Where to park for a greenway walk

This page lists every access point the county records as having parking — 75 of them, across 26 greenways — taken from Mecklenburg County's own mapping, not from a directory or a search result.

Read this first

The trail and the car park keep different hours. Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation's greenway rules sheet states that the greenway trail "is open at all times, except for floods or repairs", but that "Parking lots are open from dawn to dusk". The same sheet states "No parking in non-designated areas" and "No loitering between dusk and dawn". If you are walking at either end of the day, that is the rule that will catch you out.

What we know about each car park, and what we do not. The county records where parking exists. It does not publish, in that record, how many spaces there are, whether there is a gate, or whether there are accessible bays. We have not invented any of it. Where you need certainty — a disabled bay, a coach, an early start — contact Park and Recreation before you travel.

Twenty-two greenways in the county's list have no parking entrance recorded at all. They are reached on foot, from a neighbouring street or from a connecting trail. Those are named at the foot of this page, because knowing a car park does not exist saves a wasted journey.

Greenways with recorded parking

Surface figures are the county's own, by trail segment. Mileage is county centreline mileage for the active mapped trail, which is not the same as the length of a walk you can do end to end.

Little Sugar Creek Greenway

19 parking entrances · 72 pedestrian entrances · 16.38 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 63%, asphalt 36%, wood 1%

Irwin Creek Greenway

6 parking entrances · 11 pedestrian entrances · 2.33 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 48%, asphalt 43%, wood 9%

McAlpine Creek Greenway

5 parking entrances · 22 pedestrian entrances · 6.97 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 51%, concrete 39%, wood 9%, gravel 1%

Walker Branch Greenway

4 parking entrances · 9 pedestrian entrances · 2.59 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 64%, asphalt 36%

Briar Creek Greenway

3 parking entrances · 7 pedestrian entrances · 2.14 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 70%, asphalt 24%, gravel 3%, wood 3%

Caldwell Station Creek Greenway

3 parking entrances · 5 pedestrian entrances · 3.67 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 57%, asphalt 29%, wood 13%

Four Mile Creek Greenway

3 parking entrances · 12 pedestrian entrances · 4.8 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 48%, asphalt 37%, wood 15%

McDowell Creek Greenway

3 parking entrances · 11 pedestrian entrances · 5.91 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 59%, asphalt 35%, wood 6%

West Branch Rocky River Greenway

3 parking entrances · 2 pedestrian entrances · 3.54 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 58%, concrete 33%, wood 9%

Clarks Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 14 pedestrian entrances · 2.67 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 58%, concrete 25%, wood 17%

Hoover Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 2 pedestrian entrances

Irvins Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 5 pedestrian entrances · 1.34 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 50%, concrete 45%, gravel 5%

McMullen Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 5 pedestrian entrances · 1.72 mapped miles · surfaces gravel 70%, asphalt 20%, wood 5%, concrete 5%

South Prong Rocky River Greenway

2 parking entrances · 7 pedestrian entrances · 1.02 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 59%, concrete 35%, wood 6%

Stewart Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 11 pedestrian entrances · 2.03 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 55%, asphalt 38%, wood 7%

Toby Creek Greenway

2 parking entrances · 12 pedestrian entrances · 3.1 mapped miles · surfaces concrete 47%, asphalt 42%, wood 11%

Torrence Creek Tributary Greenway

2 parking entrances · 1 pedestrian entrance

West Branch Rocky River Dye Creek Connector

2 parking entrances · 1 pedestrian entrance

Huntersville Downtown Greenway

1 parking entrance · 3 pedestrian entrances

Jackson Street Greenway

1 parking entrance · 0 pedestrian entrances

Mallard Creek Greenway

1 parking entrance · 18 pedestrian entrances · 4.62 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 74%, concrete 13%, gravel 9%, wood 4%

McDowell Creek Dirtway

1 parking entrance · 9 pedestrian entrances

McIntyre Creek Greenway

1 parking entrance · 0 pedestrian entrances

Plum Creek Greenway

1 parking entrance · 4 pedestrian entrances

Six Mile Creek Greenway

1 parking entrance · 0 pedestrian entrances · 0.82 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 52%, wood 48%

Torrence Creek Greenway

1 parking entrance · 15 pedestrian entrances · 1.32 mapped miles · surfaces asphalt 50%, wood 32%, concrete 18%

Greenways with no parking entrance recorded

The county's entrance layer records no parking access point on these. Reach them on foot from an adjoining street, or from a connecting greenway.

Antiquity Greenway, Barton Creek Greenway, Caldwell Station Tributary Greenway, Campbell Creek Greenway, Cross Charlotte Trail, Dixon Branch Greenway, Flat Branch Greenway, Four Mile Creek Tributary Greenway, Heritage Trail, Jackie Gregg Knuckles Jr Trail, Little Hope Creek Greenway, Long Creek Greenway, Mayes Sidepath, McIntyre Creek Tributary Greenway, Park Road Park Connector, Reedy Creek Greenway, South Prong Rocky River Tributary Greenway, Stewart Creek Tributary 2 Greenway, Taggart Creek Greenway, UNCC Trail, Wesley Heights Greenway, West Branch Rocky River Tributary Greenway.

What the county's rules say

From Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation's greenway rules sheet, quoted:

• Hours — "Greenway trail is open at all times, except for floods or repairs"; "Parking lots are open from dawn to dusk"; "No parking in non-designated areas"; "No loitering between dusk and dawn".
• Bicycles — "Bicycle lights and reflectors are required from dusk to dawn". Children under 16 must wear a helmet when riding bicycles, roller blades or skateboards.
• Dogs — leash of six feet or shorter; keep right, pass on left; not allowed in playgrounds or athletic field areas; pick up after your pet.
• Permits — consuming alcohol on a greenway, and selling, soliciting or exhibiting materials, each require a permit issued by Park and Recreation.
• Right of way — pedestrians have it. Only authorised motor vehicles are allowed on greenways.

The county's own guidance adds that stopping before crossing a road "is the law, even when there are no signs present".

A note on this source. We could not find a copy of the rules sheet hosted on the county's own website; the copy we read is a county-issued document mirrored by the Town of Cornelius, and it is undated. Treat it as the county's stated rules rather than as a currently published page, and check with Park and Recreation if a point matters to you.

Where this page goes next

We can tell you where the county records parking. We cannot yet tell you how many spaces each one has, whether any are gated, or which have accessible bays — the county does not publish that in the mapping, and we will not guess. Establishing it means visiting them. That work is logged and outstanding.

Sources

• Mecklenburg County GIS, Greenway Trail Entrances layer — queried directly, 14 September 2026
• Mecklenburg County GIS, Greenway Trails layer — queried directly, 14 September 2026 (surfaces, mileage)
• Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, Rules and Regulations greenway rules sheet — undated; retrieved from a Town of Cornelius mirror, 14 September 2026
• Mecklenburg County, Things to Know Before You Go To the Greenway, 14 August 2018
• Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation — Greenways (trail mileage summary updated March 2026)