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Laurel Lake Dam, North Carolina

Laurel Lake Dam on N. Fork Laurel Creek in North Carolina.

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36.1708, -81.5282 · Watauga County · NID NC04650. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.

What the runs do here

N. Fork Laurel Creek carries no anadromous run on our corridor map, so this page makes no claim about salmon or steelhead at this dam. What it sits on is coldwater — resident trout water — and the section below says which classification says so.

The structure

Owner
Powder Horn Mountain Property Owners Association Private
Purpose
Recreation
Completed
1978
Type
Earth
Height
33 ft
Length
245 ft
Spillway
None
Storage
28 acre-ft · 2 acre pool
Drainage
0 sq mi
Condition
Not Rated · Low hazard potential

From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.

The water above and below

Coldwater designation is the state's own classification. A dam sits on one river and this list is every designated reach within a mile and a half of it, so a tributary mouth shows up here too.

Water right now

GaugeDistanceTempFlow
Yadkin River at Patterson, NC 12.5 mi 64.6 °F 43 cfs
Yadkin River at Patterson, Nc 12.5 mi 64.6 °F 43 cfs

Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not.

Getting to it

Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.

Fly shops nearby

The river this is on

Open this water on the map →Every reach around it coloured by today's water temperature, with the access points along it.