Oak Hollow Lake

Greensboro is something of the Minnesota of the Piedmont: while it may not have quite 10,000 lakes, it seems to have a lot. Most of the attention is focused on the watershed lakes — Brandt, Higgins and Townsend — north of town. But some of their smaller siblings offer worthy paddling as well. Oak Hollow Lake in High Point, for instance.

Oak Hollow Lake, at 800 acres, is probably best known for its less … serene activities. Drag boat races, for instance. Or circuit boat races, sailboat regattas, water ski tournaments and fishing tournaments. The lake is also popular with paddlers.

In part that’s because, like many man-made Piedmont lakes (Oak Hollow was built as a source of drinking water; it opened to recreation in 1972) this one is more narrow fingers than main channel. Those fingers tend to discourage the drag boat racers while at the same time giving the peace-seeking paddler up-close-and-personal encounters with nature. The lake’s location within town makes it accessible, and you won’t just be sharing the water with motorboats: the lake is host to the Oak Hollow Sailing Club and Sunfish sailboats are rented on site in spring and summer.

And if the name Oak Hollow sounds vaguely familiar, the park is also home to the noted Oak Hollow Golf Course. Good luck getting your clubs in your hatch.

More info

Access

Getting there from downtown Greensboro
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Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 25 minutes from downtown Greensboro
Time to complete: 1-2 hours
Address: 3400 N Centennial St.
City: High Point
State: N.C.
Zip: 27265
Latitude: 36.0078
Longitude: 79.5977