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Nantahala Dam, North Carolina
Nantahala Dam on the Nantahala River in North Carolina.
Open in BirdTrout35.199242, -83.653174 · Macon County · NID NC00371. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Nantahala River 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
- Duke Energy Public Utility
- Purpose
- Hydroelectric
- Completed
- 1942
- Type
- Rockfill
- Height
- 250 ft
- Length
- 1042 ft
- Spillway
- Controlled, 159 ft wide
- Storage
- 126,000 acre-ft · 1,605 acre pool
- Drainage
- 108 sq mi
- Condition
- Satisfactory · High hazard potential
- Status
- Normal Operations
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
- Wine Spring Creek 0.64 mi from the dam · Wild Trout Waters · wild (NCWRC)
- Garrison Branch 0.97 mi from the dam · Wild Trout Waters · wild (NCWRC)
- Lee Branch 0.99 mi from the dam · Wild Trout Waters · wild (NCWRC)
- Indian Camp Branch 1.37 mi from the dam · Wild Trout Waters · wild (NCWRC)
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
No USGS temperature gauge we read reports within 20 miles of this dam, so this page has no live number for it. That is a gap in the gauge network, not a judgement about the water.
Getting to it
- Rocky Branch 1.2 mi · boat launch · Nantahala Lake
- Choga Road 2.3 mi · boat launch · Nantahala Lake
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
- NOC Outfitter's Store 9.8 mi · Bryson City · +18284887230
- Carolina Outfitters 9.8 mi
- Casters Fly Shop 15.4 mi · Franklin
- Tuckaseegee Fly Shop 27.1 mi · Sylva
- Highland Hiker 31.9 mi · Cashiers