Sugar Bay, Ky to Pickwick Dam, Tn

Total Miles Traveled 187

We have had great weather for cruising, 80’s during the day and upper 50’s at night.  We traveled 39 miles Tuesday to an anchorage near Leatherwood Resort and Marina in a cove called Biggins Hollow.

As we approached the highway 68 bridge, we noticed someone in a man-lift working on the upper structure of the bridge.  The wind was blowing 7-8 mph so I’m sure they had an interesting ride going up. 

It didn’t look like we could clear the bridge without requesting an opening, but after checking the charts was found it was over 20 feet clearance, no problem.

After traveling about 34 miles Wednesday we anchored behind Rockport Island.

Too bad we were in Tennessee without a fishing license; we saw several schools of fish swimming past the boat.   

We also saw this snake about an hour before dark, diamondback rattlesnake?

Rockport Island at sunrise.

Highway 40 bridge, don’t miss that mode of transportation a bit.

Our original plan was to anchor another night, stop at Clifton Marina, then anchor one night before going through the lock at Pickwick Lake.  We have been tracking Tropical Storm Nate and all indications were that it would become a hurricane when entering the Gulf of Mexico and its projected path would put it close to our area of the country.  We decided to travel from our anchorage to Clifton, Tn on Thursday and get through the lock on Friday before the weather changes Saturday. 

We departed Clifton Marina just after daybreak with a full moon and a little fog.

The patchy fog cleared in less than an hour giving us another beautiful day of cruising on the Tennessee River. 

Someone didn’t get the notice that they would be dropping the lake level to winter pool.

We passed this looper “RA”, a totally solar powered boat working their way up the river.  I looked up their website www.piratesofthesun.com , very interesting.  They appeared to be traveling about 4 mph.

We noticed an increasing river current when we were about 5 miles from the lock, reducing our normal 8 mph cruising speed to 6 mph. They are probably increasing the outlet flow preparing for heavy rain over the next few days. 

Pickwick Lock

Anchored just in time for chops on the grill.

We are anchored in a well-protected cove near Pickwick State Park and Marina.  This is the projected path of Hurricane Nate; we are the small blue dot on the map.  If the projections are correct, we should be out of harm’s way.

We plan to stay at this anchorage a few days until the weather passes then continue up Pickwick Lake to Florence Alabama for a few days.