Lake Lure

We finally made the trek up to Lake Lure today. It was Plan B. Plan A had been to paddle the upper Catawba River near Conover, NC. The idea was scuttled by the put-in being closed by high water from Duke Energy needing to bleed water from its reservoirs. We have wanted to go to Lake Lure since the very beginning of the year. This was the trigger. We needed a fairly easy out & back trip and I figured the lake would get more crowded as the summer kicks in.

It's a pretty reservoir, up in the mountains, and an easy 1.5 hr drive. The route via US74A/64, coming from the east, is very popular for motorcycle rides. The town has several restaurants with outdoor seating. Much better than the town of Chimney Rock, up the road a little further. We paid the $22 annual fee for each boat at the Lake Lure Marina and used their single lane boat ramp to put-in. Here's a view from the water (with a pair of blue kayaks that came in as we left):

The hills are quite nearby and have nice rock faces in spots:

We went up the Broad River, just past US74/64. We couldn't get far before the rocks blocked us. We found a small side creek that led to a retaining pond. The pond was home to scads of Canadian geese, their yung'ns, and a pair of white swans(?). The homes on the lake are a real mixed lot - some huge stone houses, some mobile homes, and lots of boat garages. On our lake, the lake-side "style" is plain old docks/decks, or roofed boat houses. The garages here were complete with wooden doors on them - kinda quaint. We also saw big turtles and a lot of swallows. There were fewer power boats than I expected on the water, so the mid-afternoon timing worked out just fine. We only went as far as where the lake tee's out to the north. Maybe that northern finger has more interesting hills and wildlife.

Look close in that upper pic above. Besides Katheen in the foreground far right, I think I've got a picture of Chimney Rock, complete with US flag flying, up in the rocks, about middle right.

We will definitely be back in the fall when the leaves are turning. Another summer trip is likely. It was rather breezy today. Hopefully, that breeze will be there when it's stagnant in the piedmont in July & August. We took NC9 south out of town. It was an easier and faster drive than coming through Rutherfordton. (Remember this for the next trip.)

Rocky Shoals Spider Lily

We made the trip to the Landsford Canal State Park near Lancaster SC today. The draw was the springtime flowering of Hymenocallis coronaria, a rare lily that grows amongst the rocks in this section of the Catawba River.

The previous week's Catawba Cruisers group paddle sounded like quite an adventure. A number of new people, fast current from all the rain, grounded boats, flipped boats, and snakes. Andy was willing to go again. Gwen, from Great Outdoor Provision Company, was organizing an afternoon paddle. So, we decided to do this short stretch twice. We were joined by Terri and her son Blake, in the morning, and Pat Long in the afternoon. This was also our first shuttle experiment. It was also our first effort to dodge rain. It's been raining ALOT lately - which is really good for relieving our extreme drought conditions, but not so good for long distance paddle trips. The storm have frequently involved thunder too, so we didn't even try to paddle Moss Lake. But this time, only lightning was going to keep us off the water. Besides, the remnants of the canal, history, and prospect for stopping at GOPC, gave us enough rain-out options to make getting out of the house worthwhile.

We drove through some rain to get there and had a couple minor misturns on the way. But we got there only 5 minutes or so after the agreed meeting time of 10am. Andy was looking at his watch when we pulled in to the rather small and crowded parking lot; but he knows we're never on time. He, Terri, & Blake were already unloaded and waiting by the river. We dropped boats and gear by the parking lot ... And then I realized I'd forgotten to bring our paddles. Doh! I've done this on local drives down the road to our neighborhood access ramp, but it was a first for a road trip. Damnation! Andy had a spare paddle, just like ours, which Kathleen borrowed. I bummed a paddle from the park rangers. Terri, Andy, and I drove to the parking lot by the take-out. Andy drove us back and parked up the road in the increasingly crowded main parking lot. This is a nice little park - it's sized for normal use, not peak use when the lilies are blooming.

The river is flat right up to the park. We paddled out and tried to follow Andy as he traversed the rocky shoals. Now, I know what rocky shoals means - it is to be taken literally. There are rocks freakin' everywhere. We scraped over bunches of them. Got caught up on bunches more. Fortunately, none of us fell out. We did get rained on. It was actually rather enjoyable. I had my [brandname] hat from ECCKF and it worked really well. No lightning, so no scramble. I also forgot my camera so I have no pictures. But here are Andy's.

The lilies are indeed beautiful, both in mass and up close. They root into dirt filled crevasses in the rocks and need occasional flooding. This is one of the largest of very few stands in the US. I'm amazed they just let canoers and kayakers come and walk amongst them. Surely, they take abuse from the foot traffic during blooming. However, they seem to be thriving and the park encourages paddlers.

We thought the afternoon trip would be different from the morning one. I thought Gwen was going to be bringing flatwater boats but his entourage was almost all whitewater craft. I also thought he was taking a different route. But, alas, it was the same one, so we just did it a second time. We stayed a little more to the middle of the river this time. (We were river right in the morning.) It was very tiring and tedious to be pushing past the rocks. The repeat pass has put us off a second trip. We may come back to see the canals and paddle up the Catawba. But, unless we get whitewater boats, I doubt we'll be scraping up the bottoms of ours again.

Paddling Everywhere, Just Not By Us

We've been kept off the water by a string of weekends with unpredictable heavy rain and thunderstorms. As the weather has warmed up, there are lots of people paddling in a variety of locations. All too distant for us to want to drive to & fro only to be rained out. I am now stir crazy and must do something. Hopefully, we won't be dodging thunderbolts. But come heck, or even high water, we're going to see the Spider Lilies at Landsford Canal State Park on the Catawba River!