Cedar Creek in Tennessee

Trip Overview

On May 6 2003 at approx 1345pm myself and a close paddling friend set out to navigate a local creek in the city of Mt. Juliet. I had never paddled this creek before and I had never seen anyone paddle this creek before so I figured what the heck why not try it out. This creek normally has water levels that are not able to support a very long trip unless you made many portages around the shoals and low water areas, but on this date the creek was up and a bit murky from the recent rains we had in the recent days and weeks so this made for a very interesting adventure. There are many areas that take quite a bit of navigational skills to maneuver the canoe around sharp rocks that you dont want to hit, if you love your canoe as I do.

The scenery is great with several 100 ft rock bluffs and large calm pools that you can take a nice swim in. One of the pools is called by the locals "THE BLUE HOLE" this one is about 8 ft deep in some places. The creek takes you past windtree golf course which will be on your left after a mile or so from where we put in at the Mt. Juliet little league ball park. The golf course will be your only civilization until you get to the back waters of Old Hickory lake at that point there will be a few houses to your left also but we did not go that far since we didnt have a drop vehicle at cedar creek boat dock and marina, so once we got to the backwaters of old hickory lake we turned around and started paddling and pulling the canoe upstream...mostly pulling... I didnt get on the bank because I am highly allergic to poison ivy and all I had on was shorts so I didnt mind getting a bit wet rather than weeks of suffering pain and itching. All in all it was a great trip with some nice scenery and although exhausted from pulling the canoe upstream in some strong current we made it back to the little league park.

Directions:

I-40 eastbound from Nashville about 12 miles get off at the 2nd Mt. Juliet exit go north on North Mt. Juliet rd about 4 miles until it runs into hwy 70 make a right there approx 1/2 mile on your left is the park.