Dusty Ridge's Ramp Is Closed, and Its Reopening Date Depends on Which Agency You Ask

When can you put a boat back in at Dusty Ridge? The Taylorsville Times and Alexander County gave one answer in September. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission gives a different one. Until they agree, it's safer to plan your fall on the lake around the later answer.

Duke Energy started renovating Dusty Ridge Park at 360 Dusty Ridge Access Road on Monday, September 21, 2026. The boat access area and the walking trail closed for construction, which is "expected to continue through mid-December." According to the announcement, the project won't affect the ballfield complex. As of today, October 10, the ramp has been closed for 19 days. If the mid-December estimate holds, roughly nine more weeks remain.

Two Agencies, Two Ways of Saying "Closed"

The county's announcement and the Times story both use "mid-December." The state's boating access closure table, last modified September 30, 2026, lists Dusty Ridge in Alexander County on Lake Hickory as closed "Until Further Notice" for Duke Power construction work.

The two descriptions don't conflict. One is a projected end date, and the other is the official status until someone changes it. Still, they lead to different plans. If you're thinking about a December trip on the water from Dusty Ridge, mid-December is the earliest realistic date, not a promise. The NCWRC table is the public record that will show the reopening, and its most recent update still had no date on it.

We found no construction progress report after the September announcement. Duke Energy's own Catawba-Wateree recreation enhancements page lists the Dusty Ridge trail and restroom work as "in progress," with no target date.

What Duke Is Building, and Why It Matters

According to the Times, the renovation will bring these changes:

• A rebuilt walking trail with smaller elevation changes, which the announcement describes as making it "more accessible and inclusive for visitors"
• More parking for both trail and fishing access
• A restroom for boaters
• Repairs to the parking lot and the boat ramp

Duke's enhancement list explains why this project exists. Duke tracks three access areas on Lake Hickory. At Wittenburg, the work is marked complete: restrooms, picnic facilities, paved parking and the swim beach. At Gunpowder, a wildlife viewing and fishing facility is complete. Dusty Ridge's trail and restrooms are the only Lake Hickory items still in progress. So this fall, Dusty Ridge is getting the kind of upgrades Wittenburg already has. Until the work is done, Wittenburg is carrying the load.

Wittenburg Is Where the Lake Is Open This Fall

Alexander County's parks page lists Wittenburg Access Area at 175 Wildlife Access Road. Its listed amenities are boating access, fishing access and a one-mile nature trail. The mailing address says Hickory, but the Taylorsville Times places the site in Bethlehem. The NCWRC closure table lists Dusty Ridge as the Alexander County Lake Hickory closure and doesn't list Wittenburg.

For anyone who used Dusty Ridge mainly to launch and fish, that makes Wittenburg the obvious substitute. It's also the one place on the county's list that offers a ramp, fishing access and a trail at a single stop, which makes it the closest match to what Dusty Ridge offered before it closed.

There are a few things to know before you go:

The swim beach is out of season. The county lists the Wittenburg swim beach as open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Wednesdays, with no lifeguard on duty. In October, the ramp, the shoreline and the nature trail are what Wittenburg offers. The county page doesn't list fall or winter hours for the ramp or trail, so we can't confirm them here.

The beach had a closure this summer. On Monday, June 29, the county closed the swim beach after a wastewater pump station failure. Later that day, the City of Hickory announced that about 6,080 gallons of untreated wastewater had been released into Lake Hickory near the beach. Bacteria levels didn't meet Duke Energy's safety guidelines in time for the Fourth of July weekend, so the beach stayed closed through the holiday and reopened on July 7, 2026, once the water quality test results were in. The Taylorsville Times report pointed readers to the Wittenburg Swim Beach Facebook page for the latest updates.

The Dusty Ridge ballfields stay open. If your family's fall weekends include games at Dusty Ridge, the construction doesn't touch the ballfield complex.

Replacing the Walk

People who walked the Dusty Ridge trail have to plan differently from boaters, because the trail closed along with the ramp. Your best substitute depends on what you used the Dusty Ridge trail for. The renovation will make that trail flatter and easier. Most of the open alternatives below are either already short and gentle, or longer and steeper.

These distances work out differently in practice. Matheson Park's 2,000-foot trail is a little longer than East Alexander's quarter-mile track, which is 1,320 feet. Both are short loops that you'd walk a few times for a full outing. Matheson Park is in town and has restrooms and sheltered picnic areas, so it's an easy stop on a weekday evening. East Alexander's track is the only paved surface on the list, which makes it the closest stand-in for the gentler trail Duke is building at Dusty Ridge.

Wittenburg's one-mile trail is the only option that keeps you beside Lake Hickory. If you liked Dusty Ridge for the water views, this is the trade that loses the least. Rocky Face is a different kind of outing altogether. Its six miles of trails suit a weekend hike more than a loop after work.

The Dates on the Calendar

Here's the Dusty Ridge timeline with only the dates the sources confirm:

1. Monday, September 21, 2026. Construction begins. The boat access area and walking trail close, and the ballfields stay open.
2. September 30, 2026. The NCWRC closure table is updated and still lists Dusty Ridge as closed "Until Further Notice."
3. Mid-December 2026. This is the expected end of construction, based on the original announcement.

The reopening will be confirmed when the NCWRC table drops Dusty Ridge from its closures or the county posts a follow-up. Until then, Wittenburg is the Lake Hickory access to plan around, and Matheson Park, East Alexander Park and Rocky Face cover the walking.

If you're thinking ahead to next spring and wondering which parts of Alexander County have the easiest lake and trail access, we're glad to talk it through. Call a Legendary Agent today at RE/MAX Legendary, and we'll share what we know about the parks near any home you're considering.