Despite the cold I enjoyed my stay at the campsite. The bathrooms were clean and heated. The sites…read morewere spaced out well and the staff were great too. We lost power at one site and it was easy to get another. Look forward to returning in the spring or summer.

A very cool little campground! Off the beaten path but close enough to all parts of Asheville. The…read moregate keeper was amazing, really friendly and helpful. The area is clean and the sites are a good size with plenty of additional space. Would stay here again for sure.

A beautiful lake, especially inviting in summer. Many old homes and near iconic summer camps!read more

For the runners, it's 4.8 miles for the complete track. If you shorten it by using the bridge,…read moreshave 1.5 miles off. Long walk does parallel traffic for .25mi, be aware. Swans and geese abound, and beautifully surrounded by mountains, as well as a few lovely homes. There are plenty of fishing and launching spots. And a crepe and custard shoppe - when you're not there for exercise. All around peaceful and pleasant place to run/walk/visit. Highly recommend!

This place is small but it has alot to choose from. We had a wonderful time at the lake kayaking,…read moreswimming at the pool and playing minigolf. We were killing time while waiting for a room. It was a really hot day. It also has some small shops, a church and a crepe place. The scenery is amazing.

There's a big lake…read more There are mountains. There are rocks. There are trees. Most importantly, it's dog-friendly. I highly recommend stopping here if you're passing through Western North Carolina.

Lake Chatuge is a beautiful lake located in Hiawassee, Georgia within the Appalachian Mountains…read more The lake like all lakes in Georgia is a man made and was created in 1942 with the Chatuge Dam. The name comes from the Cherokee village that was once located there. The total lake covers over almost 11 square miles and has a maxium depth of 144 feet. The most common fish here are the spotted bass, channel catfish, black crappies and large and small mouth bass. If you have children a great place to take them is the Towns County Recreational Beach located at 525 US-76. They have a playground there and a beach for the kids to swim and play in. They also have bathrooms, picnic tables, bathrooms and showers at the beach. For those who plan to come to Lake Chatuge beware that during holidays, like Memorial Day weekend the lake is extremely packed, which makes it almost impossible to fish off the shore with the heavy traffic causing too much wake. [Review #542] (22nd Review Of 2018)

The view was amazing, the kids enjoyed seeing the falls. It was easy to navigate but hard to find…read morewhen you first pull up if you've never been there before. It is not wheelchair accessible, and can be a bit of a steep climb. Parking is on the side of the mountain. We had a great time while we were there and there is a small swimming hole at the bottom of the falls.

It's not where it says it is on the google and apple maps. We asked a park ranger where it was and…read moreshe put us on the path. We went on a Tuesday and luckily for us we had the place to ourselves, an occasional hiker would pop in and look around and one other couple came to swim. The water was crystal clear, cool mountain aqua. No trash or other intrusive nonsense was present and the spot is absolutely serene. We swam for a few hours and wrapped by jumping off the big rocks into the "deep end" . Good times for sure, beware of bears and all that jazz.

The remnants are still here. There is no housing development but most of the buildings have been…read moretorn down... The pavement and rubble still remain with the reminder of what a great place it was.

My husband and I are staying (late Sept, 2023) at the Club Wyndham-Sapphire Valley, and we were…read moregiven a "Sapphire Valley Master Association Amenity Card" for use of amenities while staying on-site. One of the amenities is access to Fairfield Lake, an 80 acre lake at 3,160' elevation in Sapphire, NC. The lake's length is 1 mile, and it is 35' at its deepest point. The amenity card also allows us to use the private beach, picnic tables, a grill, rest room, and to rent motor boats, canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, fishing poles, etc. at the boat house. There is also a Lake Trail around the lake, which is the private property of Camp Merrie-Woode. However, the trail is open to the public (at your own risk) for hiking purposes only during daylight hours from August 15th to May 15th, when camp is not in session. Dogs are allowed but must be on leashes. We saw two brochures, one of which stated that the trail is a 3.3 mile loop while another said that it's 3.8; my Fitbit recorded 3.55 miles. The trail is mostly flat, with an occasional incline or descent, and has a variety of trail surfaces (gravel, pine needles, small rocks, tree limbs, etc.). Besides the lake, there are a few highlights on the trail -- (1) Fairfield Falls. With a height of 25', the waterfall is created by the stream of the Trays Island Creek, a tributary of the Horsepasture River, which runs along the western side of the all Bald directly into Lake Fairfield. (2) Presley Pass. The Iron Bridge across the stream above the waterfall was built by Camp Merrie-Woode caretaker, James Presley, in the mid-1950s. (3) Intersection with the trailhead for the Old Bald Trail, a more strenuous 3 mile hike. The trail is mostly well-marked with small green-white tags. We walked clockwise, and got a bit confused relatively close to our ending point (after a paved road when the signs seemed to disappear).

We did the walk while in Sapphire for the week, and it was beautiful! Luckily, the camp was closed,…read moreso we are able to do the entire loop around the lake. It ends up being about 3.5 miles from end to end. There are some steep areas, and some areas are challenging to navigate due to the rocks, but it was worth it. There is even a waterfall you pass if you need another reason to check this out. The photos do not do justice to the beauty.

Oookay, just to advocate for the average citizen without a dog or fishing pole, this is a lovely…read morein-city lake to walk around for ~2 miles of exercise. Parking is probably the trickiest part since the dedicated parking lot is quite small and maxes out at around half a dozen vehicles. We ended up touring the bird sanctuary first and then starting the perimeter trail from there. There's a nice amount of benches around the lake, a patch of wildflowers, and a section of the trail is just roadside sidewalk. A popular lake trail for joggers but not overcrowded.

If you walk this lake trail, (not the bird sanctuary trail, the lake trail) don't bring your dog…read more There are no signs at the beginning of the lake trail stating that you need a $100 per year permit to walk your dog on the trail. Halfway through the trail, you'll be assaulted by the lake warden / bully. He will be deliberately obtuse and will say almost anything short of claiming he has the power to arrest you (he doesn't), to stop you continuing on the second half of the trail. He called me an idiot for wanting to walk down Merrimon (it's public property), saying it was nearly a guarantee that I would be hit by a car if I walked in the bike lane. He very clearly gets a hard-on from making people turn around. He'll remind you a couple of times that he is filming the interaction you're having. I called him a hyper-aggressive asshole and went on my way. I won't be returning to this trail, and as a local, I'm ashamed that the rich people who live by that lake haven't hired someone who isn't a total creep. I would give this experience a 1 star, but the trail was pretty. :(