Pictures of Mountain Island Lake (Charlotte, Huntersville: living, plantation, beach)

[frewroad]

Geographically this is the closest lake to Charlotte. You don't hear much about it since most of the conversations concern it's larger neighbors Lake Norman, upstream, and Lake Wylie, downstream. I took some photos last Sunday afternoon while out on the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon with high around 87 so this was a good place to be.


This is Mountain Island which is what the lake is named for. It's the largest island on the lake and located near the dam. Beyond is the beginning of Lake Wylie.



Some people enjoying the pleasant water. This is near the rope swing.




Hwy 16 bridge across the lake. Mecklenburg on right, Gaston & Lincoln counties left.



People enjoying the Submerged Beach.




Submerged Beach. My camera does not do it justice. All kinds of activities take place in just a few feet of always flowing cool water.




Hwy 16 Coal Fired Steam Plant operated by Duke Energy.




This lake is a good place to learn these skills. It's always smooth.




Lots of pretty wildlife to see. His blue colored cousins are more shy. They tended to leave when I pointed a camera at them.



Just a pretty day.



Cowan Ford Dam & Hydroelectric generating plant. Lake Norman is on the other side of that dam. It's hell's bells if those gates are opened and you happen to be where we were when I took this photo. A sign somewhere says they will blow a siren first. Fortunately the last time they needed to do it, as far as I can remember was 2005. That bridge is Hwy 73.



Hard to believe this is in the middle of a metro with more than 2 million people.




More people taking time to enjoy nature.




Part of the Submerged Beach area



This platform is at the end of one of the trails at Latta Plantation Park. There are numerous great trails there that often follow parts of this lake. If you were on this platform you would have a nice view of the main channel of the Catawba River and the Lake.



Solar powered house. My camera doesn't do it justice.


Lakeside Trailer Park


Trailer Park Boys



This is the Hwy 16 public boat landing and access area on the Gaston/Lincoln side. There are two landings. The other is in Huntersville off Neck Rd.

[cittic10]

Looks like a nice lake. It's a shame there's development on it though.

[frewroad]

Originally Posted by cittic10

Looks like a nice lake. It's a shame there's development on it though.

Relatively speaking the amount is pretty low compared to other Duke Energy managed lakes. Almost all of the development is at the south end. There are also no marinas which limits the boat traffic. Fortunately county park land and the Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refuge protect a great deal of it.

[lovesMountains]

Next time consider resizing your pics before you post - these things are HUGE, lol.

You might like using a site like tinypic.com

Edited to say, thanks for resizing!

[frewroad]

Interestingly, they are on tinypic.com.

[SunnyKayak]

Man, this is suppose to be best kept secret lol .. Shhh.

I dont want this lake to turn into over crowded polluted Lake Norman especially since this lake is where Charlotte gets its drinking water.

We go to this lake all the time for kayaking unless where out on High Rock lake.

Its peaceful, the scenery is beautiful woods instead of Lake Normans McMansions..

Dont worry about picture size CD re-sizes them to fit a post and I hate the thumbnails as I never bother opening them up.

[chuckles34]

Wow. Looks lovely. That's a trailer park I could deal with (for a short time). Unfortunately I can't wrap my brain around putting my feet down in a lake. Just skeeves me. But give me a ride on one of those boats....

Thanks for sharing.

[chb119]

We love Mt. Island lake, we use the trails allot on the nature preserve. But we keep our boat on Wylie.

[dragon_fly_12]

Love Mtn Island Lake, too. Been out kayaking, been on the trails at Latta, been fishing downstream. Have been living near it since coming to Charlotte and it is a nice 'escape' close to home.

Thanks for sharing!

[crestliner]

Thank you for the pictures. It so happens I plan a boat ride on the lake very soon and those pictures help me recall the area. My question is how shallow does the water get when you want to go to upper end near the dam? My little boat only needs about 2 feet of water. I always slow down to about 40 mph when I get no less than 100 feet from sailboats and kiyaks... Lets all be careful out there!