Percy Priest Scouting Trip

Team Essence launched around 6:30 a.m. for a scouting trip of the Rivers Bend and Poole Knobs islands on J. Percy Priest Lake. Putting in at the Long Hunter State Park boat ramp, we paddled southeast toward the islands under overcast skies. Because of storms that came through the previous night, paddling conditions were great. Cooler temps made for a pleasant round-trip right at 9 miles.

Beginning at the southern-most island (Poole Knobs), we searched out and documented the various campsites. We expected some trash since Jimmy had previously read this blog post about people leaving behind garbage on the islands. Well, we found it. The first site we visited looked like a dump with cans everywhere and litter scattered all back into the woods. When we return, we each should take a garbage bag to pack out some of the mess. The rest of the sites, however, weren't bad excepting one with a rusted-out grill turned over near water's edge.

Percy Priest Scouting Trip at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community

With the Everytrail map above, you can zoom in (just double-click) near the two islands, click individual waypoints, and a picture of each campsite will pop up. Either island held good sites, and we noted one in particular on the southern point of Poole Knobs Island and several others on the eastern portion of Rivers Bend Island. I imagine we'll be stopping at one of these locations when we paddle the length of Percy Priest next month.

In terms of wildlife sightings, we angered a lot of fishing herons, and we encountered a rustic group with a giant Confederate flag about to spend the weekend on Rivers Bend Island. On a final note, visitors at one site had apparently implemented a strategy found at this link, judging by the camp amenity hanging from a nearby tree.