Friday, March 6, 2015

Enjoy A Trip On The Harpeth River With Foggy Bottom Canoe

By Leslie Ball


The rivers in the area of Nashville, Tennessee, are popular for canoeing and a number of companies have tapped into this market. Foggy Bottom Canoe is one of these and they are based in the small town of Kingston Springs. They organize outings on the Harpeth River and offer visitors the chance to enjoy a few different trip lengths

The company arranges river trips for visitors from March to October and is closed for business during the remainder of the year. Their hours of operation begin at nine in the morning on weekdays and eight on the weekend. The last excursions of the day set off at around one in the afternoon for the longer trips and three in the afternoon for the shorter excursions.

The Harpeth has a Class 1 river rating that shows it does not flow particularly rapidly and has little in the way of obstacles for boaters to worry about. Even novice kayakers should therefore find it relatively simple to make their way along it. Everything required to take on an expedition is supplied by the operator to ensure that visitors are fully equipped to attempt the trip.

Visitors have the choice of Buffalo or Mad River canoes for their trip on the Harpeth. They are of a size that can easily accommodate two adults although are strong enough to cope with a family comprising parents and a couple of children under five. The molded seats are designed to provide a comfortable ride for any length of trip.

The company offers a kid friendly trip between a start point near the bridge on Highway 70 and an end point in Gossett Tract State Park. This traverses a distance of around one and a half miles and is the shortest option available. A slightly longer trip takes paddlers downstream from the Kingston Springs Park to the Highway 70 Bridge and involves a five mile paddle.

There are a couple of longer excursions that visitors can try. The river length between the historic Mound Bottom settlement and the Harris Street Bridge is approximately nine miles. Those that want to see as much of the river as possible can try the eleven mile expedition that runs from the Route 70 Bridge all the way to where Harris Street crosses the river.

A 4 acre primitive camping site is available for those that want to spend more than one day on the river. This is open to anyone that wants to bring a tent along on their trip to the area. It has a few basic amenities for guests, with these including a 24 hour restroom, picnic tables and benches, fire pits, and a water supply at the campsite office.

There are plenty of sights to see during one of the organized trips offered by the company. This includes an ancient Native American settlement known as Mound Bottom. It was home to Mississippian Indians and dates back thousands of years. Another impressive sight is the Montgomery Bell Tunnel located at the Narrows of the Harpeth. This was built using slave labor during the early years of the nineteenth century.




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