Anybody seen falls lake lately?

xjsaretheway

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Wilmington/Chapel HIll
Due to the drought i've heard falls lake (in durham) is as low or lower than it has been in the past 10 years. Is this true? I went there bout 2 or 3 years ago last time it was really low and saw some people had driven down the boat ramps to the then dry lake bed and were just driving around and playing in the mud left behind.
It was pretty neat to see all the trees and junk normally underwater, including the creeks and streams that once ran through before the lake was made.
So has anyone seen the lake lately and how low it is?

I visited Jordan lake at thanksgiving and it wasn't as low as I had thought, the old rail road ties were still underwater.
 
xjsaretheway said:
Due to the drought i've heard falls lake (in durham) is as low or lower than it has been in the past 10 years. Is this true? I went there bout 2 or 3 years ago last time it was really low and saw some people had driven down the boat ramps to the then dry lake bed and were just driving around and playing in the mud left behind. So i decided to venture out and see what it was like, but almost instantly got stuck (31" AT's on an 86 4runner) and with one tow strap, a come-along, and a ski rope, i was able to reach a dead root and just barely tug myself out before pulling out the dead root. so not gonna do that again.
It was pretty neat to see all the trees and junk normally underwater, including the creeks and streams that once ran through before the lake was made.
So has anyone seen the lake lately and how low it is?
I visited Jordan lake at thanksgiving and it wasn't as low as I had thought, the old rail road ties were still underwater.
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Not only is this illegal, but it is endangering our water supply if you leak a load of fluids. I'm gonna let the mods handle this... But, damn, how stupid can you be? And yes, the Corps of Engineers will go after you if they notice it. Had a neighbor get busted in the 80s for the same crap.
 
I am not saying i want to go wheel there, and am deff. not trying to start another illegal wheeling argument.
I was asking because I think it would make an interesting half-day trip with some of the family coming into town to go out and see something you don't see too much, walk around a little and let the dogs run around a bit.
Something to do other than the same old boring routine of sitting around the house feeling claustrophobic with tons of family everywhere arguing about the dumbest things.
 
So you can back your leaky truck down the boat ramp, and ride around in your oil spewing 2 stroke boat, but if a kid wants to do donuts in the mud we're all gonna die? If it's illegal to do, fair enough, but there is a lot of double-standard occurring with the reasoning here.
 
yeh, that's fine....so i drove there a few years ago, i was fresh outta highschool and not too smart, that's the past.
I now know it's not a good idea to do so, and i wasn't planning on it. Thanks to all the helpful people on this board I've learned the difference of legal and "it's fine if you don't get caught." The thought of driving out on to the possibly dry lake bed hadn't even crossed my mind. If that was my intention, i would have asked "how good will falls lake be for driving on?", because you know how stupid I can be about that type of stuff, but i didn't.
as for the danger of leaking fluids, i agree. it's to bad the redneck fisherman and their crappy ass trucks and boats don't worry about that during the summer months.

but back to topic, i don't want to wheel there, i just want to know if any body's seen it lately and how low it is. I remember last time i was there there were huge trees completely visible that were usually covered by water, and I think my little cousins coming down would think it's pretty neat and get a kick out of it.
 
I'm with matt, I was thinking the same thing, a 2 stroke boat pollutes more then any truck in a lake bed would.. not to mention, have you ever seen a boat sink??? They do do that you know at times, and every bit of that 20-50 gallons of fuel goes floating, including the oil and the battery acid, All the RAW human waste that is in the holding tank, then you have people that dont feel like pumping the waste out of the boats and just flips that switch to dump it overboard.


The flaming is getting really old around here. you all need to get a clue, and think before you go off on sombody, go over to fucking pirate if all you want to do is talk shit to people
 
NCJeepin said:
...have you ever seen a boat sink???....All the RAW human waste that is in the holding tank, then you have people that dont feel like pumping the waste out of the boats and just flips that switch to dump it overboard.
The flaming is getting really old around here. you all need to get a clue, and think before you go off on sombody, go over to fucking pirate if all you want to do is talk shit to people
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I once saw 2 fisherman that hit each other, causing both boats to sink, but slowly enough that they got to the dock and tied the front of the boat off, so when I rolled up there were two boats with only the front foot of the bow sticking up out of the water, and a real nice oil and gas residue spot letting you know where they were.
And when people put their boats in the water after the winter, i bet most don't de-winterize at home, which means that all the antifreeze and chemicals put into the engine and out drive get flushed out into the lake. Can't be too much though, right?

and speaking of the human waste, I think both this summer and the previous, both Jordan and Falls lake experienced shut downs of the swim areas because of too much bacteria in the water due to people dropping their loads:poop: in the lake instead of the state installed toilets a few yards away.

