Sea Kayaking on Fontana Lake

On June 26th and 27th, Gary, Ethan, and I loaded up to head out to Fontana Lake. The is a man-made lake created in the 1930s by TVA and is held back by Fontana Dam, the largest dam east of the Mississippi. We put in just east of the dam itself. It was extremely hot, and being in the kayak obviously made the water easily accessible. We paddled out to campsite 78 (~8 miles), but found some lazy motorboaters had snagged our spot. We swam more a while, and paddled back around the island to find another beautiful spot to camp right on the water. We set up camp, swam for hours (hunting fish with our knives...obviously), and cooked dinner. When the sun went down, we went glowstick diving. We tied a glowstick to a rock and threw it out into the water. Since Fontana is mountain stream runoff, the water is very clear with visibility down to 20 feet or so. We would throw it out pretty far but swimming down the far in pitch black water was erie to say the least.

The next day, we backtracked and paddled down the north shore of the lake, which makes up the southern portion of the Smoky Mountains. Gary found service and called Earth Fare to make sure he didn't have to work, monday, but found out he had to open that day. We were bummed, but took advantage of the rest of the day by swimming many more hours, and snorkeling, napping, and swimming on a shallow island we found. I love this part of the Smokies, and will continue to go back.