The Nashville Skyline Cumberland & Tennessee Rivers Crui

J

Jim Gibson

Member
After our successful 2017 Lewis & Clark Snake and Columbia Rivers Cruise, I was interviewing videographer Floyd (C-Dory Far C’R) about ideas for another potential expedition cruise. Floyd mentioned that he and his wife Eiko set off on a planned journey to the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers a few years ago but they had to abort the trip due to a family emergency. Floyd went to high school in Nashville.

Floyd and Eiko and myself and Kathy have now decided to do this trip in 2018. We will be launching Monday, September 10th at Grandville Marina and then we will head downstream, perhaps up to 700 NM of waterways.

This trip starts around Celina (Cordell Hull Lake) and will go at least as far as Chattanooga. If we have clear weather and we are making good time, we may go as far as Knoxville.

We are planning 14 days on the two rivers. We expect to average approximately 50 NM per day by water.

We will retrieve our rigs and truck on Monday, September 24th and then I will start driving back to California. Floyd may stay in the Nashville area for awhile after the water trip.

We have learned from the Columbia River trip that about five vessels on this kind of journey seems to work out. It is enough boats to create some resources if necessary to get things done but are not too many boats to bog down the entire group.

Floyd and myself hereby invite a few others to join us on this trip if they have the interest, enthusiasm, and the time availability.

The dates for this trip are set in stone. I am dedicating the month of September to this voyage. Floyd and I are leaving California on Tuesday, September 4th and heading East.

Does anyone want to join us in Tennessee for this adventure?
 
We had planed to do part of that (Tennessee, from Pickwick to Knoxville) last summer after the Mississippi gathering. I know that you will be welcome at the Mississippi gathering this year--which fits in your time frame.

Assuming that no hurricane displaces us this year--we would love to join you. I already have the guide books and some charts.
 
This is another trip I have been dreaming of doing since before having the right boat to do it in. Back in the day I even thought of building a raft to go down the Cumberland River. After you retire even though you think you have more time... you actually have less time to do the things in life that you need to do. Once again Jim is the catalyst everyone needs to get adventure rolling, thanks man!

As Jim mentioned, I planned to do this trip in 2014 and even got to New Mexico before I had to turn around because of an emergency. I have put together a folder on my Google Drive with information that I gathered which anyone is welcome to read or even add to.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

I am looking forward to this trip and it would be really fun to share the experience with a few C-Brats
 
Jim, the Mississippi River gathering is September 7-9 in Alton, Illinois. There is then a Lake Powell gathering being planned for towards the end of September sometime. I am planning on both of those, however could possibly be persuaded to join you guys on the Cumberland & Tennesee Rivers and forego the trip out to Lake Powell. I'm already making one trip out west in May for the Friday Harbor gathering this spring/summer, then hanging around for a month to hopefully do some of the south end of the Inside Passage. I know you stated your dates are set in stone, but I'd recommend you make some minor changes and join the gathering at Alton. Give you a chance to meet some of the C-Brats from this side of the Rockies, and you might even possibly be able to start your trip from that gathering. Colby
 
Jim, That was superfast planning. If there is room I to would love to GO. Then I could take my boat to Florida And leave it there for the winter and be ready for spring of 2019. Lew
 
Jerry M Hay, is a "Riverlorian" who has plied the Cumberland and Tennessee River all of his life. There are a series of books--sort of Guide books--on these rivers (and others). His books are fun reading, and I have all of them...

A bit about Jerry Hay, and links to his other pages

We have family in Nashville, and Knoxville, and very close extended family at Pickwick. So there may be some resources there if necessary.

Great resources from Bluechablis! Thank you![/url]
 
Dr. Bob, Lew Cat Claw, and Colby, that would be great if you could go.

Thanks for the Mississippi River gathering invite. For me, I will have to pass on it.

There is 6 days of driving for me on the way out from California. We are going to use all the time we have budgeted just to get to Tennessee in a relaxing manner. We can't leave any earlier, and we only have the month of September to do this entire land and water trip.

With 14 days on the water, plus 12 travel days, that equals 26 calendar days. We leave September 4th and are back home by September 29th.

We have to stay focused on this one trip if we are to pull it off coming from California, given our time budget. The launch date and retrieval dates are set for this trip.

For those of you that live closer to Tennessee, and have the time schedule, I can see how you could attend both events. For me, I will have to focus on just the Columbia and Tennessee Rivers.
 
I meant to above say focus on just the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers!

Dr. Bob thank you for the chart references. I am going to order from him one book the Cumberland and one book on the Tennessee. Excellent.
 
I started to say it is only 326 miles from Alton to Nashville--but then I realized that the gathering broke up on the 9th, and thus the main night was on the 8th--too early for you all to spend the night at Alton (right along the way on the I 80 route), and drive on the next day....

We will drive to Nashville on the 9th, and probably stay with family that night--and meet up early on the 10th..
 
