WEEK 31 - Side trip from Pickwick Landing Park to Chattanooga, Tennessee

We had a great family visit with Betsy, Emily, and Lily at Pickwick Landing State Park where we got a cabin for the extra accommodations, did some nice woods hikes, and visited Shiloh National Battlefield. Just south of Pickwick, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway branches off the Tennessee River. The “Tenn-Tom” is the main looper route south to Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico, but before we take that turn, we wanted to visit Chattanooga, which is another 250 miles up the Tennessee. The fall colors are now at their peak, and the trip through the fabulous Tennessee River Gorge was not to be missed. Our friends Bob and Nancy will join us partway up the route and stay with us a while in Chattanooga. Our stops along the way included Florence (marina), Joe Wheeler Sate Park (marina), Ditto Landing (marina), Goose Pond (marina), Shell Mound (free dock), and finally Chattanooga (marina). Although the route starts and ends in Tennessee, most of the way we will actually be in northern Alabama.

Uncle Jonathan and Lily

We all loved being in the woods 

Captain Emily at the helm

Touring the Shiloh battlefield monuments

Auntie time

Auntie time too

Beautiful day to take a little spin around Pickwick

The first day of the side trip was a straightforward and uneventful 50 miles to the town of Florence, Alabama. We were heading upriver into a 1-2 knot head current, which slowed us down a bit but gave more time to appreciate the scenery along the way. The marina in Florence had a nice courtesy van, which we took advantage of to go to Lowe's and out to an excellent Thai dinner at Yumm in the old downtown.

Panko encrusted fried oysters with Thai slaw at Yumm

Pad Thai: a classic but well done!

The next day was only 25 miles to Joe Wheeler Sate Park, but it also included two massive locks, the Wilson Lock and the Wheeler lock. These locks are not a large as the monsters on the Mississippi, but they make up for it in lift – between the two of them we go up 130 feet! Joe Wheeler (named after a Confederate general, natch) is a sprawling marina/resort/convention center in a forested cove just off the river above the Wheeler Lock. Usually a super busy place, this late in the season we had it pretty much to ourselves. Not too long after we got tied up, our friends Bob and Nancy called to say they were on their way from Chattanooga. They are leaving their car there and getting a ride service to bring them to Joe Wheeler, and they come bearing a care package of a case of wine and other goodies from Trader Joe’s in Atlanta. We had a nice reunion and took a little walk through the park to see the sun set before a fine dinner on board.

Locking up!

The white pelicans were abundant

View from our slip at Joe Wheeler

If there is a trail in the woods, we're gonna be on it

Spectacular sunsets this time of year

 After breakfast in the Wheeler Lodge restaurant the next morning, we were bound for Ditto Landing Marina. This is 60 miles upstream, but no locks today to deal with. Along the way we passed through the industrial town of Decatur, with cement and grain facilities and a cat food factory along the river. This was really the only interruption in a long journey through rolling hills, dense forests and fancy vacation homes dotting the shore. Ditto Landing is near the town of Huntsville, best known for the US Space and Rocket Center and the Redstone Arsenal. We took advantage of the marina’s deal for a free overnight slip with the purchase of 100 gallons of diesel and had a quiet evening aboard.

Bob at the helm

A curling up pup who loves the calm of the inland rivers

Oil slick calm today on the Tennessee river

Sunset brings the bass fisherman back to the dock at Ditto

The next morning was a short 5 miles to the Guntersville Lock, which opened right up for us, and then  another 40 to Goose Pond Marina near the town of Scottsboro, Alabama. The big claim to fame here is the Unclaimed Baggage Center, where the airlines send all the bags that get lost and the store sells the contents. We took the marina’s courtesy car there, and it was mostly pretty lame, except Nancy found a nice high end down jacket for a low price. On the way back we stopped at Tractor Supply for dog food and engine oil and the Piggly Wiggly for a few groceries (glamourous, huh?). We did have a nice dinner out at a restaurant on the marina site, which had outstanding shrimp and grits.

