Bear Lake Reserve

We spent final week at Bear Lake Reserve in western North Carolina. Right here is the primary of three recaps of our journey together with the place we stayed, the lodge, and lake life.

Wait a second, this isn’t Bald Head Island?! We pivoted our household trip from the seaside to the mountains on the final minute when Hurricane Debby threatened exhausting rain and wind throughout our time scheduled on Bald Head. We went as far south and west as we may that made driving cheap and to get out of the trail of the storm. Kudos to dad and my sister for pulling it collectively the day earlier than we left!

We made the proper alternative although as a result of we had PERFECT climate for our week at Bear Lake Reserve! My sister’s pals really useful it, and what a gem this place is. Right here’s the recap of our household journey.

Bear Lake Reserve is a mountain resort about an hour west of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s fairly actually in the midst of nowhere surrounding Bear Lake, which is a man-made reservoir. So far as lakes go, this one is on the small facet, however there was loads of area for boating, swimming, and fishing.

Bear Lake Reserve is a sprawling resort with houses, condos, and villas for each full-time owners and company who lease them out like us.

The Bears

There are apparently numerous bears who reside among the many reserve. We heard there was a household of them on our villa’s porch simply the week earlier than! I used to be a bit of scared to go working alone or out after darkish, however I sadly didn’t see any bears whereas we had been there! Thomas and Mazen noticed a household on the best way house from golf.

Getting There

The drive from Charlottesville was about 7 hours with a number of stops, however all of us agreed the mountain views made the drive extra nice than the drive to the seaside.

There’s a greeter’s cottage if you enter the resort that will provide you with a pleasant property map proper if you start to lose cell service! We discovered the workers to all be so pleasant and useful throughout the entire resort.

It was a couple of 20 minute curvy drive from the greeter’s cottage to our villa, however the views on the prime had been value it!!

Our Villa

We rented Saddle Notch Villa #7 which had attractive views of the mountains and the even the lake. We LOVED the porches!! The villa had 4 bedrooms and a sofa/TV/household room that Mazen slept in, so it was the proper measurement for us. It was superbly embellished, stocked, and so good for our fam.

We had a fireplace pit that was nice for s’mores at night time. It’s shared with different villa company/house owners however we made pals with some good households on the market!

Groceries

Be aware you’ll need to pack all your groceries as a result of there isn’t actually a retailer close by. We introduced virtually every part we would have liked for staples, and ended up doing an Instacart order from the Ingles within the subsequent city for dinner elements one night time. We didn’t have an ideal expertise with our driver who left them on the cottage as an alternative of delivering them, however the good workers introduced them as much as us. The cottage and low store do have a number of issues like milk and snacks for those who want some fast issues.

First Evening Dinner

Breakfast + Lunch with a view

Ready For The Cousins

My sister and her household didn’t arrive till Monday night time, so there was a lot anticipation for his or her arrival!

Taco Evening

We introduced taco elements from house and made them for dinner on night time 2.

Getting Round

We had been a bit of bummed to seek out that the hike to the pool and seaside was actually a hike, nonetheless, many people did this 0.8 mile hike/stroll day by day. There have been two wooded trails you may take or you may stroll on the street. Happening wasn’t unhealthy, however arising wasn’t for the faint of coronary heart. It wasn’t unhealthy with a small backpack, however you’re not going to need to carry pool gear or coolers up and down, so we often had 1-2 automobiles drive down with the gear and the people selected whether or not to go on foot or within the automotive.

The doorway to the decrease path

Or you may stroll on the street. We didn’t let the youngsters go alone.

It was a hike again up!

The Lodge

A few mile down the mountain is the attractive lodge! The pool was wonderful, and the youngsters cherished it! There was a waterslide and sizzling tubs, they usually heated the pool on our one chilly day. There was additionally a poolside bar the place we loved tropical drinks and some lunches.

There was additionally a health heart I used a number of occasions, a sauna and steam room, locker rooms and naturally a pleasant restaurant the place we ate twice. That they had numerous little actions for teenagers, however most of them price additional so we didn’t find yourself doing any.

The Lake

The lake was completely beautiful! Mazen and Thomas rented some kayaks on the primary day and spent a lot of the day fishing. Sadly, they didn’t catch something. We didn’t see many fish swimming both (a lot to my delight!) so this should not be an enormous fishing lake. It was pretty for swimming and tubing although.