Floated a Swollen River Yesterday

Guyon

Guyon

Biscuit Whisperer
Super Mod
Joined
Mar 15, 2000
Messages
45,835
Hit the river yesterday in between rain showers with a buddy of mine. Just thought I'd share a few pics...

Eagle1.jpg


Eagle5.jpg


Eagle17.jpg


Saw lots of big birds, mostly herons, but also a couple of soaring hawks and a bald eagle.

Eagle12.jpg


Eagle4.jpg


Eagle8.jpg


Eagle7.jpg


Eagle6.jpg
 
Wish I'd had a better camera and a zoom lens for the eagle shots. Those are cropped shots of much larger pictures. But at least I snagged a few pics of it.
 
what is the story with the oval shaped hole in the shale?
 
Is that a true underground cave stream or is it a surface stream that sumped in a sinkhole and then came out of the bluff? I lean toward the latter because it appears to be murky, and true cave streams are usually clear.
 
Joezilla said:
what is the story with the oval shaped hole in the shale?
Click to expand...

lambertiana said:
Is that a true underground cave stream or is it a surface stream that sumped in a sinkhole and then came out of the bluff? I lean toward the latter because it appears to be murky, and true cave streams are usually clear.
Click to expand...

That is a man-made tunnel which connects one section of the river to another. The water is murky because the whole river is up and murky.

In Cheatham County is a remarkable civil engineering feat of the early 19th century. At a place known as the "Narrows of the Harpeth", near a prehistoric site known as Mound Bottom— an area dotted with Native American ceremonial and burial mounds of the Mississippian culture— ironmaster Montgomery Bell built an iron mill, largely through the use of slave labor. At a seven mile (11 km) horseshoe bend, Bell's slaves under his direction cut a tunnel through apporoximately 200 yards (180 m) of solid rock, assisted only by black-powder blasting techniques, to build a diversion tunnel to power the mill, which Bell called "Pattison Forge" (often spelled, incorrectly, "Patterson") after his mother's maiden name. Bell was so pleased with this feat that he curtailed some of his other area operations and even built a home near the site. Today, the tunnel and some "slag" are about all that remains of the operation. The tunnel is a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The tunnel and the sheef bluffs along the Narrows are now part of the Narrows of the Harpeth section of Harpeth River State Park, a linear park connecting several natural, historic, and archaeological sites along the lower Harpeth.
Click to expand...
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpeth_River
 
Great pictures - It's been a few months since I've been out on the 'yak. Looks like you guys had a blast, thanks for sharing the pics.
 
That eagle is cool. I remember on Christmas of 2008 I went down to Darwin (Australia) and saw a wedge-tailed eagle (the biggest in Australia I believe). They are very, very cool to look at.

Looks like you had fun.
 
Here's a GPS capture from the trip. You can see how the river doubles back on itself. The connective tunnel sits near the narrowest portion of the loop.

GPS.jpg
 
Mound Bottoms and the adjacent Pack Site are very interesting historic sites dating from 800 A.D. to the mid 1300's A.D.

I like reading the archeological reports of such places, both the earliest from the 1800's and the most recent after the methodology change (artifact recovery was most important in the early days, later context meant more than the artifacts). There is a lot to be learned (pertaining to W&SS) from identified pre-European sites such as which native plant and animal species were utilized and how.

I enjoyed seeing your pictures very much!
 
Nice pics. Looks like a fun trip. What boats do you guys have? Looks like your buddy has a Pungo maybe? I have a Dagger 11.5, but I would never go out on a swollen river in it, it's not super stable and I'm not super skilled. I only take it out on flat water. Water like that I'm pulling out the Canoe. I think I'm worried I would flip it and swamp it and bye bye Kayak. I want to get one of the new hybrids.
 
angle iron said:
Do those backrests give enough support to lean your weight against and relieve back fatigue?
Click to expand...

Yes. Those two models have pretty good back support that is adjustable.
remmmm said:
Nice pics. Looks like a fun trip. What boats do you guys have? Looks like your buddy has a Pungo maybe? I have a Dagger 11.5, but I would never go out on a swollen river in it, it's not super stable and I'm not super skilled. I only take it out on flat water. Water like that I'm pulling out the Canoe. I think I'm worried I would flip it and swamp it and bye bye Kayak. I want to get one of the new hybrids.
Click to expand...

He was paddling a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100, and I was paddling a Perception Swifty 9.5. I actually own both these boats, but my Pamlico is set up more for fishing.

I actually prefer the kayak to a canoe as far as stability simply because your center of gravity is lower. The flat, wide recreational 'yaks like we were paddling are remarkably stable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top