Cowan Lake State Park Campground

Cowan Lake is the home of the Cowan Lake Sailing Association. Every Sunday from April - Oct at 1:45pm you can see the sailing fleet race. Because the lake is so small, the racing course takes up most of the lake, so you should be able to observe from any location on the shore, however the Public Beach or the Campground launch ramp are probably the best. The windier it is, the more interesting it gets.

If sailing is in your blood, come check out club (CLSA) on the south shore of the lake. Just show up around noon on Sunday and see if anyone needs crew! It's very informal. On windy days, the extra weight is appreciated!!

Stayed 2 nights Father's Day weekend. Lots of activities for the kids, well kept and clean facilities. Sites are 30 amp only, large and had a nice grassy area in the back for the kids to play. I would have preferred more shade and privacy. We did not use the restroom or shower house. Camp store and restaurant was nice with lots of food options. There is a marina where you can rent a boat. The lake was large and beautiful, not much in the way of trails and no real points of interest in the area.

This is an older campground but is nicely maintained except the shower house which needs to be updated, it's old and dreary and dirty. There's a really nice campstore that even serves food, a bit unusual for State Park campgrounds. The lake is really nice with limited horsepower policy so it's very pleasant for canoeing or kayaking. There are a few nice trails to hike. A lot of ash trees were cut down due to the Borer infestation, but there are still some nice shade trees left. Some of the campsites have a pretty good slope so read the site descriptions carefully. There's a guy that sells firewood for $5 a bundle just before the campground entrance. The town of Wilmington is about 5 miles away where you can get gas, restock groceries etc, there's also a RV dealership out by the Wal-Mart so rv supplies could be purchased there.

Cowan lake has always been a favorite of ours. It's a well-kept state park. Recently many of the trees that shaded so much of the campground had to be removed due to the Emerald Ash Borer. There is still a lot of shade at most spots during the warmer months. This last outing was over the winter and our prelude to heading west. We were generally the only campers in the entire park there were one or two nights where someone else would stay. The lake even in the winter sees a fair amount of use by fishermen. There were quite a few gunshots in the morning near the lake so duck or goose hunters must be active.

The city of Wilmington is close by with many local restaurant chains as well as a grocery store and Walmart if you need to do some shopping.

During the cold months, there are electrical hookups only. The only water that we could find was near the park office at the front of the campground entrance. The dumps station was open but there wasn't any water available to rinse hoses.

The commissary was also closed during this visit and is generally only open during the warmer months.

We selected Cowan Lake for a trial run with our two young kids (ages 1 and 2.5) in a rented travel trailer. We had a great weekend, and found that the campground was well suited for our needs. We stayed four nights (9/17-9/21/2020) and had two very different experiences with part of our stay during the week, spanning a weekend.

- Our two weeknights (Thursday/Sunday) were extremely quiet and private. There were very few campers upon our arrival and we had a quiet evening and relaxing morning. Over the weekend, the campground was full and it was a very different experience with a lot more action, traffic, and variety of campers. We were happy to find the entire campground to ourselves on Sunday night.

- Our site (235) was flat and roomy enough, but was very sunny in the afternoon. Others in this loop (Area 3) were more shaded, but most of the trees in Camping Area 4 were gone. If we return, we will select another site. I noted that 120 was appealing for location, shade, and privacy, though it was next to a trailhead.

- The shower facility (behind site 28) was closer than the toilet facilities in our camping loop and much cleaner. While dated, the restrooms in the shower house were cleaned to our satisfaction and we didn't mind them to avoid using our trailer's bathroom. (We did not use their showers.)

- Firewood purchased at the ranger station was pricy, particularly in comparison with the honor-system stand we found just up the road (around the bend on Dalton Rd. / 54).

- The Nature Center was closed due to COVID but our kids enjoyed seeing the birds in the rehab area and we could tell it would be a great activity when open.

- Trails were minimal but scenic (lillypads, water views, etc.) and enjoyable for us with kids in tow. We also had fun kicking sand around at the beach, though it was quite rocky if you are hoping for a true beach-like experience.

We had an enjoyable time at Cowan Lake and everything was about as we expected from a State Park. We won't hesitate to return in the future.

Nice state park with direct access to the lake. Most sites are electric only but our 50amp connection worked perfectly. Many of the pads have a slope. I retracted my tongue completely but still had a slight slope that wasn’t noticeable in the RV. My 32” unit fit in without an issue. Numerous water spigots and easy access to the dump station.
Lots of trails and a nice convenience store for pizza, ice cream or forgotten items.
We had between 2-3 bars for Verizon.

Most sites are pretty nice. Looked like some full hook-up sites were either recently updated or upgraded. Quiet place and staff was very friendly.

This is a nice, older campground with direct lake access and nice trails.
My spot, 43, was well-shaded and comfortable.
A couple of key notes: most of the sites are sloped and there aren’t many spots with direct water or sewer.
My tongue was lowered all the way but still had a minor incline that we didn’t notice once we were in the trailer.
There are numerous water spigots near the sites and I was able to fill my freshwater tank before parking.
They have a nice store with food and ice cream with east access to dumpsters and the sewer dump station.