With the sun shining again, we kept things light when we asked North Carolinians for their opinion in our April 12 Reach Roundup newsletter. We posed a pop-quiz style Question of the Week: “How many state parks are there in North Carolina?” Response options included: 8, 19, 27, and 40.

Here’s the breakdown of how participants guessed as well as some of the comments we received.

“State Parks and historic sites are terribly underfunded. If you visit any that are any good distance from the urban centers, they have been neglected. It’s time we stood up for these gems!”
Respondent from Raleigh

“I have enjoyed all of the NC state parks that I have visited – from Merchants Millpond to South Mountains. There is a wonderful variety and great opportunities for outdoor discovery and exercise.”
Respondent from Durham

“Being a new teacher in the state of North Carolina, I am looking forward to visiting some of our state parks this summer.”
Respondent from Jones County

“I love our state parks and that they have pass books that you can get stamped at each location and incentives for logging your hiking miles. Nothing rejuvenates me more after a long week in the classroom than hitting a park for a hike or a paddle! #getoutdoors”
Teacher from Greensboro

Fun fact: 19 million people visit NC state parks every year.

Interested in participating in Reach NC Voices? You can sign up to share your thoughts on our weekly questions. We’d love to hear from you!

Yasmin Bendaas

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Yasmin Bendaas is a Science writer.  A North Carolina native, she received her master’s degree in Science & Medical Journalism at UNC Chapel Hill, where she was a Park Fellow. She received her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in 2013 from Wake Forest University, where she double-minored in journalism and Middle East and South Asia studies. As an undergraduate student, Bendaas gained insight into public health when she interned at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, a statewide grantmaker focused on rural health, including access to primary care, diabetes, community-centered prevention, and mental health and substance abuse. 

As a journalist, Bendaas has been funded twice by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for fieldwork in Algeria — first to cover a disappearing indigenous tattoo tradition, and again to look at how climate change affects rural sheepherding practices.