Wednesday, July 20, 2011 – mile 447.8, volleyball net sandbar on Tennessee River

 Please be sure to click on each photo to enlarge.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 By 9:30 am we knew it was going to be another very hot day. It was already 85 degrees and no breeze so we hauled up the anchor and moved on. After passing under the highway bridges for US 41 and I-24, we could see the Hales Bar hydroelectric plant in the distance. This facility was completed in 1913 and was the second largest hydroelectric generating plant at that time. Only Niagara was bigger. The plant was dedicated with much fanfare, however, almost from the beginning there was a serious problem of water leaking through rock strata under the dam. The dam was removed and replaced with Nickajack Dam and the old power plant stands silent today.

We stopped at the Nickajack Marina for fuel and admired the beautiful scenery around us. We thought the floating cabins looked like they would be a lot of fun to rent for a family gathering.

After leaving Nickajack Marina, we arrived at the stretch of river known as the “Grand Canyon of the Tennessee” which runs all the way to Chattanooga, a distance of 32 miles. Twisting through the mountains, we could see the slopes were rich with foliage. In fact, more than 300 kinds of trees and 900 varieties of wildflowers grow in the Chattanooga area. According to our guidebook, only central China has as wide a range of plant life.

Our travels took us through the parts of the river called “The Pan,” “The Skillet,” “The Pot” and “The Suck,” so named by early boatmen because they thought the boiling and swirling water reminded them of food being cooked. In “The Pot” we searched for a sandbar that our cruising friends, Todd and Brenda of Life’s 2 Short, had told us about where they thought we should be able to beach the boat. They said to look for the volleyball net and check out the sandbar across the river from it. As it turned out, we decided to anchor next to the volleyball net for the night and see what it was like.

After securing Blue Heron, we swam into shore and enjoyed the large smooth sand beach. We learned later that the locals actually call this spot “The Beach.”

Gale thought he would see if he could catch some fish for dinner and within five minutes, he had reeled in a beautiful large-mouth bass. There were no more that followed, but that one bass yielded two great filets for our evening meal.