Kayak 8/15- Found a Creek on the Harpeth River

Found a Creek on the Harpeth River                                     10.3 miles
Put in at Highway 70 Bridge, Take Out at Harris Street Bridge
Temperature started at 79, ended day at 85 degrees
Elapsed Time 3:32, Avg Speed 3.9 mph, Max Speed 16.8 mph

It's been very hot and humid, and we've had no rain.  But, Nashville had a sudden storm and flash floods, and that water has to go somewhere.  It ended up going into the Harpeth River and the river rose from 1 foot to 3 foot.  With the temperatures dropping and less humidity, we headed to the Harpeth River.  I had intended to do a blog entry about the 'hazards' on a river.  But, it was such an absolutely beautiful day and we also were able to paddle up a stream that we had never been up before.  We were also able to paddle directly up to the falls - first time ever.  So, here are photos instead of our beautiful day.

Look how clear the water is in this stream!

Climbed under this fallen tree and we found a beautiful stream.

This gar was also enjoying the stream.

Look at that huge tree. Nature is amazing.

Left a cairn.  

With no humidity, the colors even seemed crisper.

Fun by the waterfall.

We both enjoyed paddling right in front of it!

WooHoo!

Visit - 8/7 Joe

 Coming through Maryland, we made a quick stop to see Joe and take him out to dinner.  We also took his roommate JP, and two of the staff.  Jemi is sitting next to Joe and JP's aide is with him.  I just can't say enough good things about the staff at this group home.  They take very good care of Joe, and more importantly, they're always kind to him.

Kayaking - 8/6 Charles River, Boston

 Kayaking the Charles River                                                                        6.4 miles

After taking down the campsite, we drove down to Cambridge, Massachusetts where we launched our kayaks at Manhattan Beach.  We paddled 3 miles up towards Boston and it was a very cool paddle as we were able to see Cambridge on the left and Boston on the right.  We paddled against the wind and the water didn't seem too choppy.  When we passed the MIT boat launch, we saw lots of kids out practicing sailing on small boats.  There must have been about 20 or 30 sailboats and they were definitely having fun.    We went across the river and paddled into the Esplanade where it was really calm as it's sheltered from the main river.  This appears to be a well used area as we saw lots of runners, bikers, people on scooters and people just sitting on the grass.  The river banks were covered with wildflowers which the city must have planted.  When we got back in to the main river channel, we saw even more kids sailing - older kids on bigger boats.  We passed three large 'ducks' - the Boston Ducks Tour company.  We paddled up to the Museum of Science where we saw a wall.  We didn't go any further and we're thinking this may be the location of the locks that we had read about.  We turned around and with the wind at our backs, it was a faster return trip.  We don't often paddle with cityscapes so we enjoyed the scenery on this paddle.  

Put-in, we parked in a parking lot here.