Kayak 5/24- Red River - Memorial Day 2020

11.7 mph
Blue skies, in the 80s
With Scotty, me, Robin, Jim
Put in at TWRA at 10:46, Take out after 3:00 army Red River Canoe
Avg speed 3,5 mph, fastest speed 8.1 mphRain was predicted, but it never came (just like the last 2 days. Personally we think that the meteorologists are just publishing old west reports during the pandemic).

It’s memorial day weekend so we expected large crowds.
But what we didn’t know is that during a pandemic I’m in tort memorial day weekend the crowds are even larger than ever. I have never seen the parking lot so full. I also noticed that the red River Canoe shuttle is absolutely full of people and there was not one single mask on the customers or the employees. For reference Foggy Bottom canoe on the Harpeth River has advertised that all customers and shuttles and all the employees will be wearing masks during transactions. They also stated that they would be limiting the number of people on the shuttle buses. I did wear my mask, although I probably would have been OK as it was just the four of us in the truck and I know that Robin and Jim have been limiting their exposure. When we got to the TWR a boat ramp, once again the parking lot was full and there were a lot of people on the ramp with their boats. We were able to take our boats at a safe distance away from them down the side of the ramp and get quickly into the water So I did not feel too vulnerable. I had considered counting the number of boats and kayaks that we passed during the day but quickly realized this would’ve been an all day ordeal. I would estimate that we passed 200 individual votes. The great thing about being on the river in a kayak is that it’s very easy to social distance yourself. When we came upon a group of people, we were able to quickly Kayak passed them. Every sandbar that we passed had a group of people stopped there. Fortunately we know of a small crate that goes off the red river and we are able to paddle up there for our lunch break. It is nice to see people out in nature enjoying themselves, but in a selfish way I wish they weren’t all out there. One of the things I like about kayaking is hearing the sounds of nature, the solitude and not the radios. As usual though it was a wonderful day of kayaking, probably even more so as we have been in the house for so longMaybe one Thing that will happen as a result of the pandemic is that people will enjoy being out in nature and not in crowds as much. Time will tail.

Kayaking - Burgess Falls

 Burgess Falls                                                                    4.4 miles

1:30 moving time, 2:23 elapsed time, avg speed 2.9 mph

We typically don't drive 2 hours to go for such a short paddle, but this is a pandemic and nothing is normal!  We knew this was a pretty paddle and since it was such a nice day, we decided to go for it.  We parked at Cane Hollow Road which has room for about 12 cars.  There were 2 other cars there when we arrived.  We unloaded the kayaks on the sandy/rocky shore and headed across the river.  The river was nice and smooth as we headed upstream.  The water was like glass in one spot which was really cool since the cottonwood trees were dropping 'cotton' onto the surface.  We could paddle through trees as the water was above their trunks.  We could hear the waterfall before we saw it.  When you turn in the bend, it makes for a magnificent sight.  This is the first huge waterfall where we've actually been able to paddle up to it.  We could see hikers at the top on the trail above, and there were a few kayakers in the water with us.  We found a place where we could pull our boats up onto some tree roots and it made for a perfect lunch spot where we could see the falls.  The wind picked up dramatically on the way back and we had to paddle much harder on the way back.  Now the water was not smooth and reflective, but full of waves.  We again paddled through the trees and saw a few trees that had been gnawed down by beavers.  Our original plan was to paddle up the river to Fancher Falls, but the wind was much too strong and we had to pull our boats out at our original launch spot.  I highly recommend this paddle for any Tennessean!

We parked here and headed across from where my kayak is pointed.

If we were to go upstream or to the left of the parking lot, it would
eventually lead to Fancher Falls.

Paddling through the trees.

We see it!

Absolutely gorgeous!

These rocky walls are on either side of the falls.

Our lunch spot.

Evidence of beavers.

It doesn't look bad, but it was windy and the water
was choppy, making it hard to paddle.

Back to Caney Hollow Parking Spot.

The app has never done this, but it
made a funky detour on paper.  We
actually did not go out of the water like that!  :)

Where to park!

Walk 5/11- New Walking App

New Walking App

I have a new app called "Relive".  This was a trial run.  I like it!!

Kayak 5/1- Harpeth - Is the Pandemic Over?

Harpeth River
73 -75 degrees, Blue Skies & No Clouds, 1:10-3:50
Highway 70 Bridge to Harris Street Bridge

Today’s the first day that restrictions have been lifted here in Tennessee, including river accesses.  We got to the highway 70 access and noticed a few of the cars so we are not the only ones anxious to get out and enjoy the nice weather. The river looks clear which is not usual for the Harpeth River. It was beautiful all around us and hard to believe that the world is in such disarray. We noticed lots of baby turtles along the logs and could hear mini birds singing. We did passed several other kayakers and fisherman but it was very easy to keep our distance. We didn’t paddle up to the waterfalls this time as we could hear voices and we didn’t want to get close to people In the narrow inlet. It felt nice to get out and kayak today.

Hike 4/21- Clarksville Greenway Pandemic Times

Clarksville Greenway Pandemic Times

Clarksville has a beautiful Greenway and so we headed over for a walk as it was a beautiful day.

Walk 4/12- My Road During the Pandemic

 Walks on My Road During April 
1 month into our quarantine.  I'm still walking every morning and these are photos from my walks on York Road and from our yard.  I'm posting this on Easter Day.  We spent Easter alone and none of our 3 kids came home.  Sad day, but thank you God for the beauty that still surrounds us!