Coytee Springs and up toward Hall Bend on Tellico

Three silos near the Tommotley neighborhood on Tellico Lake.  Kind of a windy day on the lake.  It took me forever to paddle from Poplar Springs to Coytee Springs where I camped.  Since I am paddling the entire Little T shoreline, I have to go into every cove and inlet.  The wind was about 30 knots Friday and fought me every turn!

HOWEVER...the next morning was awesome and still.  This is coming out of the cove at Coytee Springs. I paddled past 9 deer hunters that morning along the lake shore.

The Leaning Cedars of Powerline Cove were a neat thing to see.   I also saw a lot of the East Shore Trail since I have been paddling below Vonore.  To finish paddling the entire five lake system's shore line, I have only to paddle from Poplar Springs to the dam on both shores (one more over night) and it will be finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Broken bent shaft on Tellico

Ha ha ha....poor Charlie!   Charlie and I paddled on Tellico during Hurricane Lee on Labor Day weekend.  We had the whole lake to ourselves....I guess because we got 8" of rain!   Anyway, Charlie paddled so hard that he broke his 20 year old bent shaft paddle!  Just thought you would like to see the picture!   Will someone buy him another?

Coytee Springs on Tellico Lake

What a beautiful paddle overnight with Nelson!

This is a campsite on a beach near the trail but off the main channel.  We hung our hammocks in the woods and had a fire on the beach.  AWESOME!

This is sunset in the cove.  BEAUTIFUL afternoon paddle!

How about THAT sunrise!  All this in the Coytee Cove area!

To finish the entire Little T shoreline paddle, I need to go from Coytee to the dam on both shorelines and paddle the section of Clear Creek.  Then I need to go to Fontana and finish Panther Creek and the section from the Lake up as far as I can go on the Nanny....and the entire shoreline of the Little T will be paddled!

Bakers Creek paddle on Tellico Lake

Nice section of lower Tellico Lake!   This stretch begins at the Morganton Boat Ramp and ends about 5 miles or so upstream.  Only one campsite in this section and it is not all that nice for a get-away spot.  Not many places to get out of the canoe either. The places that are nice are apparantly on private property and a couple have the hilarious "Private Property" signs that I think are so funny on Tellico Lake. 

This is a nice oasis in Bakers Creek.  I do not know but I think it is private property even though its not posted.  It is very pretty!

This is as far as I could go on Bakers Creek.  The water level was about 6" deep and the creek was flowing and there was debris beyond here.  On a map this is the top of the second switchback.  You know where it is if you look at a map.

Anyway...nice paddle!   Try it!

Paddling with the boys on Chilhowee Lake

My boys and I went out for an overnight paddle to the grassy campsite on Chilhowee last weekend.  We had the lake to ourselves on Friday because it rained, was windy and had thunderstorms.  On Saturday several skiers and pleasure boaters were there.  We had a good fire, lots of chiggers and a good time.  Saw an eagle Friday evening as well.

Upper Chilhowee during July 4th

I did a solo trip for two days and one night on Chilhowee over the July 4th weekend.  I paddled Tabcat to the powerhouse and spend the night on the grassy campsite on river right between the former ferry and Tabcat.  GREAT campsite!   At the island campsite (sandy and flat) there is still an active beaver lodge.  Also there I saw a bear who quickly left the site and swam away.  Below was my favorite sight at that particular campsite...an Eagle.  It was in a tree at the campsite!

What a trip!  An eagle on July 4th weekend.  I have seen SOOOOO many eagles in the past couple of years on Fontana, Cheoah, Calderwood, Chilhowee and Tellico.  They are all over the place!

This is the campsite between Tabcat and the former ferry.  Nice!  Lots of poisen ivy however.   That night I heard three different screech owls all calling at the same time.   A deer came into camp duirng the night and woke me up.  A Kingfisher visited several times as well as a heron who flew by once.  I also saw several buzzards, crows, a couple of coots, ducks and geese.  Quite the nice spot, eh?

Tellico Blueway again

Beautiful Memorial Day weekend!  Went paddling on the Blueway this morning.  We saw about two dozen blue heron, three hawks, crows, lots of carp and gar, saw a couple of kingfishers and about six osprey.  Here a few pics...note the cactus!  This is the secong place this year that I have seen the same species of cactus!

Rose Island AKA Mialoquo

Paddled Tellico from mile18.8 to 15.8 yesterday.  That is from the 411 bridge along the south shore to the Island Creek buoys and back down the northshore.  It took 4.5 hours and counting all the coves and islands was about 12 miles.  The most interesting thing was two bald eagles flying together in cove which parallels highway 411.  The eagles were soaring along with an osprey which then began to dive bomb the eagles.  What a sight.  Saw an osprey fold its wings and dive to the water bring up a fish in its talons.  The fish tail was flapping very fast as the osprey held the fish head first while flying along the shore.  Hilarious!  I could not find a good place to put-in around the 411 bridge.  Sequoyah Marina did not have a ramp or easy access, none of the industry had public access and I did not want to paddle from Vonore Beach.  So I had to park at the 411 bridge and put in down a steep bank.  You know the area...its the pull-off just as you go over the bridge south bound.  Good day!

Island Creek area of Tellico

Island Creek is located south of the Vonore Beach public access ramp.  The actual "creek" proceeds from the impoundment into this sheltered area and I was able to paddle about 1.5 miles up the creek until the vegetation prevented me from going any farther.   This is BEAUTIFUL and should be included in anyone's exploration of Tellico!

This is the only cactus I have located in the Little T drainage.   Surely this was planted by someone long ago since I cannot recall cactus being native to Tennessee.  For a good scavenger hunt item, this can be located in the Island Creek portion of Tellico Lake about a mile on the right after you depart from the Vonore boat ramp heading toward the main channel.  Does anyone know anything about this cactus or who lived here?

Eagle on Chilhowee Lake

My buddy Brian Bartos took this picture of an eagle that was in the vicinity of Tabcat ramp.  We watched this eagle hit the water twice taking fish.  The sound of its wings batting against the water was an awesome sound!

Easter Weekend on Chilhowee

 I hope all had a great Good Friday!  We did at our church complete with bluegrass, moonpies, bible and Easter eggs!   After lunch Nelson and I departed for a night paddle on Chilhowee.  We heard Whipporwills, tree-frogs and a few fishing boats during the night.  At one point we had a wild hog or deer come through out site snorting....probably a pig.  I saw 6 shooting stars before I went to sleep in my new Castaway hammock.

This is at the island just above the ferry.  Beautiful sandy campsite with a beaver lodge (see below).  The lodge is being used and we actually saw a beaver swimming nearby.  This is the nicest site on upper Chilhowee!

 We had lunch at the rocks at the end of the lake and saw a dead snake, lots of Bumblebees, tadpoles, lizards and a few fish.

Near Tabcat I was able to get a few shots of this Bald Eagle.  It was eating a large mouth bass on the shore and at the ramp it dove down to the water twice and brought up a fish.  LOUD splash!

Frozen Abrams Creek

Charlie and Phillip went alongh with me on a cold January afternoon to just get on the water for the first time in 2011.  What we found was a frozen Abrams Creek begining just below Panther Creek...check these pics: