Raleigh NC Lake Advice

[Kevin_B]

Looking for some advice on the Raleigh Lake Scene. I might be moving to the area and want to get a grasp on the lakes in the area and where I need to look to be around and/or stay away from. I have found some Places on Lake Johnson and I can't figure out if it is an all sports lake or not? If anyone has info on this lake or any of the nearby lakes, I am all ears. If I can find a place to rent on any surrounding lake that will allow my Sport Nautique I want to know about it. Semi-Close proximity to Downtown is preferred as my girlfriend and I will be working around that area and don't want to have a long commute. Thanks for any advice on the lakes and Raleigh-Durham in general.

[SkiTower]

Lake Johnson isn't boat friendly (more of a pond). All lakes around Raleigh don't have houses on them or are oversize ponds like Lake Johnson or Lake Benson. Kerr is probably your first bet, or go slightly west to the Burlington area. There are several smaller boat and house friendly lakes in the area. There is a man-made ski lake (Lake Magnolia) outside of Smithfield, but that's probably not what you're looking for. There's also a gated community outside of Zebulon that's called Lake Royale. Personally for your situation that would be my first stop. So your choices are either commute and live on a lake or trailer your boat back and forth.

As for commutes, I wouldn't recommend coming in 40 East every day. Major gridlock. Other directions are managable, especially if you can vary your timing. Living in the outer communities isn't so bad, though. A co-worker is shocked when I tell him I can be at the airport in 35 minutes when it takes him 20. He lives about 5 miles away in town while I live about 30.

As for usable lakes, you have Falls, Jordan, and Harris. You'll find fans and critics of all three. If you don't mind a little more of a haul: Kerr, Gaston, Hyco, Badin, Highrock, Smith-Mountain, etc. are all within two hours of Raleigh.

[Kevin_B]

Thanks SkiTower I will keep all of this in mind.

[jimmyj]

living near town and wanting to be on the lake aint gonna happen. and if you live near town, chances are you arent going to be able to keep the boat at the house (garage that is). fairly close to downtown would be out near harris or up near falls, tho near falls is a PITA to get downtown. out towards harris (apex, hollysprings, etc) isnt too bad of a drive to get downtown ~15-20 minutes. you can live a little south of town, south raleigh, garner-ish area and be within 10 minutes of town and be able to hop on highway and get to falls or harris withing 30 minutes.

cant really have it both ways here. you may be able to find a house right in town (not DOWNtown) that has a garage that you can stick the boat in, but most are older houses and small car ports or garages. otherwise, you will be paying 75-100+ for a storage place.

oh yeah, dont go to lake wheeler. used to be a great work afternoon lake till it got contaiminated.

[mcbridek]

Sport friendly - 10 miles North of Raleigh is Falls Lake, 10 miles West is Jordan Lake. You can internet search both of these. Further North is Kerr Lake (50 miles) and Lake Gaston (70 miles). There are a number of smaller lakes, but these are the main ones. The Coble Ski School (April Coble) is 45 miles South of Raleigh, Adam Fields has a ski school on Lake Gaston. Is you are a slalom skier, there are a number of private ski lakes/courses and many tournaments. The public lakes, very limited support for ski courses.

[JoeSki]

I live in Minnesota but have a brother who live's in the Raleigh area. He is a fellow Sport Nautique owner as well. When I am in town, we go to Fall's lake or Hyco Lake up near the Virgina border. Falls is a pretty lake with lots of fingers, there is always some calm water there somewhere. The only draw backs are its a bit silty, there are no homes on the lake, its all park land...which is nice for aesthetics but sucks if you're looking to buy or rent. Lastly I would buy a map and ask some locals about the water levels. If its been dry for awhile, there some areas that get pretty shallow and there are some areas with sunken trees stumps.

Hyco is a great lake! Its a lot more clear than falls. If you are a skier, there is a permanent course in one of the fingers on the north end. The course is open to anyone as long as you know what you are doing..Randy Budzinski is the guy who kinda maintains the course...he has a place just off to the side of the course...red and white mastercraft owner...he is a very nice guy..you may want to bring a few extra turn balls just to be nice. I think it was about an hour drive from my brothers place (he lives about 15 min NW or Raleigh). There are places to rent on the lake, some have lifts too, and there are some places to camp if your into that.

[aarond0083]

North Raleigh. Your commute downtown will not be too bad. 15-20 min. You'll have Falls nearby and Kerr is 45 minutes away up highway 1.

I've been on lakes all over NC and Kerr is my favorite. Army Corp lake so no houses but so many coves and 50,000 acres of clean water.

[SkiTower]

Army Corp lake so no houses but so many coves and 50,000 acres of clean water.

There are houses on Kerr, just very spread out. Which can be a very good thing!

[aarond0083]

There are houses on Kerr, just very spread out. Which can be a very good thing!

Right, I guess what I meant is there are no houses built right on the water due to the Army Corp restrictions. No stationary docks either.

[SkiTower]

Yep. FYI: Gaston is the 'developed' lake, with wall to wall houses. Kerr fluctuates so Gaston can remain constant.

[dawn]

I live in Holly Springs, and go to Harris Lake. To go downtown its about 20min away. And my boat is in my garage. I also venture to Falls lake as well. And there is Mayo Lake in Roxboro that has homes on it, great lake. But that is about an hour from Raleigh.

[Kevin_B]

Hey All-
Thanks for all the great advice, not that Im trying to turn this into my own personal travel/moving service but it looks like relocation plans may possibly be altering to the Greensboro area. Does Anyone have any advice on lakes or general living in that area. Thanks.

[SkiTower]

With Greensboro I would specify which part. If you work on one side, you don't want to live on the other. There are several lakes around Greensboro but I'm not sure which have houses and which don't. Also, if you end up not living on a lake, then you have a lot of choices within ~1/2 -1 hour driving (HighRock, Badin, Smith Mountain, Hyco, Mayo, Belews, etc.).

[thedude]

lake Kerr is awesome. We used to go down there 3 times a year when I lived in Northern Virginia. Now I live in Pittsburgh and still try to go down once per year. I've boarded on Lake Jordan back in 2006, it wasn't too bad. If the site still exists, check out www.endofropegang.com I think thats the local wakeboarding site for down there.