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Print Friendly MapThe Twelve Mile Creek Trail, which runs through Walnut Creek Park and the Walnut Creek neighborhood in Lancaster, is part of the Carolina Thread Trail, a growing trail network of more than 200 miles across North and South Carolina.
Surrounded by trees and following its namesake creek, this trail offers a wooded paradise for anyone who loves the outdoors. Various surface types provide a vast array of activities for any nature-loving adventure seeker.
The Twelve Mile Creek Trail will eventually provide the scenic backdrop for a new residential and commercial development and provide a path all the way to the Twelve Mile Creek Greenway in Waxhaw, NC.
A trailhead and parking are available in Walnut Creek Park (10521 Walnut Creek Parkway, Lancaster). An additional access point (but not parking) is available at Carrington Drive for people on foot or bike.
This is a nice trail that backs up to a neighborhood. It is adphalted and smooth. It can be deceiving in that you see a lot of gravel before seeing the trail.
Wife and I hiked this trail from the NC side, parked at Harvey Clay Nesbit park, and used Carolina Thread Trail "clues" to link to this trail. We did hike the full trail to Walnut Creek side - as others have mentioned there are some rough/rugged spots so a true MTB is recommended, but hiking in sturdy shoes gets the job done too.
Beautiful trail overall.
Loved it! As others have mentioned, this is more of a singletrack mountain biking or hiking trail.
Great trail but I wouldn't try it on anything less than a solid mountain bike. Lots of small up/down hills almost almost to the point of being moguls, hairpin curves, narrow bridges, and a few small hill climbs within a rutted out rocky terrain. I only made it 2 miles in before I ran out of time but I'll certainly be going back.
This trail is easily accessible from Waxhaw, NC. Go west on NC75 to Hancock Rd. at the NC-SC state line turn right go to Walnut Creek Parkway( there's no street sign but it's the only divided street) turn left go a short distance to the traffic circle. Parking lot is by the traffic circle and the trail head is at the back of the lot.
You will like this trail as it snakes along side 12 mile creek with some fun whoop de do areas and nice shaded sections, and I like the bridges over the little feeder creeks.
I will be visiting this trail a couple of times a week!
The trail is a mountain bike trail, roots, ruts, sharp turns and steep little hills. I was riding a hybrid bike and I was able to negotiate the trail, but it was at the limit for my bike. Only did about a mile.
The location was not findable with my GPS unit using the adress and streets.
Might be best to search for the Park name in order to get led to the correct location. We entered the address into Google maps and did not end up at the park --- close, but not exactly spot on. Once on the trail, we enjoyed the ups and downs of the mostly isolated and remote path. Construction of nearby homes could introduce noise pollution; we were thankful that we went on a weekend. Trail begins on paved park trails then changes to dirt for the remainder. We only made it to mile 2 before turning around, for a nice total of 4 miles on our afternoon walk. We will pack water next time and a little snack in order to be well fueled for the full trip. Two points that were especially nice: One was when the trail meandered through a beautiful white pine forest -- with those beautiful pine needles covering the forest floor and path. The second was a section where the trail looked down a steep bank to the creek below.
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