Exploring Alabama
Soddy Daisy Creek -
Soddy-Daisy, TN 4-10-10
Lake
Guntersville State Park Camp & Kayak 4-2-10
DeSoto Falls - Little
River - our new favorite! - 3-27-10
South Saulty
Creek Day Trip - 3-7-10
Lakepoint Resort State
Park - Camp October 2009
Gulf State Park - Camp & Kayak October 2009
| Soddy Daisy Creek Day Trip Soddy-Daisy, TN - April 10,2010 | |
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Nestled between wooden mountain ridges and sparkling Soddy Lake,
Soddy-Daisy is less than 20 minutes from Chattanooga.
The town gets it name from the First Nations People, in this
case, the Cherokee, who first inhabited the area. The name
was Tsati, which is pronounced "Soddy" and the phonetic spelling
was adopted.
Soddy-Daisy creek is one of the many rivers and tributaries that feed into the Tennessee River. We joined the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club and put in at the fishing pier off Hixson Pike in Soddy-Daisy and paddle out to the Tennessee River. A lunch stop on the way back at Steve's Landing, a restaurant at one of the marinas, was a special treat. It was a perfect day for paddling: temps were around 70 with variable winds. We saw mallard, heron, and Canadian geese with their clutch of goslings. We took our Carolina's but this is a great paddle for our long boats and we're anxious to return.
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| Lake Guntersville State Park - Camp & Kayak - April 2-4, 2010 |
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| Lake Guntersville is the largest lake in Alabama at over 69,000
acres. It was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the
late 1930's by damming the Tennessee River near Guntersville, AL.
A premier bass fishing lake, it has over 950 miles of shoreline situated
in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Lake Guntersville State Park is situated on Lake Guntersville. You can see the campers and tents along the shoreline in the photo on the right. Below, you can see the beach where we launched the kayaks. It is just adjacent to the campground and is an easy launch. The photo below right is indicative of what you see when you paddle the open portion of the lake. Vast, enormous and surrounded by mountains - just beautiful. Lake Guntersville also has hundreds of streams and creeks to explore if you want to get away from the expansiveness. |
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One of the unique features of the lake is the landscape surrounding it - mountains, cliffs and rocky outcrops make up a good portion of the shoreline |
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| Below, on Sunday morning we paddled to an island where we nesting activity with several types of heron as well as Canadian Geese exhibiting mating behavior | Most Alabama state parks have lodges, restaurants, golf course and other resort amenities. Below is a shot of the lodge taken from the island across the lake. Impressive. |
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| DeSoto Falls, Mentone - Little River Day Trip - March 28, 2010 |
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| This is a gem! Just a few minutes from the house, this is
going to be a great summer paddle for us! The crystal clear,
sapphire blue water and beautiful scenery would make it worthwhile even
if it wasn't so close by.
Below you can see the rock ledges that rim the river. Below right this is the spillway dam at the end. This is also the site of one of the larger summer camps which Mentone is known for.
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| South Saulty Creek Kayak Day Trip - Lake Guntersville Guntersville, AL - March 7, 2010 |
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South Saulty Creek is located on the northern end of Lake Guntersville near Buck's Pocket State Park. This area is exceptional for viewing nesting eagles during January and February. Alabama has an aggressive Bald Eagle program and currently has 61 active nests in the area. Prior to the start of the program, the nesting pairs were down in the single digits. We kayaked South Saulty Creek Sunday March 7, 2010. The water was crystal clear and had plenty of water to paddle upstream. We encountered rapids about a mile upstream. The temperatures were in the mid 50's and the day was somewhat overcast. Water temps were still quite cold. We saw Belted Kingfisher, heron, Canadian Geese, Mallard and a beaver (see the impressive dam in the photo below right). Absolutely beautiful and at only 40 minutes away, I think this will become one of our favorites.
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| This impressive beaver dam was at the edge of one of the islands in
the creek. There was little activity the day of our paddle
although one beaver was spotted swimming nearby. Just before our
paddle, I read an entry on Paddling.net where the kayaker reported
having his boat repeatedly 'slapped' by a beaver tail while paddling
nearby.
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| Lakepoint Resort State Park Camp - Eufaula, Alabama - October 16-17, 2010 | |
| The state parks here really show off Alabama's natural beauty. This is a beautiful campground and park in the southern central part of the state. Situated on Lake Eufaula, a 45,000 acre lake (known as the Bass Capital of the World), the park also has a lodge, restaurants, cabins, a convention center and picnic areas. The campground has sites directly on the lake as you can see in the photo below and it is far enough away from the other amenities to offer solitude. We didn't kayak the lake on this trip - it was a bit too cold and windy. But we will return soon! |
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| Gulf Shores State Park Camp - Gulf Shores, Alabama - October 17 - 26,2010 | |
| Another Alabama gem. This park is minutes from the beach and many of the campsites are on a inland waterway. The beach offers the sugar sand of the Florida panhandle area without the intensive commercialism. Miles of bike trails surround the park along with hiking trails and hours of kayaking in both the Gulf and inland waters. The first few days of our trip, Dennis conducted business in the southern area of his territory - Mobile and surrounding areas - and I hung out at the campground, read in the sun, rode my bike and walked on the beach. On Saturday, vacation began and we took day trips exploring the area (along with an unexpected trip to get the back window of the Explorer repaired). Our trip was in October and it was unseasonably cold and windy aborting our kayaking plans but our exploration showed many promising kayaking trips. We already have plans to return in May.
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