Paddling with Paul!

Paul Lear has put together this great outing for those wanting to hit the water on either a Kayak or canoe. If you don't have a boat, they can be rented from River Sports Outfitters or other places in town. Duct tape it to your car and get to the lake!

Lake Chilhowee is a small, 1,747-acre reservoir located within
Blount and Monroe Counties in east Tennessee along U.S. Highway
129. The dam was completed in 1957 and impounds the Little
Tennessee River. This is one of two reservoirs in Tennessee
that is maintained by Tapoco, a division of the Alcoa Power
Generation, which is a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of
America (ALCOA). The Smoky Mountain National Park and the
Cherokee National Forest border this shallow, 10-mile long,
cool water reservoir. Calderwood Reservoir is upstream of Lake
Chilhowee and Tellico Reservoir is downstream.

Travel time from West Knoxville is roughly 1 hour; I recommend
Highway 129.

The 8 mile kayaking trip will start at the old Gravel Pit boat
ramp, located 3 miles east of the intersection of Foothills
Parkway and Highway 129 (not the TWRA boat dock that is just
south of the intersection). The Gravel Pit boat ramp is
between the public access fishing platforms. Sufficient
parking is located on either side of the dock. Look for the
white Explorer.

We’ll kayak down Chilhowee Lake and turn up Abrams Creek. We will wander up Abrams Creek as it runs along Flat Ridge, explore Panther Creek, and continue up until we reach the lower end of the falls chain. This is a nice rest stop and a good place to take a dip. We’ll head back to Lake Chilhowee and explore the lake, including a nice campsite across the lake from the TWRA boat ramp, before heading back to the Gravel Pit boat ramp. The fishing platforms make wonderful places to have lunch. This will all be smooth flatwater with minimal current, so it should be easy paddling.

A nice side trip on the way back is Foothills Parkway, with a
stop on Look Rock."