“The Deep Creek Deluge” – September 5th As we chill out after a busy summer at Deep Creek Lake/Wisp Resort and prepare for the epic paddleboard tour, the weather channel is forecasting flash floods for Western Maryland for the evening. The extended forecast for the rest of the week does not look much better: 6”- 10” of rainfall over the next 3 days. What a way to start out on a five-state, 24-lakes river stand up paddleboard adventure. The only positive from the weather report is that Hurricane Katia is most likely going to make a turn to the right and not come ashore in North Carolina later in the week. A friend from my days at Snowshoe Mountain, Jeff Gee, is joining me for the first 4 days of the tour. This tour is all about paddleboarding and relaxing. I am not going to let a little rain (no, a lot of rain) ruin the epic adventure.
Our evening paddle launched at Deep Creek Lake State Park. This is one of the nicest parks in the Maryland Park system. We launched at the beach area, which is a great place to learn the sport of paddleboarding. Wisp Resort operates the beach concession at the park and offers paddleboard rentals, tours and instruction. This area of the lake offers a great 1 – 2 hour paddle to the end of Carmel Cove. Carmel Cove is a no wake area (powerboats must make no wakes) and the reward at the end of the cove is a narrow water trail into a marsh and past a couple of beaver dams. The water is clear and you can see some of the tree stumps from when the lake was built back in the 1920s. The air temperature was a cool 58 with heavy rain and the water temperature was 72. The water was calm, a rarity for the last unofficial day of summer; the cool rainy weather has even sent the locals of Deep Creek Lake seeking shelter. As I drove to the state park, even the large end of season party at the Honi Honi was dampened with the rain. Hopefully the weather will improve later in the week; otherwise it is going to be the Soggy Bottom Stand Up Paddleboard Tour.
The photos were provided by another friend from the days at Snowshoe and now at Wisp Resort, John McCracken. We tried to convince John to join us for the rest of the tour, but to no avail.
We are all smiles despite the rain.
Launch sites: Deep Creek Lake State Park, $3 park fee for in state visitors/$4 out of state visitors
Paddleboard rental: Wisp Resort, Deep Creek Marina, High Mountain Sports
Nearby lodging: Wisp Resort, Inn at Deep Creek, Will o Wisp, Railey Mountain Lake Vacations, Long & Foster Vacation Rentals
Dining options: Will o Wisp (don’t miss pasta night on Wednesday nights) DC’s at Wisp Resort (great steaks & breakfast) Mountain State Brewery (wood fired pizza ) Trader’s Landing (coffee & tea) Katie’s (ice cream) Crab Shack (great crab soup) Canoe on the Run (great sandwiches)
Other area activities: Swallow Falls, Wisp Resort Adventure Park (canopy tours, ziplines, mountain coaster, mountain biking, off road Segway & mountain buggy tours) ASCI (mountain top recalculating whitewater center) kayaking & rafting on Yough River.