Lake James Catawba River Hike

Monday morning, it was chilly again when we woke up.  I went down to the lake for a view of the sunrise, which was really beautiful.

Then I did a hike around the Mill's Creek Trail.

When I finished, Sandy and Alex had woken up and we broke camp and got ready to leave.  On the drive out, we saw some deer grazing along the road.

We drove over to the Catawba River Access of Lake James State Park, which we hadn't yet visited.  Parking at the visitor center, we first hiked the Lake Channel Overlook Trail past the campground.

At the end, we had nice views of Lake James and Linville Gorge.

Then we hiked back and took Sandy Channel Overlook Trail out to the end.  There was another view of Linville Gorge, but not as good as the other overlook.

We then headed back to the visitor center and took the combined Fishing Pier and Fox Den Loop Trails.

After a stop at the pier, Fox Den Loop made a short loop around the western end of this section of the park.

After finished the loop, we had completed the trail in this section of the park.

We started making our way home, but wanted to get another waterfall on the way.  We went to the town of Granite Falls to the sewer plant and parked in front of the gate to see Granite Falls, the town's namesake.

There was a small viewing platform, so I think it's OK to stop and see the waterfall, but we didn't stay long.

We had barbecue for lunch at City BBQ and then made the drive home.