Climb Every Mountain Fitness Challenge Week 5

Week 5 Climb Every Mountain Fitness Challenge - Crowders Mountain

The Spring 2017 Climb Every Mountain encourages participants to exercise an average of at least 20 minutes per day. Week 5, beginning April 2 and ending April 8, features Crowders Mountain.

Eleven hiking trails, ranging from easy to strenuous, are popular activities at Crowders Mountain State Park in Gaston and Cleveland counties about 30 miles west of Charlotte. Some hiking trails offer a 25-mile view of the Piedmont. Visitors may wish to camp, canoe on the 7-acre lake, or participate in orienteering at the park. Experienced climbers will find areas for rock climbing and bouldering.

A famous botanist who discovered and named the Big Leaf Magnolia, Andre Michaux, passed through this area. Twin peaks marked boundaries between Catawba and Cherokee Indians prior to the 1770s. Local citizens and the Gaston Conservation Society were concerned that the Crowders Mountain area might be mined, and they eventually were instrumental in the area becoming a state park that connects to Kings Mountain in South Carolina.

Have you ever visited Crowders Mountain State Park? If so, what were your favorite activities?

To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

Jonah 2:6