swimming area.
Bakers Mountain Park | 6 miles
Hickory
At 200 acres, Bakers Mountain isn’t big. But it is a great example of a foothills forest. From its 1,780-foot summit, the highest point in Catawba County, a chestnut oak forest spreads below, with the occasional open meadow and a boulder outcrop. The landscape offers a mix of Piedmont and mountain, with mountain laurel, rhododendron Table Mountain and pitch pine, Boynton’s Locust, Shiny-leaf Meadowsweet and Heartleaf Wild Ginger. An extensive trail network gives hikers good exposure to the park.
Crowders Mountain State Park: Crowders and Rocktop trails | 5 miles
Kings Mountain
As “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” notes, “this is a classic ‘eat-your-broccoli-and-I-promise-you-something-really-good-for-desert’ kind of trail.” The broccoli: a nondescript hike from the Visitor Center east on Crowders Mountain Trail. The trail crosses Sparrow Springs Road, then continues along the base of Crowders Mountain before a rigorous climb up the mountain’s north flank. There’s a notorious stair climb (gain 360 feet in four-tenths of a mile), then its frolic time atop Crowders Mountain’s rocky ridgeline. The return along Rocktop Trail includes more boulder passages.
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