Raquel S

Review of YMCA of Greater Charlotte--Lak...

My review is only for the lake access, not for the...

My review is only for the lake access, not for the gym or workout facility.

I saw on Instagram they have lake access on Saturdays from 11am-4pm so I came today to check it out. My membership is at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte but I had no problem visiting this location!

If you drive to the left past the main building, you'll see the lake access area and there is a small parking lot where you can park. There is a covered pavilion with picnic tables so you can bring a picnic lunch. There are also bathrooms and dressing rooms available for changing. Nothing fancy but it's nice that they are there!

There is a small cove area where you can kayak, canoe, stand up paddle, or play on two inflatable climbing things in the water. They require everyone to wear a life vest which they can supply if you don't have your own. There was no cost to use any of the equipment!

On a crowded day they ask you to limit the time you have the equipment to an hour, but on a slow day they don't care how long you use it. For the swimmers and kids, every hour they call everyone out of the water for 15 minutes, but kayakers can stay in the water.

There are also plenty of lifeguards on duty. I counted at least 7. They station 2 lifeguards in kayaks at each of the inflatable things to watch the kids from both sides. One lifeguard stands on the dock and watches the kayakers in the cove. They even have a lifeguard ski boat that they send out to watch the kayakers who paddle outside of the cove. I felt very safe when I was there!

This is definitely an activity place and not a beach for laying out and tanning.

(Lake access is during the summer months, first day was mid-June 2020, Saturdays 11am-4pm)