Sugar Bay is Sweet!

Greetings from the Pebble Isle Marina just outside of the town of New Johnsonville, TN.  

First point of business from me - KG - a friend answered the question as to the name of the tree in my blog post from 9/27 asking what was the tree at Two Rivers Marina - that was a Bald Cypress tree and the knobby things by the trunk are called Cypress knees.  SO cool.  Thanks Nancy Rydholm and Karen Ceminski.

Back to our regularly scheduled post in progress…Tony and I left Green Turtle Bay Wednesday morning and have once again been in the wilderness with little to no cell service which is why there have been no blog posts.  As Tony mentioned in his last post, our plan was to see some of Kentucky Lake (the lake portion of the Tennessee River) and the Land Between the Lakes National Forest and National Recreation Area.  Green Turtle Bay was on the Cumberland River so we first passed through the Barkley Canal which connects the Cumberland River (Barkley Lake) and Tennessee River (Kentucky Lake).  This 1.5 mile canal was very peaceful and was also part of our bike ride the previous weekend. Then we were on Kentucky Lake.  The tricky part about navigating on this lake is that the Tennessee Valley Authority draws down the water level ~ 5 feet so the charts show depths deeper than actual depth during non-summer months.  This is for flood control.  In the summer, when there is a lower risk of floods, they keep the lake levels at charted depth to support recreation, but since winter is flood season, they draw down the water level after Labor Day weekend to prepare for heavy rains from winter storms in many parts of the Tennessee River.  On a positive note, this made for some very interesting scenery because you could see where the high water level had been and what is hidden under the water during the summer. 

Once on Kentucky Lake we kept to the National Recreation Area side of the Lake and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all the way to our first anchorage - Sugar Bay which was a distance of 14 miles.  Once anchored, we were alone in a beautiful bay of still water.  We are FINALLY seeing some fall color change here.  While the waters were still, it was not silent.  The cacophony of birds, frogs and insects, punctuated by the flipping tail of fish on a regular basis were a welcome change from the noise of boat repair and residents of the marina.  We had a blue heron let us know he considered us intruders, but stopped squawking at us once we had the motor off and were quiet. Here is a view of our first anchorage with the higher shoreline visible.

One of the joys of very few responsibilities (outside of my boat watches and half of the galley duties) is my chance to make music (alone or with Tony) whenever I like and read (it should surprise no one that I’m currently in the middle of 5 books right now) whatever I want, whenever I want.  One of the books: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is the perfect book to read in this idyllic setting.  This book of “Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants” is demonstrated all around these protected waters and has been especially moving. I am so lucky to have the chance appreciate so much undeveloped country and figure out where I can be a good steward of the land going forward from here.

After a spectacular sunset and a calm but chilly night in our protected cove, we moved farther on Kentucky Lake about 25 miles to Panther Bay.  This was another secluded bay much like the first, only with TWO heron security guards that let us know they were watching us.  The weather was beautiful (our nights have been chilly but our days have been in the upper 70’s) and we arrived in the early afternoon so we inflated the kayak and paddled around Panther Bay and then onto the lake to the nearby Boswell’s Landing which had a campground that was starting to fill up for what appeared to be a long weekend.  There was also a very small cemetery of about 10 graves of what appeared to be be Boswell descendants from the 1870’s.  

There was a sign on the kayak landing area that said “Water Trail” which made me curious enough to investigate.  Apparently the National Park Service has helped the State Parks develop water trails encompassing ~300 miles of shoreland in the Land Between the Lakes and are in the process of expanding those trails to further parts of the Kentucky/Barkley lakes and Tennessee/Cumberland rivers (300 more miles!) to give easy access points for kayaks and canoes to get to the water and providing camping facilities.  This area is so beautiful that I imagine it might be crowded in the summer vacation months but there are very few people enjoying this wilderness in October.  This water trail system is something I DEFINITELY want to explore after the Great Loop when I’m ready for another multi-day boat trip with even LESS room for living!  Here are some views of the fall colors from our kayak.  

We had another breathtaking sunset and then this morning set off for the marina which was another 36 miles.  As Tony mentioned previously, the TVA dammed up the Tennessee to make Kentucky Lake, and there is evidence here and there of things that were once on dry land but are now submerged.  Here is one such building - this was a 5 story building from a Grain Company Elevator that now only has the upper 2 floors showing.  There have been squatters here at times that have been cleared off, and is a site with quite a bit of graffiti.  Apparently it is also a great place to fish.

Today I decided it was time to get to knitting fingerless gloves because I was looking at the weather forecast and it seemed that we were going to have a few cooler days of steaming, at least in the morning.  Thankfully they are simple to make and I had them done today as we pulled into the marina.    

We’re planning to stay here a couple of nights since the wind will be kicking up and so tomorrow we’re going to visit a nearby State Park that will explain what happened to Old Johnsonville, TN.  Stay Tuned…