I left Tennessee and made a leisurely drive to Natural Tunnel State Park in Virginia. I thought it would be interesting to check out this 850 foot natural tunnel and it was halfway to Breaks Interstate Park, where I was really headed. I was shocked to find the campgrounds were full on this Sunday afternoon. Something must have been going on.
In any case, camping facilities are kinda few and far between in that area so I was left hurrying to get to the Breaks in some kind of reasonable time frame. I found myself wandering around in Kentucky for an hour or so before I found my way to the Interstate Park on the Virginia side of the Kentucky border.
While in Kentucky, the highway cut through many mountain passes. Some of these were 100+ feet high with each 20 foot section sitting back back 5 feet farther than the one underneath it. I could see thick veins of coal in the rock the highway had been cut through. I thought that was interesting. I guess this was the area the Coal Miner's Daughter came from.
Yesterday was a rainout so this morning I drove to Haysi and the John W. Flannigan Reservoir for a day of paddling. This is a long, skinny reservoir that twists and turns every which way. I'd guess the main body of the reservoir is about 6 miles long and a long branch another 3 miles.
The atlas showed lots of contours indicating mountains nearby. When I got to the boat ramp by the dam, the GPS said we were at an elevation of 1400 feet. I thought the lake might have been higher but who am I to argue with technology?
The Flannigan Reservoir is a really pretty body of water, from the waterline up. The water surface itself sucks, big time! I have never seen so many bottles and snuff cans and other crap anywhere. You would be hard pressed to maneuver through all the crap without hitting something.
I was reminded of the TV commercial about pollution. The one with the Indian standing by a pond or river full of trash with a single tear trickling down is cheek. It was bad.
Many of the bottles were quite old. A local suggested that the water releases from the dam might keep things stirred up and prevent some of the bottles from settling to the bottom. I dunno. I didn't have a trash bag with me and decided against going back for one. It would be tough to make a dent in all that trash and I decided if the locals wanted things that way, it would be fine by me.
The shores of the reservoir were quite pretty though. Everywhere, steep slopes rose up 100+ feet. Many chimneys of granite rose out of the reservoir up to 50 feet making for varied and interesting views. The reservoir is so narrow and the knolls so high, you can't see over them to the mountains behind them except for in a couple of places.
The reservoir has street signs. No kidding. Every one of the fingers or branches I came to had a sign with its name on it. I first came to the Skeetrock Branch and followed it to the end. One side of the branch was mostly hardwoods and rhododendrons and the other mostly pine. Blackberries were ripening on their vines right at the water's edge. I didn't have a container so just ate a few and left the rest to the critters. I came to a fork but both directions dead ended in overgrowth.
I scared up a hawk or an owl. I only saw it from behind but since it seemed pretty fat, I'd say it was an owl. Then I came across a hornet's nest hanging 2 feet above the water. I steered away from it not knowing if anyone was home or not. Good thing I did because then I saw several of them flying away from the nest, fortunately not in my direction.
Out on the main body of the reservoir I saw a familiar looking shape in the water. It looked like a loon, but a loon in Virginia? Well, why not, I saw plenty of Canadian Geese in Georgia. I got the little opera glass binoculars out and it still looked like a loon. I paddled closer and looked through the binoculars again it still looked like a loon. So, I'd have to say I saw a loon in the Virginia mountains. A minute or so later I saw another loon (or the same one). This time I got a good look at its profile and it was the classic loon head. It may have been the same loon but it seemed less concerned with my presence so I assume it was the mate of the first one.
I came to the Upper and Lower Twin Fork Branches. The lower one was pretty short and ended at a public boat ramp. The upper branch went back close to a mile.
The skies had been alternating between sunshine and storm clouds. I had left my rain gear in the truck so headed back under the threatening clouds.
I only saw a couple of pontoon boats on the reservoir on this Tuesday.