If spending a little time on the water in a given day is a good thing, then spending more time on the water, must be even better. I'll put that to the test today. After departing the Cartecay River area in northern Georgia, I headed northwest past Chattanooga and onward to Nickajack Lake, which was formed by damming the Tennessee River. The plan is to kayak out a short distance to witness the local brown bat population leaving Nickajack Cave just after sunset. I'm joining a local guide service for this trip. I was actually supposed to do this paddle twice in the past couple of months, but had to reschedule due to family visiting and then due to my mother being temporarily hospitalized. Today's the day though.
I arrive pretty early and take advantage of the time to finish off a Subway sandwich I picked up a short time ago. It's about 6 PM and this will serve as dinner before going back out onto the water. After I finish stuffing my face, I walk out to introduce myself to the guides. The van pulling a trailer full of kayaks pretty much gave their identity away. The guys are very friendly and give me quick overview of the evening and then ask me to sign their safety waiver, which is pretty standard for these types of things.
Soon the rest of the group arrives and after picking out our boats and getting them adjusted correctly, the guys give a basic lesson in paddle strokes. Luckily, everyone here has kayaked before and this takes very little time. With that, we load up and hit the water. It's still about an hour before sunset and so, we take some time to paddle around the lake a bit and under the bridge, before returning to the cave. Ospreys soar above us scanning the lake for any signs of a meal. Our guide points out a couple of nests in the electrical towers. I've seen osprey nests before, but I'm always amazed at how large they really are. He also tells us that the osprey often prey on the tiny bats as they leave the safety of their cave in mass.
With the sun now behind the horizon, we've position ourselves just a little ways from the cave entrance. Our guide says that while a lot of people actually congregate right at the cave entrance, the spot he has lead us to will see many more bats. As he tells it, the bats leave the cave and then immediately head into the trees, which provides them some protection from the waiting Osprey. They pop out of the trees immediately above where our boats now float.
It's been a really amazing experience, but as darkness settles in further, we paddle back to the nearby launch and pull our boats in. The guides were very knowledgeable and the spot the picked for us to encounter the bats was fantastic. In total, we paddled about 2.2 miles around the lake, but now it's time for the long drive home.
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