Tims Ford Kayaking and Camping

We had a wonderful weekend camping on Big Island in Tims Ford Lake. We arrived Friday evening, had dinner and paddled around Little Island to see the sunset. Saturday morning, we explored Pennington Cave and enjoyed lunch at Ray Branch. There were menacing clouds all day and it rained a little after we got back to camp but not for long. We went to Twin Creeks Marina for dinner and paddled back to camp in the dark. Sunday morning, we packed up and Joan, Jim and Wendy went on to the Tims Ford Marina and to see Leatherwood Island. Campers/kayakers were Jim Barritt, Wendy Fish, Cyn Hartlieb, Joan Hartvigsen, Sara Pollard and Georganne Ross.

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Normandy Lake Paddle

We had 9 paddlers to spend the day on Normandy Lake in Manchester led by Joan. Cynthia caught up with us after we had already paddled at least a mile. She caught up by having a guy pull her from the back of his Seadoo. We were surprised since we didn't know she was coming! We started at the Ward's Chapel boat ramp (AKA Firelake) and paddled to the left toward lake marker #7. We enjoyed lunch in a picnic area, saw osprey and river otters. We paddled almost 9 miles and it was a beautiful day to be on the lake. Paddlers were Wendy Fish, Joan Hartvigsen, Lacee Lanier, Cynthia Meinerding, Lora and Craig McBride, Sara Pollard, Brian Wofford and Ruth Wofford.

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Barren Fork and Collins River Kayak

 

We had 13 paddlers to kayak 6 miles from the Pepper Branch Park in McMinnville to the take out on Highway 70 in the old VFW parking lot. Due to all the rain lately we had a nice flow on the Barren Fork with some fun ripples to paddle through. We stopped for lunch before meeting the Collins River to continue our journey to the takeout. It was a hot day with temperatures in the 90's but the water felt great. Paddlers were Jim Barritt, Ron Dunn, Wendy Fish, Nancy Franz, Joan Hartvigsen, Nancy Juodenas, Craig McBride, Lora McBride, Cynthia Meinerding, Sara Pollard, Kathy Stutts, Brian and Ruth Wolford. 

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Bledsoe Creek State Park

Katy Ginanni of the Murfreesboro chapter led a hike at Bledsoe Creek State Park. John Gizelar and John Ruth of the Sumner chapter joined. We got a break from the previous days’ heat and enjoyed hiking up the High Ridge trail and back on the Shoreline trail. We saw pawpaws!

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Elk River Float

 

This was a joint event with the Highland Rim chapter. We put in downstream from the Tims Ford Dam in Winchester and paddled 8 miles to the Farris Creek Bridge. After setting up the shuttle, we launched our kayaks and a canoe in the cold water of the Elk River. It was a cloudy morning and a heavy fog stayed on the river the entire trip. We also had light rain most of the way and Georganne was able to construct a "rain vest" out of a white garbage bag.  The only folks we saw on the river were fishermen at the beginning so we had the river to ourselves due to the dreary weather. We stopped for lunch at 5 miles and were able to get out and stretch.  We still enjoyed paddling the beautiful Elk River. Paddlers were Jim Barritt, Cathy Conley, Joan Hartvigsen, Pete Jacobs, Renee Jacobs, Nancy Juodenas, Craig McBride, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, and Georganne Ross. 

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Walls of Jericho

 

Walls of Jericho hike , 27 June 2026, Peggy Harris, Don & Joanne Nalin, and Joe Campbell

Cummins Falls and Burgess Falls State Parks

 

We had 8 hikers to hike Cummins Falls State Park & Burgess Falls State Park on a hot and humid day. We met at the Mack Prichard Visitor Center at Cummins Falls and hiked the Blackburn Fork Trail to the overlook. We took the John Cummins Trail to start another hike on the other side of the park. We took the Low Gap Trail to the Lou Garrison loop and then continued on to the river overlook. Our views were limited because of the foliage but we saw a few flowers and lots of blackberries about to be ripe. Then we drove to Burgess Falls State Park and enjoyed lunch under a pavilion. We hiked the River Trail to see the waterfalls along the way and returned via the graveled Access Trail. Hikers were Melodie Baker, Jim Barritt, Jay Brain, Craig Doucette, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, Bobetta and Russ from Knoxville. 

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