Tuesday, April 26, 2011 – Three Rivers Lake, mile 64 on the BWTB

We were up early and on our way before 6:30 am. The forecast for the day was for increasing cloudiness, scattered thunderstorms and light southerly winds. We knew that the forecast for Wednesday was for severe weather and a warning of 25 mph sustained winds with gusts to 40 mph, so we wanted to be in a protected anchorage for at least 36 hours.

We set our sights on mile 64, Three Rivers Lake, an anchorage that was given very high ratings for holding, current and wind protection. We knew it would be a haul, since it was nearly fifty miles against a strong current, but there weren’t any locks or bridges to contend with on that stretch so we thought we should be able to make it before the sunset even if we could only chug along at 4 mph.

 

During the day we experienced one quick but very close thunderstorm and a couple of rain showers. We were able to avoid the debris in the river by staying on the inside bends and being extra vigilant. By 5 pm, we had arrived at the cutoff to Three Rivers Lake. The guidebook instructions about locating the anchorage were a bit confusing to us and, at first, we were not at all happy having to anchor in a narrow creek that was over 20 feet deep. Given the high ratings for the anchorage, however, we decided to venture up the creek a little further and were pleasantly surprised to find the creek open up into a lovely small lake with enough space for several boats to share the anchorage. Of course, the only other boats we’d seen since leaving Mobile the day before were commercial vessels and barges, so we were quite alone in this beautiful place.