Quiet Water Paddling in Western North Carolina
Western North Carolina is home to numerous white water paddling sites. If you're interested in finding out what the white water opportunities are check you can find information at Whitewater in NC. There are also lots of opportunities for the quiet water kayaking that Nessie and Clem are designed for. The quiet water opportunities are what we discuss here.
I haven't found a book that covers the quiet water opportunities in the Western North Carolina. The spots we've found were discovered by asking other paddlers and by investigating the NC Wildlife commission boat ramp sites and by looking at North Carolina Maps and locating lakes.
Most of the places we've paddled in Western North Carolina we paddled before we switched to digital so I don't have many photos of these trips yet. Scanning the many color negatives from these trips is one of the tasks I have to undertake. So for now, this section is basically a list of where we've been. Photos will follow sometime.
NC Power Lakes
Many of the quiet water opportunities in Western North Carolina are due to hydro power dams built by various electric companies. This is a map of some of these hydro lakes.
Some of the places we have found but haven't written up yet include:
- Wolf Creek Lake. This lake is located above Bear Creek Lake and is smaller. It is quite pretty, especially in the fall. And because it is pretty far off the beaten path, it is not crowded.
- Lake Fontana. Lake Fontana provides multiple paddling trips. It has many coves that can be explored in short trips. Paddling across parts of the lake also provides access to make hikes in Smoky Mountain National park. The last time we were there, we were adopted by a puppy someone had abandoned. Probably one of our most expensive paddling trips.
- Lake Hiwassee. Large lake with numerous coves that can be explored.
- Nantahala Lake. This is a pretty lake, but is more developed than we like.
- Lake Glenville also called Thorpe Reservoir. The best public access for kayaking is located at the north end of the lake off of NC Highway 107. The turn off is for Pine Creek Road. We like the access provided by Ralph Andrews Park. There is a campground at Ralph Andrews Park. See Lake Glenville Map for more information.
Below are a couple of the places we've been with pictures
- Julian Price Lake In July of 2009 we had a nice paddle on Julian Price Lake--a small lake off the Blueridge Parkway.
- Bear Creek Lake, NC 2002 Bear Creek Lake is one of our favorite paddling spots in Western North Carolina.