Planned Percy Priest Perception Paddle

First, alliteration is cool.

Second, the past couple of sea kayak excursions have been preparatory trips for an upcoming paddle that will go the length of J. Percy Priest Lake. Team Essence was interested in (a) campsites around the halfway point and (b) the ease with which we could handle 10+ miles in the kayaks.

I've mentioned in a past post the efficiency that online mapping tools bring to trip planning. Instead of a topo map, this upcoming float was plotted quickly with bing™ maps (formerly Live Search maps), exported as a GPX file, and uploaded to Everytrail for inclusion in this post. I'll eventually mark my waypoints along the float and upload the two routes (Day 1 and Day 2) to my handheld Garmin just so we don't take any wrong turns out on the water.

Mona to Priest Dam - Day 1 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community

The first day will entail a put-in at the Mona boat ramp on the East Fork of the Stones River. We've paddled down there a couple of times before, including a float/drag of the East Fork that took out at Mona. From the launch, we'll paddle roughly 12.5 miles to one of the islands we scouted, pitch a couple of tents, eat some lovely dehydrated/rehydrated food, and maybe build and tend a small camp fire. The past couple of outings, we've paddled 8 to 9 miles easily in just over two hours, so the 12-mile leg should not be all that strenuous.

Next morning, we'll crank out another 10+ miles to the Hermitage Public Use Area just beside Percy Priest dam. In all, we will have paddled at least 23 miles, probably a little more, and covered Priest lake from its headwaters all the way to its end point. Should be fun.

Mona to Priest Dam - Day 2 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community