Day Visitors

You may visit Mountain Lake for the day, year round! 

Trail Access:

If you would like to plan a day visit during the months of May - October, you may park in the Hotel parking lot for a $3.00 parking fee or in the MLC trail access lot located 1 mile past the hotel entrance, on the right.  There is a $3.00 per car donation that can be made using the feeder tube located next to the kiosk. 

Please obtain a parking tag from the kiosk and place your $3.00 in the envelope.  We encourage you to provide us with your contact information so that you may receive email updates from The Mountain Lake Conservancy.

If you would like to come up between the months of November - April, please park in the Mountain Lake Conservancy Trail Access lot mentioned above.  We have trail maps and literature available in the Welcome Center located in the parking lot and in The Conservancy Visitor's Center located next to the gift shop.

You may also purchase a Year-Round Trail Access Pass for only $20.00.  We can mail this to you or you may pick one up in the Conservancy Visitor's Center.  Please call 540.626.7121 x444 for information or email mlc@mountainlakehotel.com.

We have new waterproof topographical trail maps available at any of the locations listed below: 

• The Mountain Lake Conservancy Visitor's Center
• Recreation Office 
• East Coasters Bike Shop
• Blue Ridge Mountain Sports
• Backcountry Ski and Sports
• Tangent Outdoors

We do not have picnicking facilities at Mountain Lake and or allow pets at Mountain Lake. (Doggie Day Care Information)

Please abide by all posted rules and regulations.  We do not have any overnight camping facilities or allow campfires on our property.  Click here for area campgrounds in Giles County.

You are welcome to tour our facilities, including our gift shop and gallery, you can even make lunch reservations in our hotel dining room between May - October.

New for Day Guests! 

Orienteering - A local volunteer, Mark Lattanzi, has built an orienteering course at Mountain Lake.  Please click here for course information.  You may obtain a course map at the Recreation Office in the main parking lot, be sure to bring your own compass! Geocaching - There are a variety of geocaches hidden at Mountain Lake - check out www.geocaching.com for information.

Frisbee Disc Golf - Local volunteers have designed and implemented a new disc golf course at our Horse barn - it consists of 9 INNOVA-quality holes.  Click here for disc golf information. To access the disc golf course, please park at our trail access lot located 1 mile past the hotel entrance.  You will find a course overview map with par distances and course layout.

Cross Country Skiing - Be sure to visit during our winter months!  Mountain Lake receives ample snowfall ideal for cross country skiing.

Click here to watch the recent cross-country skiing video of Mountain Lake.  For XC-Skiing updates, please become a fan of the Mountain Lake Conservancy on Facebook or join the NRV Cross Country Skiing (XC) Google Group.