The Narrows Of The Harpeth

The Narrows Of The Harpeth is a section of the Harpeth River in Middle TN.

In this section, the river makes a 5 mile loop with the put-in & take-out points really close to each other.

It’s a great paddle when you only want to take 1 car for your adventure.

Your options are to unload & park at the put-in, then take a 15 minute walk through the woods to retrieve your car after your paddle, or unload, park at the take-out, and walk 15 minutes or so through the woods to your boats & head out.

 

We decided to do the latter, before we were tired from out paddling adventure.

The trail is a pleasant walk, but there are hills and steps involved.

 

And it comes out here — beside

The Empty Sign.

Then it’s a short walk up the road to the put-in.

 

It’s pretty steep getting down to the river.

We got ourselves together & were off!

 Right away, I saw a really cool rock & a really cool formation. It was such fun to turn around & go over to shoot them with no worries about holding up the group!

 

 

 Mission accomplished.

 

 

I pivoted & paddled on.

 Bubbles Break! (A kayaking tradition) (For us, anyway!)

 A little bit of scenery …

 

←  I’m calling this one “Tree In A Blanket”

because it reminds me of a pig.

Alas! The stream was too small to paddle up.

Maybe we’ll explore it next time. → 

 

… then we stopped for lunch …

… and Vincent played in the water.
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we ate, we discussed the best (read “most fun”) way to paddle past the island, then decided to take pictures of each other coming through the chute on the back-side. Vincent watched from a piece of driftwood while Karl took his turn.

More paddling.

We scared up a Blue Heron …

saw a tree sporting fun hair  …

colorful rocks …

 … and deep, dark woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came to another spot where we got out to look & determine the best (read “most fun”) way around. The water was really rushing & we could’ve done the right side, but thought the left looked more exciting.

Then  IT happened.

I was In The Drink! Pushed over by a fallen (not ‘falling’) tree’s remaining roots. 

I came to rest in a shallow area with a piece or driftwood (who am I kidding? It was a BEAM of driftwood!) held across my back by the force of the water. Between us, we’d retrieved the stuff that was floating away (the camera, the water bottle, my hat & lunch bag). Vincent was still strapped to the bow. (Whew! I thought he was a goner!)

We got my stuff over to shore where Karl’s bilge pump came in very handy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 While he pumped, I emptied stuff & assessed damages.

THAT’s when I found out that:

The ziplock bag I had my phone in did NOT keep the water out &

I still had Karl’s phone in my other pocket.

HEAVY SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, well. Couldn’t do anything about it at that point.

THEN we discovered that the drain plug from the transom of my boat was gone. (Eek!)

That one, we could fix. Karl’s drain plug is up on the side of his, so we put it in mine.

(Note: a spare drain plug  might be useful on future trips.)

 

 

 

Just a couple more bends in the river, and we saw the bridge where the take-out point would be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first adventure as Free Birds.

We  plan on having many more. :~)