Access Lake Norman From Mountain Island Lake (Huntersville, Catawba: rentals, purchase)

[jawilli1]

Hi, does anyone know if you can access lake norman, by boat, from Mountain Island Lake? I'm thinking of making a boat purchase and getting a wet slip in Mt. Holly, but want to be able to access Lake Norman without having to pull the boat out of the water... I'm new to the area so I'm not sure if it's possible given the dams that Duke put up when they filled in the lake...

Thanks,
J

[yantosh22]

No you can't. There is no boatable connection between the two lakes. You can go North of Mountain Island Lake on the Catawba River, but it stops at the Cowans Ford Dam which is how lake Norman was formed. BTW, there are no marinas on Mountain Island Lake. All boat slip rentals (if any) will be private.

This shows the end of the river from Mt. Island Lake. You really are not supposed to boat past the Hwy 73 bridge, but people do it. You risk getting hit by water if they open up the gates on the dam though an alarm is sounded before they do this. 1 Ft of water out of Lake Norman = 15 of water in Mt Island Lake.

Cowans Ford Dam - Google Maps

If you get a trailer for your boat, the closest public access to Lake Norman from there is Blythe Landing.

[Native_Son]