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Wakeboarding is definitely a board sport in a class of its own, due to several factors, with the most obvious being that other board sports generally do not require massive machinery (wake boats) in order to enjoy the sport! Of course some wakeboarders have fun using winch setups, but the primary method for wakeboarding is being towed by a wake boat.
Winches can get the job done for setting up pre-determined lines and courses, but for freestyle riding with variable speed and power, you really do need a high-power wake boat to optimize your wakeboarding experience. Once you have all the gear for wakeboarding the next question then becomes where to ride?
Everyone has their own respective watering holes for wakeboarding so to speak, but which are truly the best and most scenic wakeboarding spots in the USA? Well we set out to find out the answer to this question, and ended up compiling a nice little list of the best wakeboarding spots in the United States! For the benefit of wakeboarding fans everywhere, stick around and scroll through this list of some amazing wake spots in the US.
1 – Lake Lure, North Carolina
For one of the best east coast wakeboarding destinations in the USA, look no further than Lake Lure in North Carolina! This incredible wakesports destination is so much more than that; it is a vacation area complete with tons of lodging and amenities too. Rental equipment for wakeboarding is also available in this area, so even if you have an incomplete gear setup you can always rent whatever you need to complete your wakeboarding experience at Lake Lure.
The gorgeous rolling green North Carolina mountain scenery makes an exceptionally beautiful backdrop for enjoying some truly world-class wakeboarding. Be careful which time of year you are attending Lake Lure, NC for a wakeboarding trip though, because summer holiday times tend to see Lake Lure be extremely crowded and high-demand.
2 – Lake Powell, Arizona & Utah
As shown in the wakeboarding picture above, Lake Powell is not your average everyday wakeboarding location! It is one of the best wakeboarding lakes in the entire United States, and has the scenery and character to match that reputation. While it does take a higher wakeboarding skill level to move back into the tighter wall sections of Lake Powell, this can truly be some of the most exciting wakeboarding you can ever do, as evidenced by the photo above!
The thrill of flying through the tight rock walls of Lake Powell is really unmatched in almost any other wakeboarding spot in the US. The sensation of speed in these sections is hugely magnified by the closeness of the sidewalls, making it a high thrill for the more advanced wakeboarders who can navigate these sections. Of course, Lake Powell is not only about extreme wakeboarding and navigating the wall sections! It also has a vast open area where more beginning wakeboarders can relax and develop their skills in the beautiful scenery of Lake Powell.
3 – Bow Lake, Washington State
Washington State is home to some of the most remarkable scenic views in all of the Pacific Northwest, and Bow Lake is no exception to Washington’s incredible charm and rugged beauty. For people living in the PNW region of the USA, or are looking to take a vacation to a world-class wakeboarding lake destination, it is hard to go wrong with Bow Lake.
Although Washington has more of a reputation for rainy, gray weather, the fact of the matter is that Washington summers are gloriously warm, sunny, and inviting. Bow Lake is ringed with massive pine trees native to Washington, and the huge, forested mountain terrain that is so quintessentially Washington. In terms of wakeboarding skill level optimization, Bow Lake is the perfect all-around wakeboarding destination in the sense that there is plenty of room and the layout is open and calm on many days.
4 – Lake Shasta, California
California is such an amazing state for extreme sports lovers, as many of you probably already know. It is one of the only places you could ski/snowboard, skateboard, and do water sports all in the same day! For people who love the idea of this kind of extreme sports Triathlon, you can get your wakeboarding in at Lake Shasta, California if you are up in NorCal.
One of the more unique features of wakeboarding at the stunningly gorgeous Lake Shasta is that you get to see the white, snowy, shining Mount Shasta in the background while out wakeboarding! Mount Shasta is a colossal, towering mountain and when it still has snow on it from the winter and spring seasons, it provides some of the most incredible scenery of any wakeboarding location on earth, much less the continental USA.
5 – Lake Havasu, Arizona
Arizona’s Lake Havasu is renowned for being so much more than a wakeboarding spot! It is a vacation spot, a lake for general boating, and a place where many people come to unwind and forget about the stresses and hard work of life. In more recent times it has become a haven for young college students on spring break, so do be careful about when you time your wakeboarding trip to Lake Havasu, Arizona!
If you accidentally book a wakeboarding trip for the spring break season you could end up being overwhelmed by the crowding on the lake and surrounding areas. However, many other times of the wakeboarding season Lake Havasu is only mildly crowded surprisingly enough, and if you time your trip properly you could even have large sections of this massive lake all to yourself! So in this sense, more than other wakeboarding spots and destinations, you really do need to be careful about which time of year you attempt to wakeboard Lake Havasu.
