Flat water kayaking in NE Tennessee?

My wife and I plan to be in NE TN in a couple weeks (Morristown - Tazewell area). Looking at Google Maps, there is obviously lots of water there, but are there any particular places that are good for flat water paddling that wouldn’t require a shuttle? (Good = interesting scenery and wildlife, and not too many power boats).



Thanks!



David

Try this link
This is an informative link

http://tinyurl.com/4z98ve

Enough flat water to last a lifetime in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Georgia.

I did try that link, but…
That link pointed me to Lake Ocoee, which looks nice, but is not in the area I’m interested in, which is the far northeast corner of the state.



It looks like Big Sycamore Creek could be interesting, I just haven’t found any information on it yet.



Thanks,



David

Think about
Lake Watauga (NC) - nice campsites, so-so bath house in re: cleanliness and reliable water pressure for showers.

That is in East Tn,
and might be what he wants.

It is right near Elizabethton.

It’s a big lake and offers a lot of flat water paddling.

It’s crowded on a summer weekend.



cheers,

JackL

http://www.tennesseelakeinfo.com/

– Last Updated: Jun-10-08 8:47 AM EST –

http://www.tennesseelakeinfo.com/

Norris Lake is close to Tazewell
and Cherokee Lake is close to Morristown. You can’t get away from motorboats completely but the upper end of Norris just south of Tazewell usually doesn’t have too many. That end of the lake isn’t developed too much so you can enjoy some nice scenery without having to go too far. Cherokee Lake near Morristown has more motorboat traffic and more development but there are a few spots which seem sort of remote when you get to them but aren’t that far from town (with blue herons and once in a while a bald eagle). If you e-mail me I can send you scans of maps for both showing access points and tell you about a few points of interest. (Douglas Lake is also close to Morristown but we haven’t found it to be as inviting for paddling.)

Plenty
check out the links at the bottom of this page http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/blueway/



How far do you feel like traveling? you can go to Rankin Bottoms on Douglas lake (pretty close), Melton Hill lake, Norris Lake, Start in Downtown Knoxville and paddle u/s in the small channel around the island home airport the head up the Holston river and back ( lots of small channels that most boats don’t go on), if ya have a plastic boat the try 7 islands nature preserve on the French Broad if ya want to drive a bit more then head over to NC and hit some Mountain lakes–>go to calderwood, Santeetlah, apalachia, or Fontana.



I live in Knoxville, so these are all easy to get to from Knox…not really that far from morristown