As for the flaming, I just thought that was how this site was, no biggy, if that's what it takes for some people to feel better about themselves, whatever, as long as they leave some space for some actual responses related to the posted topic
 
Meh, not that many boats on Falls with blue water, low bridges prevent them from moving about. As for leaking oil, etc. its WAAY more of an issue now, because of the lower levels. The lake can absorb a ton of abuse, but not when its this low.

If XJs had merely talked about looking at the lake, I'd agree. Now is the time to take a flat-bottomed boat or canoe out and really see the danger areas for powerboats.

Oh, and a Hobie is not a 2-stroke... But it has two sails...

J
 
Back in the early 80's it was the thing to do at High Rock lake. They would use the coves as mud bogs and cut straight across them. I remember seeing the game warden watching and enjoying the show. In the winter Alcoa would take the level way down on purpose and then the muddin' would begin. Now that I'm older and more "Tread Lightly" minded it was/is pretty stupid. Take the family for a hike around the shore and walk off the holiday lb's!!!!!! You'll see more cool stuff than driving and doing donuts. my.02
 
hobie said:
Not only is this illegal, but it is endangering our water supply if you leak a load of fluids. I'm gonna let the mods handle this... But, damn, how stupid can you be? And yes, the Corps of Engineers will go after you if they notice it. Had a neighbor get busted in the 80s for the same crap.
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Whats the difference in leaking oil and other fluids into a lake or dumping oil and other fluids onto the washed out trail. Then the next time it rains, it gets washed into our streams and then to our lakes? Or even dumping oil and other fluids on our roads and then washing into steams.

Im not condoning illegal wheeling but really whats the difference?
 
Had an article in the N&O with pics the other day. There's tires that are strapped together that were dropped in to serve as artificial reefs that are on dry land now.
On a related note to possibly open discussion, I talked to a guy that drills wells and he made a great fact that the technology for digging wells has been revamped in the past few years. Instead of board drilling, they now drill a small hole down to the bedrock and then cut out a pocket to collect water. He stated that the bedrock is where you get water from the earth, board wells only get rain water. He stated that if you look at any rock quarry that the water levels haven't dropped a single inch. And his last statement was that Durham is looking at tapping into a rock quarry that could possibly yield a steady flow of clean water regardless if it ever rains again.
He was a great seller for his company considering the 5,000-6,000 dollar cost. He said the wells they dig will have water for a long time after the lakes go dry. A well would pay for itself in less than 7 years for the average household. And if the price of water ever goes up, the payoff would be even sooner.
I'm on community well. Probably pretty deep one too.
 
I go by there almost every day, and it's more like "Falls Creek" now, in a lot of places.

I went by one of the boat ramps about 2 weeks ago and some idiot was launching a bowrider.
There's no way in hell I'd put my boat in that stump hole right now.

The only lake you can really go to that's not down is Gaston. It's always full. Even Kerr is bad..you have to back your truck into the water to get the boat to float.
 
We used to drive around the bank when Lake Hickory was drawn down. IMO, we were welcome to do so as we picked up bottles, cans, buckets, old lawn mowers, etc; and nary a problem with the local LEO's then.............late '80's-early-'90's.
 
Pacfanweb said:
The only lake you can really go to that's not down is Gaston. It's always full. Even Kerr is bad..you have to back your truck into the water to get the boat to float.
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Lake Gaston is damn controlled, and used to drive the power plant, so as long as the whole river feeding into it dosn't dry up, it'll be fine.
 
dontoe said:
We used to drive around the bank when Lake Hickory was drawn down. IMO, we were welcome to do so as we picked up bottles, cans, buckets, old lawn mowers, etc; and nary a problem with the local LEO's then.............late '80's-early-'90's.
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You wreckless heathen!!!! How dare you desicrate the environment on which our survival depends!


dang, you are old.:flipoff2:
 
Interbasin transfers are supposed to be illegal east of the Mississippi (riparian rights states), but if you've got enough clout and political influence, you don't have to obey the law regarding water rights. Anybody here aware of the 100+ mile pipeline that Suffolk/Norfolk/Va Beach had built to rob Lake Gaston of water to feed their greedy overgrown asses? That they were powerful enough to override the state of NC's riparian claim to the water and managed to circumvent federal law to accomplish the interbasin transfer? This is one of the reasons Gaston has to be kept at or near full pond now. Probably see a lot more of this in the future.
 
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