Lots of eagles and shorebirds on the river

Nancy on lock duty

Bob and I take the midship and bow

Gotta give it a try! 

Delicious shrimp and grits at the Dock Restaurant located at the marina

At this point the river turns back to the north and the land on both sides starts to get steeper and we had a cloudy and drippy 50 miles to a free dock just past Nickajack Lock. This is the last lock on our trip upstream, and we are now at 635 feet above sea level. The rest of the loop is all downhill from here! The free dock is part of a TVA park and launch ramp facility. It has some nice big sturdy docks (without electric) and pretty grounds. Here we got to meet up with Seabatical, who just finished the loop and crossed their wake and are now on the way to their home port near Chattanooga.

The scenery is starting to change 

Bob and Nancy enjoying the departure. Nancy sporting her new coat 😃

Scenic views all along the river

Finally, it was time for the final push to Chattanooga! As fabulous as the scenery has been so far, everyone has been telling us we ain’t seen nothing yet. We have a beautiful crisp sunny day for the trip and are very excited for the last 30 miles and the Chattanooga Gorge, sometimes called “The Grand Canyon of the Tennessee”. Well, all I can say is WOW! The river twists and turns back on itself through a channel with thousand-foot mountains on each side and the fall leaves are absolutely on fire. Despite all the beauty we have seen on the trip, this is the scenic highlight, and well worth the 500 mile round trip detour all by itself. But at the end of the line is another treat, the hip and vibrant city of Chattanooga. Chattanooga has a vibe somewhat like Asheville, with lots of brew pubs fantastic restaurants, and a hopping night life. We spent a couple of days here, highlighted by a visit to the Tennessee Aquarium and a drive up to the top of Lookout Mountain, which combines a stunning view with some Civil War history.

Surrounded by mountains adorned in fall colors

Beautiful views the whole way!

Bob at home at the helm

Paddle fish which are native in the Tennessee river

Jonathan and the quite large turtle shell

I love me an alligator

Living coral and tropical fish display

Chattanooga Aquarium Freshwater building

Chattanooga Aquarium Salt water building

Blooming azaleas?? Not for long with the arctic blast that blew through

Sculptures and other art installations throughout the city

We are staying here a couple of extra days to let a cold front blow through (it will dip below freezing, brrr!) and then it’s hey for the Tenn-Tom and Mobile!

WEEK 30 - Grand Rivers, Kentucky to Pickwick Landing Sate Park, Tennessee

It was a great week heading about 200 miles up the beautiful Tennessee River as we work our way south in the inland rivers. The week was not without some challenges, like dealing with a tropical storm (!), a swarming bug infestation, lots of rain, and a hard cold snap (more on all that later). Our stops this week were at Kenlake State park, Kentucky (marina, 2 nights), Harmon Creek, Tennessee (anchor), Double Islands (anchor), Clifton Marina (marina, 2 nights), and finally to Pickwick Landing Sate Park Marina, where we will spend a few days with some family coming to visit.

After a relaxing stay at Green Turtle Marina in Grand Rivers, we started to get itchy feet again. There was some bad weather on the horizon, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Olga were forecast to come barreling up the Tennessee Valley and bring several inches of rain and high winds. Most of the loopers at Green Turtle chose to wait it out there, but we decided to push about 25 miles south to a little marina at Kenlake State Park and hide out there. It seemed like a good spot to hole up – the marina basin was surrounded by a 20 foot high rock revetment, had a nice little restaurant on site, and was only 80 cents a foot per night. In between rain squalls, we found some nice trails to hike with Bella. And rain it did – Olga came through with 50 mph winds and driving rain for at least 24 straight hours. The wind driven rain found its way into a lot of little gaps around hatches and windows, and we were sopping up leaks left and right. It was even worse just a little bit upstream, with thousands of downed trees, a couple of tornados, and power outages that lasted for days.

