Harpeth River

Harpeth River                                                                11.8 miles                  1050.8 miles total

Avg Speed 3.7 mph, Max Speed 7.7 mph, Duration 3:11, Temperature 70s
with 615 LOL group - 12 total

Harpeth River - Tree Rescue

Harpeth River                                                     10 miles                              1039 miles total

Average Speed 3.3mph, Maximum Speed 7.5 mph, 3 hours, 70-75degrees
Water Level 2.4 feet

Drakes Creek - Strainer Fun

Drakes Creek                                                             10.3 miles                    1029 total miles


3:30 time, 3.0 mph - average speed, 6.7 mph - maximum speed
with Bowling Group
64-68degrees, cloudy & overcast skies

There were 16 of us that all had the same idea - get out and enjoy the day!  Although it was overcast, it wasn't cold for an early February day.  The water level was at 7.5 feet which apparently is about the lowest level that the Bowling Green will go out paddling.  There were several challenging spots.  The first challenge was a huge tree laying across the river where we had to lay back in our boats to get under.  Another 'fun' spot was a strainer across the river with a narrow access on the left side of the river (about 6 feet) through some other downed trees.  Actually, both of these spots were really fun for me, and probably everybody else.  There were 2-3 drops over some rocks and the water always came splashing up into my console, cockpit and onto me!  Even with all of the twists, drops, strainers - nobody flipped.  Just another great day of paddling!

Waiting for my turn to do the limbo under the fallen tree!

Yellow Creek - A Blue and Brown Day!

Yellow Creek                                           6 miles                         1018.6 total miles

Average Speed 2.7 mph, Max Speed 5.3 mph, 2 hours 13 minutes paddling time
50 degrees, Blue Skies

For February, it turned out to be a perfect day for kayaking.  Yellow Creek's low water level made the trip somewhat ominous as brown sticks stuck out of the brown water against blue skies.  The water was probably the clearest we've ever seen on this small creek.  At times, we could see the bottom 3 feet below us.  We passed lots of fishermen, apparently we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the day!  As we got to the end of our 3 miles, there were a few twists and it made for a fun struggle against the current and even more fun when we turned around and were able to pick up speed.

Ichetucknee Springs

Ichetucknee Springs                          9.9 miles                   1012.6 miles total

3.1 mph Avg. Speed, 7.8 mph Max Speed, 3:11 paddle time

This is an absolutely beautiful river and I had really hoped to see manatees on this river like we did when we were here 2 years ago.  But, we had no such luck.  The water here is so very clear and with the sunny skies, the trees and the shore line provided mirror reflections for most of the trip.  Again, the river was low and we saw the cypress knobs sticking up all along the shore.  We paddled 4 miles to the take out and were quite disappointed.  Apparently, some in the group had stayed up too late drinking a bit too much the night before (or maybe it was the guide) and this was going to be the end of our trip.  Eight of us banded together and decided we would paddle further.  Scotty and Dick shuttled a car to the end, came back to meet us and we paddled 6 more miles.  We were so glad because this is really a beautiful river.  The Ichetucknee then meets the Santa Fe River which is a wider river.  Along this river, we enjoyed looking at the many different kinds of homes built along the shore.  I especially enjoyed this section of the trip as I was able to talk with 3 of the ladies more (Tony, Angela and Beverly).  Beverly is a kayak trip leader and leads trips into Crystal Bay to see the manatees where she also volunteers to protect the manatees. This trip was a perfect (but too short) end to our quick little Florida kayak trek.