So, Nicole lives in Raleigh now, but she's the one who sends me a link about Mountain Lake and the incredible waterloss. Honestly, since the day I left working there in 2001, I have only been back up maybe 4 times? The last time we went was in October last year after Seven was born. We had a great brunch there...and though the lake level was down, and looked, well, so sad, today was just unbelieveable.
These two pictures were taken in October, at the far end of the lake. The "Deep End" if you will. As you can see, the water is very, very low.
Many of you will remember the days when the Boathouse was completely surrounded by water, all the way to the trailhead. And when the Gazebo steps led right down to a floating dock. I even remember when the LakeHouse at the far end had water in both the back AND the front. When you needed to walk the dock to get to the front door.
Those days are no more.
These two pictures were taken today...from the same vantage point as the Ocotber photos.
There is not even enough water to float a boat in. No exaggeration. No water at all. The dark spots in the photos are just silty dark hardened mud, not water. It's so hard to describe, as you really need to see it in person to get a gauge on how overwhelming it is. If you look closely in the top picture, you can see a man on the left hand side, about halfway down. That's how deep this end was. Over 100 feet. The rocks at the top? People use to jump off of. You can see the water line on them if you look closely. But now? Gone. It's all gone.
Everyone should go and see it...especially if you can remember the Dirty Dancing Days. The days when Mountain Lake was still a lake.
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