Bob, I'll talk to you more at Hontoon to get your thoughts on the timing and schedule to meet up with them. I don't think Rosanne has her vacation yet for September, so we might be able to make some changes allowing her to go along on part of the trip also. I still have to look at the logistics for this anyway, but it would be new water for me, whereas I've been on Lake Powell.

Jim, remember those extra days that weren't needed last October, and how we actually did it in less time and got done earlier? You know where I'm going with this! :mrgreen: (Keep the Mississippi River gathering in the back of your mind! 500 miles a day will get you there by evening time on the first day of the gathering. Then launch a day later than planned on the Tennessee. The food at these east of the Rockies gatherings is spectacular! :wink: :D (Lew and Floyd, race him out here, you guys would enjoy the gathering before the Tennessee as well! :D Colby
 
Floyd, I didn't want to download the river charts, and there is no preview. Do you know what versions those Tennessee and Cumberland charts are? The latest ones I have are 2013. Actually anyone can download the latest versions from ACE. Also, while I haven't looked at mine closely lately, I believe Quimby's Cruising Guide is an excellent resource. Colby
 
Colby If we leave Alton on Sunday the 9th, there is plenty of time--My recollection is that the gatherings break up on Sunday, and 2 years ago we were the only ones staying Sunday night.

The current COE charts on the Tennessee River are 2013. There may or may not be corrections..But the rivers change enough that they are never "perfect"...Much of the Tennessee, (the one I am more familiar with) is more like a series of lakes above the many dams of TVA. Of course the current is quite variable. But these Rivers are navigable by 9' draft barges, so I don't see any major issues with a 4 to 5 year old survey.

You are going up river on the Tennessee--but again a lot of lakes.

I tossed my older Quimby's but I don't think it had much on the Tennessee upper parts. I do have the older (1995 by Ramsey) Cruising Guide to the Tennessee and TenTom. There are several hundred pages on the part of the Tenn, we are looking at..the phone numbers are going to be obsolete, but anchorages will be fine...As I looked at it for last year, there are plenty of marinas and free docks along the way on the Tenn. Probably some places one might anchor.

Also this is in hurricane season, and the effects of those storms can well be seen on the Tennessee River, so lay days are important. On the other hand, I am fairly sure we could get one of our relatives or close friends to provide us transport back to our trucks if the need were there. (Marie is from Corinth, MS. which is close to Pickwick, and there are a lot of folks she knows in that area.)
 
Bob, sounds good. I think I already pretty much prioritized this one over Lake Powell. Yes, you are probably right about many pull out from the Mississippi gathering before noon. I gave Rosanne the dates about an hour ago, so when it's time for her to put in for vacation, she knows what we are looking at. I'm not too concerned about the River characteristics. Especially since I don't tend to be the lead boat. :mrgreen: But still it is nice having the information. (I do have fairly new charts on my chartplotter however.) I did see the one launch marina when I briefly looked at my Quimby's. I'll have to look at stuff closer later. I'll probably just plan on following you over on the 9th if that's ok.

Jim, I think you can put Midnight Flyer down again as a definite participant. You haven't done me wrong yet. lol! Colby
 
Hi, im just a lurker who did something similar a few years back, I started in MT Juliet, near Nashville, and went to Lenoir City. Rented a car to go back for trailer, one day drive to get trailer. Take a look at Corp of Eng. Lock status for Cumberland East of Nashville, I had found a couple of the farther out ones were on limited schedules or closed, do not know currently. Good Luck, have fun. Alan
 
50 NM sounds pretty aggressive with all the locks. Are you planning to cruise at high speed? If so, are not you going to cause wake issues with other people on the river?

This has been on our list of places to go.

Thanks,

John Coppedge
The Mighty Wench
 
When we did the Snake and Columbia Rivers this past October, we ran mostly at 16mph. Actually did 75 miles on a few days. And our longest lock wait was about 45 minutes, most less time. No problems with wake as rivers were pretty wide and not much traffic. I'm not familiar with these rivers, but know on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, it's not uncommon to have to wait a few hours for lockage. I thought 50 was being overly ambitious leading up to the previous river cruise, and was surprised when actual mileage proved otherwise. So I'm just going with the flow this time. lol. Colby
 
This is Jim's call if he wants more than 5 boats. But I don't see a major issue, such as limited dockage. There are always reasons we might drop out--health issues and hurricanes.

As for locks I don't know the time, we have spent a lot of time at Pickwick and the locks there are rarely impacted. Looking at the various AIS sights, there are few boats on both of these rivers where the AIS is picked up.

They are not going to be as busy as the Mississippi. Plus in Sept, the grain barges are not yet running full swing. So you may have some fuel petrochemicals and coal. On the Mississippi and St. Croix we easily made up to 70 miles a day. We tend to run a little faster than 16. The only issue as Sept ages, is that some fuel docks will start to shut down. We found this on the upper Mississippi. However, I doubt this will be an issue with this trip. There are not many "Loopers" on the Tennessee yet. The Joe Wheeler State Park gathering is not until Mid Oct.
 
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