Lake Junaluska
Posted By auntie on March 28, 2022
3.76 miles; 276 ft. total elevation gain; Waynesville, NC
This walk had been on my radar for a while now, so I finally made the trip out to Waynesville to visit. It definitely qualifies as an “Easy Walk,” in that it’s pretty flat, and all either paved or sidewalks, and even has a shortcut you can take to make it shorter.
Geese!
I came through this section of the trail thinking to myself that people sure don’t pick up after their dogs around here, and then I came across the actual poop culprits! Very poopy culprits!
Nicely marked
This is really an ideal “Easy Walk.” They don’t even allow bicycle traffic.
Shortcut
As I mentioned above, there’s a lovely shortcut to avoid doing the full 3 3/4 miles—this pedestrian bridge that crosses the lake.
Smooth going
Some lovely mountain views can be had here, as well. But that’s kind of par for the course here in Western North Carolina. I believe in this case we’re looking at the Great Smoky Mountains.
More locals
I was eyed rather suspiciously by this swan. “Honest, dude! Just passing through!”
The trail passes through a rose garden at one point, although I was there much too early in the season to see any blooms. And there’s a visitors’ center with bathrooms and a small coffee shop and gift shop, as well. It’d be a lovely spot to spend a summer afternoon.
You can find out more about this trail from this Lake Junaluska website (includes a pdf map of the walking trail). As always, click the image above for details about this hike although you won’t be able to download a gps track, because I forgot to turn on gaia.gps. Oops.
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