Upper Tennessee River, October 2024

Interesting information Bob. I'm sure your mom-in-law had some interesting stories to tell. Assuming she was at liberty to tell them. :wink: There were several museums in the area that I think would have been interesting to go to if we had more time, and a place to dock. Looks like the main down town area, or area they were located, was about 4.5 miles from the River. We did read just a little bit about the Manhattan Project when we were in Knoxville at the Eastern Tennessee Museum. In any case, we are having a good trip this month. Still seeing a lot just from the river. The current and debris has been manageable. The muddy color in the Tennessee has taken a bit away from it's beauty. But I'm glad we chose to continue with our plans to come. We changed plans to just do the section from Harrison Bay up to Knoxville and the beginning of the Tennessee River, giving us time to explore the Little Tennessee River, the Emory River, and the Clinch River, all worth the time! We'll save the section between Harrison and Guntersville for another time. Colby
 
Another foggy start to the day. I suppose to be expected when the water temperature is 58F and the air over it is 49F. Makes for some eerie pictures though. So today we turned around and went back downstream on the Clinch River, and are now anchored within sight of the Melton Hill Lock and Dam. We have reservations to be locked down tomorrow at 10am. While we retraced our track back from yesterday, we still saw or learned a few new things. First, the rowing tower in Oak Ridge I posted a photo of yesterday, is the UT Battelle Tower. It was built with a donation from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the City. The river here offers a nice calm channel for rowing club races, and I guess there are quite a few national races that are held here. There is also a very nice walking/biking path along the river front. Also, something we did not see coming upstream (we were looking for a spot to anchor and were to close to the shore to see over the trees), this time we saw a building with a dome top. Doing a little more investigation, we learned that this is the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Energy Systems Test Complex. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more information on this particular building. While the Clinch and Emory Rivers wind back and forth around much of the land in this area, it is all part of the Laboratory grounds and has a lot of history with the Manhattan Project. In fact, a good portion of the shore on the north side of the Clinch River, from Oak Ridge to Kingston, has Government no tress passing signs posted. Arriving at the Melton Hill Lock and Dam late this afternoon, Sunbeam anchored in a cove close by, while Mystery Girl anchored just off shore of the Milton Hill Campground. I "docked" C-Traveler next to the campground in very shallow water along the campground shore walkway. (There is a low metal pipe railing to tie up to, but with only 3' of water, it's likely meant for shallow draft boats, which we are. 🙂 Rosanne enjoyed walking while I did a little kayaking. Then we went to find a geocache. After supper, we moved about 50 yards off shore to anchor.

Reminder, photos that go along with these posts can be found on my blog at:
https://findpenguins.com/77ono0cdqci52/trip/upper-tennessee-river
 
Colby Smith, sorry to have missed you. Our 22CA is moored on the Little Tenn which joins Tennessee River at MM602. The lock master posted a photo of your 4 vessel group locking through. If you are still in the area please reply with a best means of contacting you.
Best,
Cap'n Bill
 
River Rat":2n37sm85 said:
Colby Smith, sorry to have missed you. Our 22CA is moored on the Little Tenn which joins Tennessee River at MM602. The lock master posted a photo of your 4 vessel group locking through. If you are still in the area please reply with a best means of contacting you.
Best,
Cap'n Bill
Click to expand...

We spent almost a week on the Little Tennessee River (Tellico Lake), exploring both channels (the Little Tennessee River and the Tellico River). Was worth the trip spending time in clear, mostly debris free, water. You can read past posts on this thread to see more of our enjoyment on the lake. We just spent the weekend exploring the Clinch River, and are now headed back down stream on the Tennessee to Harrison Bay State Park, where we'll end our close to a month on the River. Colby
 
Chose to leave an hour later this morning, so while we departed in the fog again, it had lifted within about 15 minutes. Had a short 500 yards or so to the Melton Hill lock, which was ready and open for us. I never get tired of the mechanics of locking, but maybe you are getting tired of the locking photos. lol. I think this is a lift/drop of around 65 feet. This lock is also a slight bit bigger than the Fort Loudoun and Watts Bar locks, the other two locks we've been through on this trip. We continued down the Clinch River, and took a detour on Poplar Creek, which runs close to the K-25 History Center, all part of the Manhattan Project. We were hoping there might be access to this center, as it is open to the public. But no dice. (Or I should say, no easy access anywhere). Still it was a scenic run up the creek. The fall colors are really starting to show. Passing Kingston, the muddy water of the Tennessee River has made it's way in a short ways on the Clinch River. Back on the Tennessee River, we are now back in the brown color until we load out. (When we started up stream, we didn't run into the dirty water until Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. It has now made it's way down past Harrison Bay, as reported by Steven and Karen on Sea Spray when they loaded out two days ago. However, it seems most the debris has also flushed downstream, as other than a few logs here and there, we haven't seen much since coming through the Fort Loudoun Lock. We are currently anchored just off the Tennessee River in Caney Creek.
 
It was a quiet night in Caney Creek last night. And not much fog this morning. (Air temperature 50F and water 63F.) Sunbeam and C-Traveler made a quick stop at Blue Springs Marina today to put on some fuel and water. Didn't see anything else new, so only a couple of photos. We are anchored in coves just above the Watts Bar lock. Plan to lock down tomorrow morning at 10am, but know of two tows coming down the river from Fort Loudoun. Hopefully we won't have to wait for them. The water here on the Tennessee seems to be starting to clear up somewhat. Still brown however.
 
