MILLS RIVER, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Henderson County has regained a recreational river spot, now open for public use at the former site of Lazy Otter Outfitters in Mills River, N.C.
The access point, dubbed Lazy Otter River Access, was developed by regional conservation group MountainTrue in collaboration with Lazy Otter, who leased the site to the nonprofit in June 2026 after shutting down operations in 2024.
The access point is located at 10 Banner Farm Road, Mills River, at mile 45 of the French Broad Paddle Trail.
Reviving river access
According to Matt Evans, the founder of Lazy Otter, the MountainTrue collaboration will keep Henderson County easily navigable for all river-users. The reopened access point provides a mid-point between the Horse Shoe Boating Access Area and Westfeldt Park, an 11-mile stretch of unbroken river now divided into 3.5-mile and 7.5-mile chunks.
“Henderson County has some of the prettiest stretches on the river, especially the Horse Shoe Bend where it curves far away from any roads, so I’m grateful to MountainTrue for going to the effort to keep it easily accessible,” said Evans. “The team there cares a lot about not just the health of the river, but also keeping it as a valuable recreational and economic resource. I think Henderson County will do well to support their efforts.”
Jack Henderson, French Broad Paddle Trail manager and MountainTrue employee, said that the motivation behind the river access reinvigoration was predominantly to increase recreation opportunities for Henderson County residents.
“First and foremost, we’re interested in expanding and establishing public access for boaters and anglers,” said Henderson. “Something on their own front.”
The Lazy Otter River Access will also allow MountainTrue and its partners to more easily tackle sections of the river in need of clean-up.
“After Helene, in general, a lot of our waterways around here were hit really hard in terms of trash and debris and things like that,” said Henderson. “There’s still a lot of small-scale, hand-pickable trash that can be gotten from boats and all that, so having additional access points makes that work easier for our volunteers and staff partners that do that, because they don’t have to carry out what they collect as far.”
One organization MountainTrue partnered with in reviving the access point was the Community Foundation of Henderson County, a nonprofit organization connecting philanthropic donors with community vitality. Lazy Otter River Access was funded in part by a $10,000 field of interest grant through CFHC.
The grant was “designed to support environmental projects and projects that helped make Henderson County a good place to live,” said CFHC Senior Program Officer Kris Merritt. “We defined that as recreational opportunities, clean riverways and the environmental aspect of being able to clean up with Helene debris and everything, too.”
The MountainTrue lease will run through this Labor Day, after which Lazy Otter will decide whether or not to renew the partnership. Evans said that the future of the spot was dependent on the development of the Ecusta Trail greenway.
“As for Lazy Otter and the property in the future, that’s yet to be determined,” Evans said. “The first phase of construction of the Ecusta Trail stopped about a quarter mile short of us, so we wouldn’t see any additional traffic from it until the next phase is done. When that happens, though, the former Lazy Otter property will be in a really great spot. I think we’re the single prettiest stretch of the whole greenway, where it runs right along the river and on the other side of the ridge from the highway.”
The Lazy Otter founder said that there were no specific plans in place yet, but that he was open to proposals and suggestions.
In the meantime, MountainTrue is excited to spend the summer with Lazy Otter.
“Our target was hitting in the primary paddling season, and we’ll look at options to extend that, if and how we’re able to,” Henderson said.
As for the public, Lazy Otter River Access is waiting for you now.
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