Inflatable Kayak Blog

We went up into the Smokey Mountains for a long weekend this past weekend. We had a variety of plans, which included some paddling on one of the days we were there. There are many mountain streams that run through the area, however, they don’t lend themselves to kayaking because of low water levels and large rocks. We asked some locals to suggest a good place to put the kayak in for a paddle and they suggested Douglas Lake.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) constructed Douglas Lake in 1943. By damming up the French Broad River for the purpose of flood control and hydroelectric power generation, they also created a very impressive recreational lake with over 550 miles of shoreline and a surface area greater than 30,000 acres at its fullest. The lake was about 40 minutes from where we were staying in Gatlinburg but it was easy to find. There is a campground and beach area at Douglas Dam where we launched our Sea Eagle 330 inflatable kayak. We inflated the boat and carried it to the water where we took off from an old boat launch. It was a busy place with lots of swimmers and boaters in the area. We did our usual paddle long the shore line and managed to see a heron fly over head right after we got going. There was a marina to the right so we paddled down as far as that and then paddled back the other direction past the beach area. We didn’t stay out too long because we weren’t used to all the boats and jet skies zipping by. But it was a terrific day to be outside and the view of the Great Smokey Mountains in the distance made for quite a nice adventure.