Waterfall Wednesday on Bear Creek Lake
ipt> It's a rare summer day when the temperatures are mild and the humidity is low, but that was the case Wednesday of this week, just one week past the summer solstice. I've been interested in a trip out to Bear Creek Lake to explore some of the local waterfalls for some time, and the nice weather and my availability coincided at just the right time to make this trip possible. Bear Creek Lake is the largest (and the second constructed) of four reservoirs known as the East Fork Lakes in Jackson County, North Carolina located near highway NC 181, the other three are Cedar Cliff Lake , Wolf Creek Lake , and Tanasee Creek Lake . Cedar Cliff Lake is upstream from Bear Creek Lake, and both are along the Tuckasegee River. Wolf Creek Lake and Tanasee Creek Lake both feed creeks that empty into the Tuckasegee River. All four reservoirs were built in the East Fork area of the Tuckasegee River in the early 1950s by Nantahala Power Company , then a subsidiary of Alcoa, to produce el