Loopers lined up in a row at Green Turtle Bay marina, Grand Rivers, KY

Panoramic of the National Quilt Museum Gallery in Paducah, a side trip back to Paducah with the marina courtesy van. This is a must stop. The works displayed here are truly masterpieces.

Patti's 1880 Settlement in Grand Rivers, KY

Back on the Tennessee River heading to Kenlake State Park marina, KY

Though we didn't anchor here, we did pull in for a moment to see the rock walls covered by graffiti. The entire anchorage is covered.

Kenlake State Park, KY

Kenlake State Park, KY

When the weather finally cleared, we did about 45 miles to an anchorage off the main river at Harmon Creek. The twisty side channel led to some spots where you could anchor amongst a bunch of little islands, where we were soon joined by Two Loons, a beautiful 44 Manta power cat, and Outta the Loop as well. We had cocktail hour aboard Two Loons, and then settled in for the night. As soon as we turned on the anchor light, we were swarmed by a horde of big, weird long-legged flies. Attracted to the light, they started laying gross sticky black egg cases all over the place. Declining to do battle, I gave them a parting shot of Yard Guard and we retreated to the cabin. In the morning we hosed the dead bodies off with the anchor washdown hose and chased the live ones down with the Dyson vacuum as best we could.

Harmon Creek anchorage

Duck blind with a great blue heron on top and an egret to the right

These are the casualties.

It is as if these egg cases were glued on. This is one small patch but there were hundreds 😝😝

Shore leave for Bella

Back in the land of Cypress Trees

After being thoroughly grossed out by all the bugs, we got the anchor up and put in a 60-mile day to another anchorage at Double Islands. We got a nice spot in about 15 feet of water and launched the dinghy to go ashore with Bella on a nice wide clean sandy beach (no mud, yea!) that was at least a half mile long. There something familiar caught my eye – all along the beach there were tracks where turtles had come ashore to dig nests, just like sea turtles on our home beaches in Florida. The only difference was that these tracks were a bit smaller and had claw marks instead of flipper marks in them. We were joined that night by Outta the Loop and enjoyed one of our favorite anchorages on the whole trip.

Double Island shore leave for Bella

BellaGatto at Double Islands anchorage

Tracks on the shore

Pretty darn big tracks. Shoe pictured is a size 10!

BellaGatto at anchor

 

In the morning, the weather forecast for the next few days had another big slug of rain in it, this time associated with a strong cold front. It was time to hole up again for a couple of days, and we did a short 10 mile hop to Clifton Marina. We had actually planned on this stop since Paducah, and I had arranged for a new run solenoid for the generator to be delivered here. I was looking forward to getting that installed, since for the last couple of weeks running the generator involved a complicated jury rig of hot wires and tie-wraps to work around the bad solenoid. Starting the next morning it rained. All. Day. Long. While I worked on installing the generator part, Jayne did a much-needed total cleanup to get rid of the last traces of bugmageddon and other traveling filth. We also found time to borrow the marina car and go to the only shopping game in town, a Dollar General store a couple of miles away.

Fall colors starting on the Tennessee River

Downtown Clifton

Downtown Clifton

When the cold front passed through on Halloween morning, it was cloudy, drizzly, windy, and COLD. Simple creatures that we are, we thought this would be a good travel day. To be fair, we were bored with Clifton and were really looking forward to getting to Pickwick Landing, where we would meet Jayne’s sister, niece, and grand-niece and spend a couple of days ashore at a nice cabin in the park. It was only about 50 miles to Pickwick, but it was upstream against a current that was building to about 1.5 to 2 knots with all the rain, and we also needed to get through Pickwick lock, which would lift us 55 feet to Pickwick Lake. All in all, it was an 8-hour day. Buttoned up in the pilothouse with the heater going it was not so bad, but going out on deck in the drippy, windy cold was miserable. The crew at Pickwick Lock got us through without too much delay, and right past the lock was Pickwick Landing Sate Park and Marina, our home for the next several days. When we are done with our stop here, we will begin a side trip off the loop route to Chattanooga, joined by our good friends and guest crew Bob and Nancy.