LKN Life: Lake Norman

Lake Norman, mapped the way you actually use it: from the water.

ROUTES THAT FOLLOW THE CHANNELS Pick where you want to go and get a route that follows the marked channels around the peninsulas instead of a straight line across land. Distance, time on the water, and your arrival time.

This is an estimate along marked channel buoys, not a navigation aid. It does not show depth, shoals, or no-wake zones. Keep your eyes up.

THIRTY YEARS OF THE LAKE FROM ABOVE Switch on satellite and drag the year slider back through state aerial imagery to 1993. Coves fill in, marinas appear, the shoreline changes. It is the same lake you were just looking at, decades earlier.

CONDITIONS THAT ANSWER THE QUESTION Lake level and water surface temperature beside the hourly and ten-day forecast. Sunrise, sunset, and how long until dark. Algal bloom advisories from NC DEQ while they are active, and nothing at all when they are not, because an advisory bar that always says "no advisories" is one people stop reading.

WHERE TO GO Marinas, boat ramps, gas docks, waterfront dining, ship's stores, boat rentals, charters and lessons. Plus the places that are on no other map: anchor spots, sandbars and coves, with what locals know about them.

IT WORKS WITHOUT SIGNAL The map, your saved places and your boat's details are kept on the device. The moment you need them is usually the moment you have no bars.

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG Your location, an emergency call, and the details a tow captain or an insurer will ask for, all on one screen and all available offline.

FREE, AND NO ACCOUNT NEEDED The map, routing, conditions and destinations all work signed out. An account only adds saved places and your boat.

Built by people who are on this lake. Every measurement says where it came from.