Tennessee River Thru Paddle - Day 16 (4/26/21)

Guntersville Southern Hospitality

Start: River Mile: 367

Finish: River Mile: 345

Day Total: 22

Trip Total: 308

This morning we set a new record for boats in the water and paddling away from the landing, 8:06 am!! I can’t explain how it happed, it just know that it did. Perhaps it was the meeting we were going to have for lunch in Guntersville, at mile 9 for the day. 

Milla Sacks, who was instrumental in getting us connected with Sarah and Dan Stahl in Scottsboro. I had been trying to coordinate with Milla, who is the Exec Asst to Mayor Leigh Dollar in Guntersville, AL. We found a boat landing that was on our side of the river and at the end of the bridge she would be crossing on meet us.

The 9 miles from camp to Guntersville, were very similar to yesterday, with following seas, but with slightly less wind. The waves some how were just as big, se we really had to pay attention. 

Milla met us at the ramp with a delicious pulled pork lunch. She knows the owner of the Bait and Tackle shop at the landing so we were able to sit there out of the sun and have our lunch and chat. A few minutes after we started eating, a photographer from the local paper arrived to interview us and take some photos. Joe the photographer was very interested in our story and how it all ties in with the Tennessee RiverLine 652. 

Our time with Milla and Joe was so fun, I completely forgot we needed to get back in our boats and paddle some more. After a few shots of us getting into our boats we paddled off towards out next objective, the Guntersville Lock & Dam, 9 more miles down river. 

Leaving Guntersville we paddled our way through a beautiful chain of islands that made for very enjoyable conditions. Buy then the wind has shifted to a gentle breeze which was at our backs. It was just enough to be refreshing when the sun started to feel too hot.

The lock through at Guntersville Dam was easy. We only had a 15 minute wait from the time we arrived until we were paddling into the chamber. After a drop of 48 feet, we paddled out and into the next phase of our adventure. 

Locking through at Guntersville

At mile 19 for the day we started looking for a good spot to camp. It took us 3 miles to find something, but what we found was pretty nice. No fire tonight, but the rock formation Painted Bluff, a beautiful Limestone cliff rising 500 feet above the Tennessee river is our backdrop.

Jon approaching Painted Bluff

We have very spotty internet tonight, so I hope the blog uploads tonight.