The Copper Duck) in Ducktown, TN. Looking for more time to kill that afternoon, we ended up at the Ducktown Basin Museum, which was very… museum-y. We drove around some more, drove into Cleveland to see if there was anyplace to shop or see a movie (there was a movie theater, showing the exact two movies we have no desire to ever see in our lives – V for Vendetta and Shaggy Dog), and then drove back to the cabin so I could take a short nap before we headed out for dinner.
(Edited to add an explanation for why the river isn’t always running, stolen from Fred’s page:
The river is controlled by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and has been dammed in several places. They built a massive aqueduct through the mountains, and the river is actually diverted through that aqueduct most of the time, for the purpose of turning huge turbines and generating electricity.
From late March until sometime in October, TVA schedules a series of releases of the river, to let it flow on its natural course through the riverbed. These computer-controlled releases create a perfect situation for whitewater rafting and kayaking, because one never needs worry about the water levels. If it rains, no problem. If there’s been a lack of rain, no problem. The levels of the river are constant during the releases, thanks to the dams.
This time of year, they’re only releasing the river for 6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. As it warms up, they’ll release it more often and for longer periods. By the height of summer, there are six release days a week, of maybe 10 hours a day. )
It took us maybe half an hour to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant, visit a convenience store to pick up snacks for the evening, and then we went back to the cabin for the evening. We watched the entire disc of four episodes of CSI and then went to bed some time after 10.
Fred got up early Saturday morning, took a shower, and then headed out to get coffee and see if the river was running yet. According to the guy at the convenience store they’d start the river running at 9, but in actuality it didn’t get going until 10. By the time Fred got back to the cabin I was showered and dressed, and he woke up the spud so we could get going.
And then we spent the next few hours driving around, waiting for the river to get going, and taking pictures. After an early lunch/ late breakfast (we tried to visit the Copper Duck again, but it didn’t open ’til noon, so we all had burgers at Albie’s, just down the road), we went back and spent a good long time standing over the spillway watching rafters and kayakers put in and take off down the river.
When I told Fred that I’d like to take kayaking lessons and shoot for kayaking down the river next summer (2007, not 2006), you could have knocked him over with a feather. But the kayaking looked about 63,000 times more fun than the rafting, so I’m definitely up for it.
And after that fascinating blow-by-blow description of our trip to Tennessee, how about a million pictures I took?
The spillway, before they turned the river on.
And after.
Ducktown Basin Museum, mountains in the background.
“Spud, go stand in that big metal thingy!”
Part of the Burra Burra mine, collapsed on purpose. Looks an awful lot like the quarry, doesn’t it? It made me want to go for a swim.
From our cabin deck, looking left.
From our cabin deck, looking right. Can’t complain about the view, that’s for sure.
An unimpressed Bluejay.
My evening snack. It’s a little-known fact that the butt is the tenderest and most flavorful part of the cashew.
A calm section of the river. If it hadn’t been 40 degrees, I would have for sure wanted to go for a swim.
The spillway, with the river running.
The spillway.
Did you know part of the 1996 Olympics were held here? I had no idea. We walked across this bridge, and I stopped to take a picture over the side. I was pretty freaked out to find I could feel the bridge swaying in the breeze.
Y’all know how much I love waterfalls!
A crazy insane nut of a man, body-boarding down the VERY COLD Ocoee.
Not fun.
FUN. I can’t wait to do it myself!
All of the pictures I took in Tennessee are here.
Fred’s got an entry about the trip, here.
“Oh. Were you gone? I hadn’t noticed.”
Ooh, pretty!
They turn the river off at night? Really?
I kept wondering why you were talking about the river being turned on and off. Around these parts, they just let the river stay on all day every day. Come up here and kayak the Mississippi or St. Croix!
Hee! Amy already made the comment I was going to — c’mon up and see the St. Croix, it’s on all the damn time!
Kayaking is the shiznit. Seriously, I love it.
Now I’ll let everyone recover from the shock of reading that I actually do something semi-athletic and more-than-semi-outdoorsy. I almost gave my poor mother a heart attack when I told her (her response, when she regained consciousness: “What about your MANICURE?”).
Mmmmmmm, cashew butts…..
An explanation for why the river isn’t always running, which I stole from Fred’s site:
The river is controlled by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and has been dammed in several places. They built a massive aqueduct through the mountains, and the river is actually diverted through that aqueduct most of the time, for the purpose of turning huge turbines and generating electricity.
From late March until sometime in October, TVA schedules a series of releases of the river, to let it flow on its natural course through the riverbed. These computer-controlled releases create a perfect situation for whitewater rafting and kayaking, because one never needs worry about the water levels. If it rains, no problem. If there’s been a lack of rain, no problem. The levels of the river are constant during the releases, thanks to the dams.
This time of year, they’re only releasing the river for 6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. As it warms up, they’ll release it more often and for longer periods. By the height of summer, there are six release days a week, of maybe 10 hours a day.
Actually, I find the rafting to be more fun than kayaking… In a kayak, you can turn upside-down very easily! In a raft, it’s harder to tip over!!! Plus you have a guide on the raft who knows what they are doing. 🙂
Robin, you should start off on a raft trip down The Hiwassee to get a small taste of rafting before you take on the Ocoee. You could float down The Hiwassee this summer. So much tamer then the Ocoee.
http://www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/parks/Hiwassee/
Awesome Pictures Robyn. I envy you.
I went and read your entry from 2000 about “Smoking the wheat” and about the Spud being bored and how when yall were little you didn’t dare tell your mom that you were bored cause she would say “Why don’t you go out and run around the block?”. That is EXACTLY what my mom told me. Too funny.
And I agree with Robin, rafting seems a bit less scary. Either way, good for you!
Just out of curiousity, what do you do with your cats whilst you’re away?
Peggy: That’s something Fred mentioned, I think. I’m sure we won’t be barrelling down the Ocoee ’til I have SOME idea of what I’m doing. At least, I hope so! 🙂
Bonnie: Clearly our mothers learned that particular line from some secret Mothering place they haven’t told us about. It used to drive me NUTS.
Dee: If we’re gone for several days, Fred’s mother and stepfather will check in on them and feed/ scoop for us. But we were only gone for a little more than a day this time, so we left ’em plenty of food and water and they were fine on their own.
And every time we think about getting a dog (never all that seriously, ’cause we’re really not dog people), we realize that we could never just pick up and go, the way we do with the cats!
I don’t know why but just reading, “before they turned the river on” tickled me to death. I just pictured some guy standing by the switching going, “River on…” *flips* “River off…” *flips* “River on…” *flips* “River off…”
Teehee! Thanks for the giggle and the gorgeous pics!
Looks like a fun trip! I love the pictures. Anything with water and nature and I’m hooked.
You were so close to my hometown! You had to be on 68 right? Tellico Plains is where I’m from. How cool. My husband and I love to vacation there all the time. We just can’t get enough of the peace and quiet there.
Thanks for satisfying my curiousity 🙂 We do the same thing, but now we have a dog as well it’s a whole different story. We tend to stay places where they allow dogs, or we get a friend to babysit him.
We saw V for Vendetta. It was pretty entertaining, I thought.