A while ago we wanted to get out and enjoy some nature. We thought about where to go and we headed up the road to one of our awesome State Parks. Hanging Rock State Park was one that we were familiar with and was within driving distance so we packed a lunch and headed out. We had a great day hiking Hanging Rock Trail and checking out some waterfalls. Before we headed out we stopped by the visitor center for a bathroom break and to look around. That is where Megan found it – the North Carolina State Park Passport Book.

What Is The North Carolina State Park Passport Book

The North Carolina State Park Passport Book is a free little book that has all of the State Parks of North Carolina. These State Parks are broken down into three separate regions. The regions are the mountains, the Piedmont, and the coastal plain. The point of this book is to go to all of the State Parks and get a passport cancellation stamp at each of the parks.

Every State Park gets their own page. It gives you the address, a little information, and a small picture letting you know about the highlights of each park. Before we got this book, we had no idea where all of the State Parks were or how many there even are. As soon as Megan picked it up, we both realized how cool this was and made it our family goal to visit each park. We were not concerned about how fast we could do it (though there are special prizes if you can do it in a year – more on that later), we just wanted to get around and visit all of the parks.

Checking Into the Parks

In order to get your cancellation stamp you need to go to the visitor’s center. It is always a good idea to go there first as you enter the park. The majority of the visitor’s centers close at 5 pm. So, if you don’t get to the park before then you might be out of luck. If you get there in the afternoon and go for a hike, you might not get done until after they close. The parks close later than the visitor’s center. For instance, we got to Medoc Mountain State Park around 4:30. We went to the visitor’s center first and got our stamp. After that, we went and enjoyed hiking the park for a couple of hours.

Some parks do have an after hours box where you can get your stamp. Do not count on this though. That bit us at a couple of parks and we had to go back.

Another great reason to check into the visitor’s center is because that is where the Park Rangers are! These are the men and women who are tasked with taking care of the parks. These people truly love these parks and know them better than anyone else. If you ever have a chance, spend some time talking with the Rangers. They love sharing with visitors and are a wealth of knowledge. As with everything else in life, the more you put in, the more you get out.

The visitor’s center is also where you can pick up some pretty important information. There is a State Park app that is helpful, but we like the paper maps that we can have in our hands as we hike. You can also pick up the Junior Ranger Workbook. This is an awesome program that your kids can do to learn about the State Parks and become Junior Rangers.

The Prizes of the Passport Book

There are two ways that you can do the North Carolina State Park Passport Book Challenge. The first is to visit all of the State Parks at your own pace. The second is to do what the State Park System calls the “Amazing Challenge”, visiting all of the State Parks in a year. Because of our life schedule, we opted to go at our own pace. We ended up finishing in 15 months.

For every 10 parks you visit, the State Park System will send you a special prize. The prizes are as follows:

• 10 Parks – Field notebook and pen
• 20 Parks – Bandana and free socks voucher
• 30 Parks – Running waist pack, buff headwear, $15 gift card to an outdoor store
• 40 Parks – Hiking patch, backpack, Passport t-shirt, $25 gift card to an outdoor store

In order to claim your prize, you need to get a Park Ranger to sign that you completed the next tier (there is a signature page at the back of the book), take a picture of the page, and send it end. We decided to send ours in after 20 and 40. This helps save money on postage for the Parks System. We actually went from 20 to 40 pretty quickly and we wished we would have just done it all at once.

We only have one book but all three of us went to all of the parks. When we sent our email in we let them know that. We were hoping that they would send us three of each, and we were super thrilled when they did! We don’t know if that will always be the case, but we were happy they did that for our family!

Why We Love the North Carolina State Park Passport Book

There are so many reasons we love the Passport program. The first reason is because we learned so much about the State Park System. North Carolina is absolutely beautiful and we would have missed out on a lot of what this state had to offer without the book.

Another reason is this book gave us a goal. It helped us to get out of the house and accomplish something together as a family. It is always good to have goals. This helped us to get it done.

Finally, we have loved visiting the parks but we have also loved visiting the areas around these parks. We learned so much about the small towns and cities that make up North Carolina. Towns like Greensboro, Hendersonville, Little Washington, Halifax, and Mt. Airy. What an awesome experience.

Do you have a North Carolina State Park Passport Book? How many stamps do you have? Which one has been your favorite?

If you want to check out some of North Carolina State Park adventures check out our trip to South Mountains, Chimney Rock, or Dismal Swamp and Merchant’s Millpond.

Go get a book and Go The Adventure Way!

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