Woke up to a little bit of fog again this morning, but it burned off quickly. We headed over to Watts Bar lock and the lock was ready for us. Already had one small fishing boat in it that got locked down with us. Saw a lot of turtles today, but no photos as they seemed pretty shy, and would jump off their logs as soon as we got close. (Still almost 100' away.) Saw a pair of Bald Eagles today, and managed to capture a couple photos of one. (Wish I had a telephoto lens so many times!) I had seen Bald Eagles a couple other times this trip. Plenty of Blue Herons as well. And some Vultures. Watched some linemen and a crane either working to construct some towers, or take them down. The water seems to be clearing up some, but still brown. Not a lot of current, less than 1 mph. And we didn't see any debris. Also, the river seems to be 4-5' lower than it was when we passed through here two weeks ago. This evening Mystery Girl and us are anchored in Robert's Slough on Hiwassee River. Sunbeam is anchored in Sale Creek off the Tennessee River. This is C-Traveler's last night on the water, for the season. Tomorrow Rosanne and I will head to Harrison Bay State Park to load out and start the drive home. Mystery Girl and Sunbeam will spend a few more days exploring branches off the Tennessee River. Jeff and C-Play are already home and have got a good start on repairing the damage to his hull. Steve and Karen with Sea Spray should just about be back home in California. Even with the current and debris caused by the flooding from Hurricane Helene, we've had a great cruise. Steve has referred to it as Bill and Colby's Excellent Tennessee River Adventure. :) Colby
 
632 miles, 147 gallons of gas, for an efficient fuel burn of 4.3mpg. 125 hours of outboard run time. That is the stats from my Upper Tennessee River Cruise! Almost all of that was at 5mph. Ok, so today I did put it up on plane for about an hour to blow out the carbon and get back to the launch ramp quicker. lol. Sunbeam and Mystery Girl are still adding to their stats as they spend a couple more days on the River exploring. Mystery Girl had already been there a few days before us, so he'll have several more miles and hours. This morning, while still anchored in Roberts Slough, I captured a photo of a Tug passing us by out on the Hiwassee River. We (Rosanne and I) pulled anchor, said goodby to Bill, and then headed back to Harrison Bay State Park, taking us back by the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant. Along the way, we spotted several Bald Eagles, several Blue Herons, and some Egrets in the top of some trees. Got back to the park, got the truck and trailer, and loaded out C-Traveler. She'll need some cleaning when we get back home. We stopped this evening at a Cracker Barrel in Paducah, Ky. Love my Cracker Barrels. Good meal, and they allow Rv's to park overnight in their parking lots. 470 miles left to home, and I plan for us to get there tomorrow evening. This will end this blog, and for that matter, our boating season for the year. Once home, I'll have the annual maintenance and winterization cleaning to do before putting C-Traveler away until next spring (or earlier.) Colby

Final reminder, photos can be found at my blog at: https://findpenguins.com/77ono0cdqci52/ ... ssee-river
 
Colby, thank you for sharing this cruise with all the photos & video. I’ve followed Bill’s Inreach too & the combination almost puts you there with the group. We hope to see you & Bill next year either in Washington or Alaska or even possibly both.

Jay
 
Colby, sorry to have missed your group. We live on the little tennessee river,8 miles up from ft loudon. Just now back. Nice to see you found so.e good places and made lockmaster happy. We have 2024 22CA. Just back from Georgian Bay and Trent Severn and summer on lake Huron. PM me if you would like to chat.
 
Hunkydory":2p8kwhaf said:
Colby, thank you for sharing this cruise with all the photos & video. I’ve followed Bill’s Inreach too & the combination almost puts you there with the group. We hope to see you & Bill next year either in Washington or Alaska or even possibly both.

Jay
Click to expand...

Hi Jay. (And Bob.) I enjoyed sharing. Friday Harbor May 2025 is already on my calendar! :) Alaska will depend on your and Bill's schedule. :wink: East half of Erie Canal is on my calendar for September. Hontoon for March. IF Alaska doesn't happen, then May is also going to include the San Juans, and the South Sound. (Gig Harbor, Olympia, ???) Next summer will be full of boat cruising all over the country again. 8) Colby
 
River Rat":7vzco0jw said:
Colby, sorry to have missed your group. We live on the little tennessee river,8 miles up from ft loudon. Just now back. Nice to see you found so.e good places and made lockmaster happy. We have 2024 22CA. Just back from Georgian Bay and Trent Severn and summer on lake Huron. PM me if you would like to chat.
Click to expand...

Sorry you missed us. Always nice to meet other C-Brats. Bill (Mystery Girl) was up in the North Channel and Georgian Bay for a month before he joined us. Anyone that knows me, knows I like to chat. lol. However, we're heading out west to visit family in two weeks, and I will be busy cleaning up the boat, winterizing and putting her away. Along with some other stuff I need to get done here at home before we leave. It'll likely be too damn cold to do this stuff when we return the first of December... Colby
 
Since I took all the lock photos, I never really got one showing C-Traveler in there with the other boats. There were some videos posted by Fort Loudoun Lock and Watts Bar Lock on their Facebook Pages that may have captured a glimpse of me, but none that I saw that included all of us. Well, at the Melton Hill lock, the lock tender did take a photo of the three of us together at the time. Soooo, here is a photo of Mystery Girl, Sunbeam, and C-Traveler in the Melton Hill Lock!

799bMeltonHillLockAll3OfUs.jpg
 
Back
Top