Mountain Lake Elderhostel

The recent elderhostel at Mountain Lake addressed the natural history of the lake area and of the Appalachia region. I enjoy visiting Mountain Lake whenever I can, and I have found that the elderhostel programs there are a good way of doing it. As usual, there were many interesting people to meet, things to learn, and activities to enjoy. The lake itself is down, so one of the activities that I always look forward to, fishing, was not possible.

The photograph above was taken from the was lake side in 2005. The lake now looks like a quarry, and the water is only 60 feet deep at its deepest location at the north end of the lake. When the lake is full it is nearly twice that depth. I was told that the lake loses 600 gallons of water per minute from a crack in its bottom.

The above photograph was taken from the north end of the lake in the summer of 2005. The lake then was down from 2004, but only slightly in comparison to today. What causes this fluctuation? It is a natural phenomenon that results from diminished precipitation and possibly recent earth movements in the area. Nevertheless, the lowered lake had only a minor impact on my enjoyment of the elderhostel and the beautiful resort at Mountain Lake.

The lodge is beautiful, the food is great, and the people are friendly. The weather also is very pleasant: it is at least ten degrees cooler than in Blacksburg and makes for very pleasant sleeping.

My last photograph for this post is from the elderhostel program orientation. Less than half the time was spent in a classroom, but classroom time is necessary if you want to be able to understand what you see outside. It's time well spent.