Tennessee River Thru Paddle - Day 26 (5/6/21)

Best Day Yet! And so much more!!

Start: River Mile: 186

Finish: River Mile: 158

Day Total: 28

Trip Total: 496

We woke up to a chilly and very damp morning. We did get a nice early start, paddling out at 7:30. It was one of those perfect mornings for paddling. Water as smooth as glass, a nicely moving current and wait for it...No Head Wind!! We easily paddled 4 -5 mph in these conditions. 

We reached the town of Saltillo, TN at RM 172 at 10:30am. We got out of our boats to stretch our legs and ended up walking the half mile to “Willies One Stop” where  we got some hot food and cold drinks for lunch. We had a local old timer offer us a ride back to the boat ramp, which we gladly accepted. 

With full bellies we easily made the final 14 miles to Clifton Marina at RM 159. Brad Collett let the crew at Clifton we were coming so they were very welcoming right away. Stacy showed us around to the best spots for us to set up our camp. Once we had made camp, on a nice grassy spot overlooking the river we made our way to the floating restaurant’s, bar and gift shop. The special today was Mojitos, and we were happy to partake. 

We knew that there was a one hour window were there was a 50% chance of a thunderstorm around 5:00pm. Well, at 4:30 the sky grew dark, almost black. Before we knew it, the wind was howling. Jon and I went back up to our tents to make sure everything was Ok. Well the wind was blowing at 70 mph minimum. Our boats had been blown over 30 feet and Jons was half off the bluff. I watched as the wind literally flatted my tent, but it remained anchored to the ground. My camp chair, food bag and paddling socks are gone. Jon’s tent was collapsed, and all of his sleeping gear and clothes were soaking wet. As we stood there in the gale, sizing up the situation, the sky opened up with rain, hail and lightning. We ran for cover next to a trailer and watched helplessly as the storm continued to pummel our camp. Once we knew the storm was not letting up, Jon suggested on go lay in my tent to keep it from blowing away, which is what I did. Soaked and shivering, I wrapped my sleeping bag around me as I sat in my tent the the next 30 minutes riding out the storm. Jon ran back to the restaurant and tried to stay warm.

Jon’s flatted tent

One of the folks that lives in his RV at the marina had the wind blow the roof off his RV, that’s how strong the wind was. One mile up river a floating dock completely flipped over and the pontoon boat harboring there was lost. I’ve never seen a storm like this. We probably won’t know until tomorrow exactly what we‘ve lost. 

Once the storm died down, we collected all our wet stuff and ran it through the dryer at the marina laundry. Jon was able to set his tent back up, thankfully nothing broken. We are now in the process of drying out and eating dinner. Stacy and Christoper have been very helpful and understanding. I can’t imagine what this would have been like if we were on the water or just setting up a wilderness camp. We are very thankful we got here early and had such a nice place to recover. We are safe, try and warm.