I did some research on where I could go watch meteor shower close enough to Charlotte so that I don’t have to do an overnight. I found this best stargazing place yet a nice hiking place.
If you have time to do an overnight, a lot of people love Blue Ridge Parkway area and Boone. I honestly don’t doubt that coz I love the sunset hikes and day time hiking in both locations.
So I was debating between Morrow Mountain and Forty Acre Rock since they both are an hour away from Charlotte. I ended up deciding to go to Forty Acre Rock. Here is the reason why and how it turned out!
Duration of the hike
- It’s a barely a hike tbh. Perfect for going there in the middle of the night. It is around 0.7 mile to reach to the rock from the parking.
Difficulty of the hike
- You guessed it. It is pretty flat hike to the rock. Easy to navigate.
The view
- This is the best part. Although it is not very high elevation at all, you can see the sky wide and nice. We sat on the rock (this 14.7 acre), place a mat and just watched the sky.
Meteor Shower
Perseids Meteor Shower @Forty Acre Rock, SC- Shan Lan
- Omg. It was so cool. We saw 40–50 shooting stars. The peak was predicted around 3:58 AM. But around 5 AM was the peak for us this time. Shooting stars were once per minute. However at the peak time, it was a few in a minute. It was so cool. I’m pretty sure just a normal day for star gazing would be just as cool coz it has little light pollution and can see the stars, satellites, planes lights yet the 10% laminated moon.
What to bring
I brought
- a hoodie,
- a blanket,
- Flashlight,
- a few of batteries for my little flashlight,
- plastic bag (for trash in case any),
- Ofc water bottle (my Yeti hydro flask),
- Bug spray,
- phone and power bank
What to prepare
- I turned my phone to red light filter (very easy to set up tbh) Just google it how to do on your way if you forget to set it
- I also downloaded stellium app ( a star app I called lol), it is pretty neat. It shows what stars are what and very descriptive
- I also downloaded all trail map just in case
I also waited for the sunrise. The sky was really pretty! Worth the wait. I would even go there just for sunrise tbh.
Okay so now how you get there
The parking is called
40 Acre Rock Upper Parking (1900–2398 Conservancy Rd, Kershaw, SC 29067)
It is a closer parking.
If you wanna hike abit more, you can start from
40 Acre Rock Lower Parking. You might wanna do some research on your own for the trail.
I read a lot of reviews and a lot of people love this place. I agree. This is very different but it is a phenomenal place.
Enjoy 💡
