Thursday Sept. 19 

66 miles      Guntersville, AL to Nickajack Lake mm#425.8

We left Guntersville at 0930 to a sunny 82 degree day. We started to notice more green patches on the water which is an invasive weed called milfoil. This weed grows so thick in some areas it will start to form an island. The fishermen love this weed because the fish hide around it. Other boaters don’t like it at all because it will wrap around props and it makes almost impossible to ride through it.

 

 

The trees are just starting to get a little color. This area must be gorgeous later in the season when all the trees have turned.

 

Along the way we passed by the southern end of Sequatchie Valley. This is one of the world’s two rift valleys. The other is the Great Victoria Valley in Africa. Both were created by the earth’s surface splitting apart. Sequatchie Valley is more than 125 miles long but never more than 5 miles wide. This valley is known as the “Hang Gliding Capital of the East”. 

 

We traveled through one lock today (Nickajack), and went up 81 feet. A short distance after coming through the lock we pulled off the river to anchor for the night.

 

 

Friday Sept. 20 

39 miles     Nickajack Lake mm#425.8 to Chattanooga, TN

We began our morning today hearing the Star Spangled Banner. There was a bass fishing tournament starting with over 50 boats. We pulled anchor and left our anchorage at 0645.

 

Our cruise today took us through some of the most beautiful scenery along the Tennessee River. This stretch is called the “Grand Canyon of the Tennessee”. We traveled through 32 miles with dozens of turns and at some points was only 700 feet wide. The narrowing of the river had some beautiful landscape but that also meant the river had more unpredictable current. It was amazing how the water could push the boat around with the swirling water. One place our depth sounder showed 130 feet. One reason for this extreme depth is that the river follows an ancient earthquake fault.

 

Our last turn coming into Chattanooga was Lookout Mountain. This mountain rises more than 2,000 feet above the river and extends for nearly 100 miles into Georgia and Alabama. On its slopes was fought the last battle of the American Revolution. And it was here in 1863 that Union and Confederate forces clashed in the “Battle above the Clouds”. We pulled into the marina at 1230 (back in Eastern Time Zone) and will spend the weekend here.