07/21/00 Paddling South Holtson Lake (South End):
I've moved up to South Holston Lake in Bristol, right on the Virginia border. This will probably be my last stop in Tennessee.
South Holston Lake is a very green lake about 8 miles long, stretching into Virginia but only a mile or so wide at its widest point. It appears the lake was created when the South Holston River was dammed. I dunno where the North Holston is. I haven't seen it on any map yet.
The sun was breaking through the clouds as I launched from the boat ramp in the Cherokee National Forest Little Oak Campground. The south end of the lake has lots of coves and fingers shooting off in every direction. This looked like a place for a good paddle.
The shores at this end of the lake were mostly stone and crumbled rock with a fair amount of reddish brown mud banks. Several 2-4 acres islands stick up out of the water 50-100 feet. Nearby hills are about the same height. A large mountain ridge sticks up over the hill tops and trees.
Back in one cove I spotted a couple of little ducks. I dunno if they were little ducks or if they were just young. A little later I saw a lone wild turkey feeding on a steep slope. Yesterday I saw two different groups of turkeys on the 8 mile gravel road into the campgrounds.
Near the south end of the lake the shores turned into fragile, crumbly, shale like bluffs of 5-10 feet or so. Ledges led step like beneath the water. Wild, white orchids (I think) grew along the banks in many locations and were beginning to bloom. 4-5 buds and blossoms lined themselves up on a single vine.
Many walnut or chestnut trees or some sort of nut bearing trees seemed to be the predominate trees in the area. Whatever they were had a round, prickly outer shell.
Only a couple of power boats had ventured down to this part of the lake on this Friday morning. This makes for a much nicer and a more relaxed paddle. The wind even cooperated by staying under 5 knots.
07/25/00 Paddling South Holtson Lake (Middle):
The skies were dark and forbidding as I launched from the Little Oak Campground boat ramp this morning. It's been raining off and on pretty heavily for the past couple of days and I just had to get out on the water. I didn't much care if it rained or not. I had my rain gear along and if lightning started I would just get to shore and wait it out.
The wind has been blowing quite heavily and steadily, forcing the temperature into the 60's. Wind waves kicked up about 6-9 inches as I pointed into a 10 knot wind from the north.
This middle part of the lake is lined with 100-200 foot knolls. The ones on the eastern shore are backed up by the Holston Mountain ridges making for a nice view. I thought I was having a religious experience when I saw bright rays of sunshine coming down out of dark storm clouds and lighting up patches of the mountain. I half expected to see angels in long flowing white gowns floating down sunlit staircases.
I passed the South Holston River Dam, a marina and a bunch of houses built up to the crest of one of the knolls. This was the only development I'd seen on the lake so far. I passed a couple of fair size islands to the west and a large bay to the left with a couple of channels leading out of the far end. I bypassed them thinking I would explore them tomorrow or the next day and kept paddling into the wind. I had an abundance of energy from lying around doing nothing for the past couple of days while it rained. I had probably picked up a pound or two and the exercise might help get rid of them. That's a never ending battle.
I was hoping to get up to the TN 421 bridge over the lake. It's about a 10 mile drive from the boat ramp. 1 hour and 15 minutes after launching I was sitting right under the bridge so I guess it was a little shorter than that or I was paddling a lot faster than ever. Since I was paddling into close to a 10 knot wind most of the way, my guess is it was only about 2 miles by water. I didn't want to go any farther because I plan on doing the upper part of the lake on another paddle.
So I just took my time, letting the wind blow me back and exploring some of the fingers and coves I'd passed on the way up. One good thing about today's paddle is there were few boats and no jet skis on the water.
07/26/00 Paddling South Holtson Lake (East End):
I had to close a flap on the tent last night because the moon was shining in my eyes. During my morning walk the sky was a bright blue with huge, fluffy, white clouds. The storm clouds were back by the time I was ready to launch though.
I wanted to do the north end of the lake but that requires driving 8 miles over a washboard, gravel road. I have to make that drive tomorrow anyway so I put that paddle off till then. Instead, I decided to explore some of the coves and inlets I'd bypassed yesterday.
The shoreline on this part of the lake varies quite a bit. Reddish or orangish mud banks line certain points and coves. Other areas have 5-10 foot bluffs made up of a slate like rock. In some parts serious erosion is taking place with thousands of pieces crumbling away, some just tiny slivers and others a foot long.
The eroded sections then give way to other stretches that look like big stacks of gray sheet metal with little or no erosion. Other sections of bluff look as if they were made of one foot square blocks stacked on top of each other that are now tumbling down into large piles. Large ledges protrude under water.
Each time I stopped to look at something, large schools of small 2-5 inch fish, presumably bass, would congregate around the boat. I watched several chipmunks scurrying around for a while and a couple of white tail does. I saw a couple of kingfishers and a lone blue heron. Also several smaller, dark birds that looked a little like small egrets with those crooked necks when they fly. I haven't seen any osprey, hawks or vultures for many weeks. I did finally see my first turtle in a few weeks though and several vines of wild orchids.
Around 11:30 the sun was trying to break through the clouds. I had expected to spend an hour or two exploring the channels leading out of a large bay I had bypassed yesterday. After two hours of paddling, I figured I'd only completed about a third of the nooks and crannies. There was a lot more to that part of the lake than I thought. At least a full day of paddling.
07/28/00 Paddling South Holston Lake (North End):
This morning was very hazy but nice and cool in the lower 70's with a 5 knot wind out of the north as I put in to paddle the northern end of South Holston Lake.
I passed a marina on the other side of the lake and moved under the bridge and I was paddling in new territory again. I soon spotted the Holston Mountains peeking up over the top of nearby knolls and slopes.
The western shore of the lake was pretty flat leading to rolling hills and clumps of trees. There was also an over abundance of marinas, campgrounds and some houses. The eastern side of the lake was much prettier with the usual 100+ foot knolls and lots of channels, coves and fingers to explore.
A goodly number of fair size bass seemed to be patrolling the water's surface creating tiny wakes with their exposed dorsal fins. A lot of beetles have been falling into the water so maybe the bass were feeding on them.
Around 11:30 I passed into Virginia. How do I know? There were signs telling me so. The Virginia side continued with marinas, campgrounds, rolling hills, etc. It was as if Tennessee had decided to keep all the wild and natural landscape for itself and gave the rolling hills to Virginia to build campgrounds and stuff on.
I could probably spend another day or so on unexplored sections of this very pretty lake. I'll be moving on into Virginia so those areas will have to wait until next time.