Category: Paddle Bob

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Paddle Bob

Paddling Sinking Creek at sunrise

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I woke up early today and drove down to Concord Cove Park since I still had my kayak on the truck from the Fontana paddles earlier this week. Concord Cove is about a 12 mile roundtrip paddle from the house, which pretty much is as far as I can go in one push, so putting in there gave me the ability to start exploring some new stretches of Loudon.

But instead of heading out onto Loudon I paddled past the Concord Yacht Club and into Sinking Creek. I spent a few hours exploring there, cruising past the Concord and Fox Road marinas and up into the farthest reaches of the creek. At one point, I had to wait for a river otter to swim under the Emory Church Road Bridge before I could enter, ducking my head to avoid scraping it as I paddled through. The area up past the bridge is awesome. Very remote feel despite how much it’s in the middle of everything. In addition to the otter, the highlight of the trip was watching an osprey chase off a Canada goose. Not sure what the goose did to earn the Osprey’s wrath, but it was pretty fun to watch.

Total paddle was almost 12 miles roundtrip. More photos. I’m thinking I’ll leave the kayak up in the garage for a while to encourage me to explore more sections of Loudon and its associated tributaries …

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Paddle Bob

Back in the kayak: Fontana Lake

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I screwed up my back a few months ago and have been getting in the kayak sparingly. This week, I finally felt good enough to jump in the boat again. It helped that my buddy Jim had the week off and wanted to head up the Fontana Lake in the Smokey Mountains to paddle. It’s one of my favorite spots and I was thrilled to go back.

We drove up on Monday in a rainstorm and things weren’t looking good, but after we arrived at Fontana the weather eased and we decided to put in at Fontana Village Marina. From there, we headed up Eagle Creek amid dramatic skies and a bunch of kids in canoes. It was a nice, though tiring, paddle. All told, we went about 9 miles.

After a hard rain Tuesday night, we awoke to cloudy skies and headed up to Cable Cove and put in there. I love this put in. It’s remote, and it puts you in the heart of Fontana. We were out for a few hours and covered about five miles. I saw one canoe and a couple power boats the entire time. And the Smokey Mountains made it very clear how they got their name. The clouds and mist rising up out of the trees were amazing.

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Paddle Bob

Wake-up call

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As I paddle past groggy, grumpy herons, I see an osprey take flight at the entry to Duck Cove. I hope  this means they’re nesting somewhere in the trees up on Saltpeter Bluff.

It’s a perfect morning. Sunrise is shooing away the fog that settled on the water overnight, and I realize how long it’s been since I’ve been on the water at daybreak. To my mind, it’s without a doubt the best time to paddle. Dorsal fins slice through pollen-stained water. A muskrat swims parallel to me along the shore. Kingfishers, titmice and swallows percolate overhead. To think, I almost opted for another slog on the elliptical instead of going down to the dock and dropping the kayak in the water …

I decide to paddle over to Prater Flats, crossing the main channel of Loudon and hugging the south shore until I reach the entrance to the Flats. From there, I head up to International Harbor Marina (not sure what’s international about it) in Friendsville. I paddle around Prater Flats for a while before deciding to head home. All told, it’s 9.7 miles of bliss. I can’t wait to do it again.

Here’s a GPS/Google Earth image of my route …

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