A guided evening paddle goes out on the river as the sun drops
Two hours on the Tennessee River with a guide and a boat you don't have to own. It leaves Friday at six thirty, which puts the group on the water for the best light of the day.
- When
- Fri Sep 18 · 6:30–8:30 PM
- Where
- Launch at 3507 Island Home Pike
- Cost
- $45 · boat, paddle and vest included
- Sunset
- About 7:39 — roughly the midpoint of the trip
- Register
- Ahead of time; these fill
- Weather
- Around 94 and mostly sunny, with a slight chance of an evening storm
Ijams Park runs guided paddles out of its river access on Island Home Pike, and Friday's goes out at six thirty for two hours. Forty-five dollars covers the boat, the paddle and the vest, which is the whole point — it is the version of kayaking available to people who do not have a kayak on the roof of the car.
The timing is the product
Sunset Friday is about 7:39. A six-thirty launch means an hour of low gold light on the way out and dusk on the way back, which is a better trip than the same route at noon in ninety-four-degree heat. The water is flat, the bluffs are wooded on both sides, and the noise of the city drops away faster than you expect for something this close to downtown.
Register ahead — the paddles carry a small number of boats and they sell out. If Friday is full, the same evening has Lord of the Rings on the lawn a few minutes up the road.
