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Get Out! - Lake James State Park is great for relaxation
Relish photo by Lisa O’Donnell
Lake James State Park, with Linville Gorge in the background. The park includes a few short hiking trails, with more planned.
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Published: October 22, 2009
NEBO
I walk in the woods for fresh air and quiet and fitness and the chance to be around things that are neither plastic nor gas-powered.
All of that is enough.
But sometimes, I get a little bonus -- a moment of breathlessness that isn't just icing on the cake. It's a whole other layer of cake.
This happens to me at the usual places -- the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, the rugged northern California coastline. But I like it best when a rush of beauty catches me unawares.
That's what happened the other day at Lake James State Park.
Some friends and I were strolling along on the Lake Channel Overlook trail, a 1.5-mile jaunt that winds through a hardwood forest speckled with wildflowers and past quiet coves. It was a pleasant-enough amble, something along the lines of what you might experience at Lake Norman or Bur-Mil Park in Greensboro.
We came upon a sign warning us about a hazardous drop-off near the lake. Given the gentle terrain that we had been traversing, it sounded unnecessarily dramatic. We decided to follow a worn path to the edge of the lake to check out this so-called hazard. The signs were right. We were standing atop a bluff that plunged 20 feet to the shores of the lake.
Then, I looked up and was promptly gobsmacked by a stunning view of Linville Gorge.
The steep, sheer walls of Shortoff Mountain and the familiar slanted peak of Table Rock towered above an undulated stretch of the Pisgah National Forest. Tendrils of fog flitted above the forest and dissipated into a sky that was turning bluer by the second.
Nothing else I saw at the park compared with that view. And that was fine. This is a park designed more for rest and relaxation than backcountry thrills.
The 6,500-acre lake straddles Burke and McDowell counties, about 100 miles west of Winston-Salem. It was built between 1916 and 1923 when the Linville and Catawba rivers and Paddy Creek were dammed to provide hydroelectric power for Duke Power.
The lake, by the way, was named for James B. Duke, who started the power company.
About 560 acres around the southern end of the lake were turned into a state park in 1987, making it one of the state's newest parks. And that newness shows. The facilities -- and let's not dance around, by facilities, I mean bathrooms -- are downright spiffy and even a bit modern.
As it is now, this is a water-lovers' park. In the summer, it is jammed with boaters (jet skis and power boats are allowed) and swimmers. A few years ago, the state bought almost 3,000 acres from Crescent Resources, the development arm of Duke Power, and plans are under way to expand the park's offerings.
Some of the changes in store include more hiking trails (currently, there are three short trails, with none longer than 2.2 miles), the establishment of bicycling and equestrian trails, a visitors center, rental cabins and the expansion of camp sites. There are now 20 walk-in camp sites, but under the proposed plan, there will be more walk-in sites as well as new RV and boat camp sites. This is exciting stuff for those of us who enjoy traveling to the Asheville area.
Until then, there's this great view you might want to check out on the Lake Channel Overlook trail.
FOOT NOTE: Jon Bowermaster, an adventurer, author and filmmaker, will be showing his film, Terra Antarctica from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in Carswell Hall at Wake Forest. The film documents his six-week adventure kayaking around the Antarctic Peninsula. Admission is free.
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