Kayaking Carvins Cove — Snows Out West

After hiking up above Carvins Cove the other day Michael and I went down to the reservoir to rent some kayaks and go out on the water. We thought the reservoir was beautiful from above but it was even more beautiful from below! The GoPro doesn't do a great job putting the mountains into perspective (they're much bigger in person) but you can image how beautiful it was to glide across the water with the mountains surrounding us. We kayaked strait across the lake from the boat ramp and checked out a few little alcoves then kayaked diagonally back to the other shore to explore another little alcove before kayaking the shoreline back to the boat ramp. I've never taken the GoPro out kayaking before and I used my head mount to capture some pictures and take a few videos. It was so much fun and the perfect way to cool off after our hike above the lake.

Okay so what's there to do at Carvins Cove? There are over 50 miles of hiking trails, mountain biking trails, kayaking, paddle-boating or you can rent a 14' boat. There's also a boat ramp so you can drop in your own boats, canoes, kayaks, SUP boards, etc. If you bring a SUP board you have to have and visibly wear a SUP Certification Badge (and they will check!)- to learn more go here. Unfortunately swimming and camping are prohibited at this lake.

Kayaking at Carvins Cove is stinkin' cheap! It's $7 for one hour and $11 for two hours. If you bring your own kayaks and launch from the boat ramp you have to pay a $2 fee to use the area (the money goes to maintaining Carvins Cove!). For more information on kayak rentals as well as the other kinds of boat rentals go here.

Hiking around Carvins Cove is also an option. 15 miles of the Appalachian Trail runs around Carvins Cove and that's where you'll find one the best outlooks over the lake, on Hay Rock. Before we went kayaking we did this hike. But to see what other hiking trails there are check out this map.
We only scraped the surface when it comes to exploring this area and I couldn't recommend spending a day at this lake enough. I already can't wait to go back to check it out again, hike some new trails and kayak again :)