Dayton Paddling

Lora and I headed to Dayton after church to do some paddling.  We were going to eat at Point Park.  Lora opened up the trunk and asked where I put the cooler.  I looked in the back seat and realized that I didn't put the cooler anywhere.  I asked her where she put it.  So we went to Subway for lunch and then put the canoe in at Point Park.  We explored the area there and went up Richland Creek through Dayton until we were stopped by some water lines up three bridges.  We did see some Muskrats up this river.  Then we paddled back past the park and headed out to the main river.  We stopped a few times to cool off in the river.  We went past the Blue Water campground to cover all the area and then came back to it to swim.  There were two storms coming in so the race was on.  Dodging boats as we went, we made it back and got loaded up just before the rain started.

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TTA Burgess Falls hike

Saturday July 14, 2012

I met some Nashville TTA hikers at Burgess Falls State Park for a hike. Tom Vickstrom was our leader, Wanda came with him, and Pat from East TN TTA and me. Thunderstorms were forecast but we had sunny skies and lots of humidity to start our hike. We enjoyed all the water from the recent rains making the waterfalls a sight to behold. One mishap as one hiker propped their poles against the rails of an overlook platform, only to see them fall ground 25 feet below us. There was no way to retrieve them, so bye bye hiking poles. We hiked to the bottom of the big falls, climbed around the rocks enjoying the spray of cool water from the falls. Looking up at the top of the falls, we saw the big black cloud and decided to head for the top. The thunder really booms down in the gorge. The rain splattered on us as we hiked back to the top.

We drove out of the park to a little roadside fruit and vegetable stand to get an ice cream. They have Blue Bell ice cream cones for $1. Big scoop! Their veggies are organically grown so I was in heaven. I picked up a cantaloupe, Vidalia onion, and peaches. mmmmmm! Cockspur Farm Local Table - A Guide To Food And Farming In Middle Tennessee - Farm List: Putnam

We caravanned to Rock Island State Park for the next part of our hike. We ate lunch, (after ice cream), under the pavilion waiting for the rain and thunder to stop. We hiked down into the gorge passing a waterfall and then along the river bed toward the Twin Falls. We hiked back out and stood at the Mill watching youngsters jumping off the falls behind the mill. The witch’s castle is there across the road from the Mill. We had a couple more trails on the schedule but the storms didn’t agree with our plans. We drove back across the river and drove to the dam, hiked down to the overlook of the Twin Falls. It’s a spectacular site to see where part of the Collins River runs underground to spill thru the rocks there. Will have to get back to Rock Island to hike all the other trails we missed today.
 
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Mud Creek Area

We put in off Fisher Road this time and headed towards the main river channel.  We went East to Gillespie Slough and checked it out then went West to the Richland Creek.  It was hot so we pulled over often to do some swimming.  We saw alot of duck blinds.  We saw deer and all sorts of birds and fish.  Another good area to paddle.

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Cotton Port WMA II

Lora and I went back to the Cotton Port WMA to finish exploring the area.  We put in off Maple Springs Road.  We headed West into the WMA and finished the other areas that we had not covered off the smaller lake.  Purser slough and Crooked branch.  We had a great time and did some swimming too.

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