Lake James Touring

When visiting any park, state or federal, one should always check the information board for activities happening during your stay. Here at Lake James State Park, the rangers publish an informational brochure available at all kiosks with details of these events. Today, we were able to enjoy one of those activities by getting out on the lake with one of the  park rangers. These hard working guys are a wealth of knowledge, not just a uniform who enforce rules.  


Once a month, Ranger Earl hosts 8 visitors on a waterfowl and wildlife tour. These tours fill quickly and we were only able to get on board because two people didn’t show up. Nature dictates what will be seen and today the Loons were camera shy although we had a wonderful view of the many nests in the Blue Heron Rookery. A check on the two eagle’s nests revealed no one at home even though high in the sky above, a eagle soared out of the reach of my camera lens. The highlight of the trip, for me at least, was spotting 3 raccoons playing on the rocks near the shoreline. All of their bandit like faces were wet and Earl thought maybe they had been searching for crayfish, a favorite of theirs.

As I’ve mentioned before, Lake James is the reservoir for Duke energy’s Hydroelectric transmission. The water level, on the lake, has been slowly dropping since we arrived. This has exposed many downed trees and miles of shoreline debris. Ranger Earl kept one eye on his depth finder since he wasn’t keen on wading this time of year to push the boat off a sand bar or free it from a snag.

When we returned to the boat launch, Ranger Clay was on hand to help Earl tidy up the boat and get it on the trailer.