Caney River - Center Hill Dam to Betty's Island

Date: July 3, 2016

Center Hill Dam is awesome to view from the river

Distance: Miles 8.9

Weather: Sunny and Hot

Time on the River: 4 hours

River Conditions: Slow

Distance from Nashville: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Close By: Nashville

Put-In: Center Hill Dam

Take-Out: Betty’s Island

Outfitter: Caney Fork Canoe, Big Rock

Note: Always check with TVA https://www.tva.gov/Environment/Lake-Levels/Center-Hill to get the water schedule for when the TVA is generating 2 or more generators, some of the outfitters may not be renting canoes/kayaks during this rime.

     I should have known better then to paddle the Caney Fork on a holiday weekend. The number of paddlers and fly fisherman on the river was staggering, it was like bumper cars on water. The river was moving slow and we had to get out and pull our canoe a few times, while trying to avoid hitting other boats.  The TVA opened up one of the generators about an hour after we got on the river and in retrospect we should have waited.

All the paddlers on the river

   What I do love about this river is the crystal clear water. Since this a dam fed river, the water is coming from the bottom of the lake which results in very clear water but does make it extremely chilly.  While there were a lot of places to pull over and play in the water, it was just too cold to spend any amount of time in it.

Clear, cool water of the Caney River

Rock croppings where otters like to play

Once we got past the first take out location at Happy Hollow Boat Ramp, the Caney was a lot quieter. We left behind more than half of the paddlers and we settled into a peaceful river trip. We even saw river otters! I had my son pull up to some rock cropping’s to take a picture and as he approached three otters started darting back and forth among the rocks. At times like this I wish I had better camera skills.

TWRA checking for life jackets

Lex and I have canoed the Caney in the past and had a great time, this was not one of them. The crowds made the trip noisy and stressful. The TRWA had Rangers on the river having the paddlers show their life jackets before they would let them continue down river. Maybe we need to stick to mid-week paddling on the Caney.