Let’s Paddle, Y’all: The Best Spots to Kayak on Lake Guntersville

Lake Guntersville is the perfect destination for your next paddle adventure. The 69,000-acre lake, tucked into the mountains of North Alabama, offers plenty of coves and miles of shoreline to explore by kayak or canoe.

Despite being one of the largest lakes in the Southeast, Guntersville’s calm and shallow coves offer miles of opportunity for nature lovers, with otters, turtles and a multitude of fish enjoying its waters. Paddlers can also catch a glimpse of bald eagles and osprey as well as red tail hawks who make their homes in the tall pines along the lake’s banks. 

Access and Boat Launch Facilities:

Lake Guntersville State Park boasts three kayak launches for easy access and the park’s Town Creek Fishing Center rents canoes, kayaks and paddleboards for water enthusiasts who may not have their own.

The city of Guntersville has multiple boat ramps and a sandy, public beach area. All are perfect for launching kayaks and canoes. The beach, located along Sunset Drive Trail provides a great access point for paddling the peninsula of Guntersville and a great viewing spot for sunsets over the lake.

Unique Paddle Opportunities:

For those paddlers who enjoy a challenge, Hambrick Bat Cave is a 30-minute paddle upriver from Guntersville Dam, and done at dusk, you can experience thousands of gray bats as they leave the cave once it becomes dark. Make sure that you carry a red-light head lamp for the return trip.

Several large paddle events are held annually on the lake, including the Creek to Cove paddle which takes place on the last Saturday in May. This is a free, three-mile paddle from Langston Boat Ramp to Morgan’s Cove at Bucks Pocket State Park. The event attracts all levels of paddlers and those without their own watercraft can request a kayak through the online registration portal found at explorelakeguntersville.com.

Things To Do Off the Water:

After your day spent enjoying the water, you can grab a local beer at Main Channel Brewery or a steak at Big Mike’s Steakhouse at City Harbor. Most weekends there is live music at the harbor that can be enjoyed for free. For those interested in fresh seafood, Crawmamas, a local favorite, has some of the best, or you can enjoy fried catfish at the famous Top O’ The River. Click here for more restaurants in the area.

Jules J. Berta Winery sits just a few miles south of the lake and has great pizza and wine slushies, along with live music in the spring and summer.