Watauga Dam on the weekend

[waasj]

Is the Watauga Dam shelter suffering from the usual influx of weekend party animals so often experienced near road crossings??

[mountain squid]

It is possible, but it is almost 2 mi in and that might be farther than most weekend partiers want to travel, especially when there are numerous campsites much closer to the trailhead. It is not on the lake, so the boaters are also unlikely to visit it.

See you on the trail,
mt squid

[Ron Haven]

Anyone know what watauga means in the Cherokee Indian tribal language. If not, "here is the answer spelled backwards". retaw

[waasj]

Thanks Squid!! Two miles is a long way to carry a party, but you never can tell!! See you on the trail one day. Headed from Damascus to Erwin next month.

[Grits]

Anyone know what watauga means in the Cherokee Indian tribal language. If not, "here is the answer spelled backwards". retaw

Ron here is a link to a great article on the word Watauga; I have always heard "beautiful waters" but the bottom line is I think the original meaning has been lost.
http://www.appstate.edu/~scherlnag/d...times_text.pdf

[Ron Haven]

thanks grits,

beautiful water-luftee

running waters-tuckaseegee

falling water-amicalola

whispering waters-choa

clear waters-ama

flowing water-tuckaseegee

village of many springs-oconee watauga

broken waters-testentee

river of islands-uhnadulv'i

these would be the answers to these words in these parts

[4shot]

It is possible, but it is almost 2 mi in and that might be farther than most weekend partiers want to travel, especially when there are numerous campsites much closer to the trailhead. It is not on the lake, so the boaters are also unlikely to visit it.

See you on the trail,
mt squid

if there is still an aggressive bear around the lake? He run off several hikers who were camping by the lake last year and followed them to the shelter where I was tenting. bear hung around most of the night.

Cons about the shelter - poor tent sites. Pros - couple of high school kids showed up early the next morning with biscuits and orange juice. Breakfast trail magic!!! They hung around for awhile then left, knowing they were going to be late for school. Thanks guys!!!

[mountain squid]

Haven't heard anything yet this yr. I believe the bear was mostly hanging around the numerous lake campsites where the campers tend not to clean up after themselves much.

There is a bear pole for hanging food at the shelter now, just in case.

See you on the trail,
mt squid

[waasj]

Thanks for the information and education!!

[lapcon]

if there is still an aggressive bear around the lake? He run off several hikers who were camping by the lake last year and followed them to the shelter where I was tenting. bear hung around most of the night.

Cons about the shelter - poor tent sites. Pros - couple of high school kids showed up early the next morning with biscuits and orange juice. Breakfast trail magic!!! They hung around for awhile then left, knowing they were going to be late for school. Thanks guys!!!

That bit of trail magic was from my son and a friend. They got a kick out of going before school and bringing breakfast, fast food, to hikers at the shelter and campsites on the lake. He said it was a hoot to go into Mickey D's and order one of every kind of biscuit. Enjoy

[tnvarmint]

I was up there just a couple of weeks ago with my family. No one was there but there was lots of signs of people having been there. We packed out some trash but didn't get it all. My wife had twisted her ankle crossing the creek just below the shelter.

[ChinMusic]

Is the Watauga Dam shelter suffering from the usual influx of weekend party animals so often experienced near road crossings??

There is a nice campsite on the lake just short of the shelter that attracts the party crowd. The shelter is not ON the lake. I did run into a guy that looked like he was living there a couple Januarys ago.

[TrekkerJeff]

Last year we hiked on by the shelter trying to get in a little more mileage and ended up camping by the lake just before the dam. There was poison ivy all over the place...ended up hanging the food bags right above the trail. We did run into quite a few local hikers out for evening hikes on the trail.