Lake James
- Area
- 25 km²
- Tonight
- 42°FFair · Wind 2 mph NNE
Lake James is a lake at 364 m above sea level in North Carolina, United States, 25 km² in area and 17.0 km long.
All facts
- Surface elevation
- 364 m
- Length
- 17.0 km
- Shoreline
- 216.5 km
Lake James in numbers
Shoreline from OpenStreetMap.
- Shoreline
- 216.5 km
Lake James 3D map
Drag to orbit · click, then scroll to zoom (or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll) · One finger scrolls the page · two fingers orbit and zoom · 19 × 19 km
Lake James terrain and contours
50 m contours from the USGS 3DEP 10 m terrain model. Click two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.Tap two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.
Lake James elevation profile
West → east through the centre
Lake James weather
Tonight · Fair · 42°F (6°C) · Wind 2 mph NNE
Lake James forecast for about 366 m.
- Tonight42°–2 mph NNE
- Sat38°63°–3 mph NE
- Sun38°65°–3 mph NE
- Mon40°71°–0 mph
- Tue43°73°–1 mph NNE
- Wed44°69°1%1 mph ENE
- Thu44°73°1%1 mph ENE
Forecast data: NOAA National Weather Service, public domain, model run Oct 23, 23:25 UTC.
Camping & parking near Lake James
Campsites, parking, trailheads and mountain huts mapped in OpenStreetMap around Lake James, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Check access, fees and permits locally.
Nearest parking
0.4 km N
Nearest campsite
Paddy's Creek Drive-In Campground At Lake James
All mapped places 6
| Place | Distance |
|---|---|
| Parking | 0.4 km N |
| Parking | 0.4 km N |
| Parking | 0.4 km NNE |
| Paddy's Creek Drive-In Campground At Lake JamesCampsite | 1.1 km NNE |
| Long Arm Boat-In CampgroundCampsite | 2.0 km ENE |
| Catawba River Walk-In CampgroundCampsite | 2.6 km SW |
Slope
Share of the 19 × 19 km view by steepness, from the 10 m model.
Mostly gentle: 70% of the view is under 15°.
- Steeper than 30°
- 3.2% of the 361 km² view
- Relief in view
- 817 m low point 311 m
Land cover
ESA WorldCover 10 m classification of the same area.
Snow & ice means glaciers and year-round snow (a yearly average), not today’s snow cover.
Wildlife seen nearby
Sightings of the most-seen species on iNaturalist (research grade) within 9.5 km; 1,041 species recorded in all.
Sightings per species 6
- Galax84
- Eastern Fence Lizard78
- Mountain laurel64
- Partridgeberry47
- Striped wintergreen43
- Table Mountain pine42
Where Lake James sits
- Region
- North Carolina19United States932North America1,313
Nearby places
Lake Tahoma↑17 km W
Mount MitchellPeak · 2,037 m↑34 km W
Watauga Lake↑65 km N
Lake Norman↑92 km ESE
Cold MountainPeak · 1,838 m↑95 km WSW
More 1
Lake James downloads: topographic map, heightmap, STL 3D model and DEM
Free files made in your browser from this page's terrain data. No sign-up; credit the sources below.
Print & wall
3D printing & 3D apps
GIS & GPS
Free to use with credit: see the data sources
Data sources
- Terrain
- U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program (public domain)
- Imagery
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026 (scene 2026-09-27)
- Land cover
- © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium
- Facts
- Wikidata (CC0)
- Camping & parking, Geometry
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
- Protected area
- USGS Gap Analysis Project, PAD-US (public domain)
- Wildlife
- iNaturalist community observations, counts only
- Panorama
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Forecast
- Weather forecast from NOAA National Weather Service (public domain)