Jones Creek -- 5/1/05

After the Mill Creek trip, we emailed Bob Pierce asking (a) if he and Jean wanted to paddle and (b) if he had any suggestions for Nashville-area creeks. He turned us down for paddling, but suggested we check out Jones Creek or Turnbull Creek, providing us approximate put-in and takeout locations for both runs. We had considered a day trip to the Plateau as well, but the joys of less than six hours in the car plus the possibility of a new river won out easily. We chose Jones Creek and began rounding up other paddlers.

Lucas and I left somewhat early on Sunday to scout shuttle locations. The put-in was easy to find but we struck out twice on possible takeouts. We met Jody, Chris and Pat at the put-in. Lucas taught Chris how to paddle stern in a canoe while Jody and I made a third attempt at finding a takeout. We ended up leaving Lucas' truck at a semi-legal takeout by a low water bridge. At least the bridge gave us a well-defined marker for the takeout. We just hoped the truck would be there when we arrived.

Bob warned us that it would be a long paddle, so I admit I was a little worried when we launched after 2pm. The water was moving pretty quickly when we launched, so I didn't worry too much. We noticed some definite gradient to the creek as we paddled through some small wave trains. Harpeth-sized rock bluffs lined the path the river followed, sometimes far off at the edge of the floodplain and other times, running along the banks. The creek reminded me a little of Fortyeight Creek, except without the strainer issues or the waterlogged retrivers trying to climb into the canoe. A few rapids even pushed toward Class II.

Chris mentioned something about no beavers living in this part of Tennessee just as three beavers dove into the water to prove him wrong. Other wildlife included kingfishers, herons, robins, and birds I haven't learned to name yet. We passed a couple of rednecks working on the roof of a house. One of them yelled something about not falling out of our boats because we might get wet. I thought he might fall off his roof. Soon after, we came to the biggest rapid of the day, a two-foot river-wide ledge. We ran it center with no difficulty. Pat noticed the hole was a tad sticky.

Not long after the ledge, we found our takeout bridge. Until the last second, we couldn't see the bridge, so Jody and I were a little anxious. We checked the time when we started loading boats and gear. Turns out we ran 10-12 miles of river in about 3 hours, without a whole lot of effort. I think Bob was a little bit jealous when I told him.