2007-18 Ocoee River, Tennessee
Hello All,
Early this week we decided to take a drive into some unfamiliar territory. We headed East on TN Highway 68 up into the Smoky Mountains towards Ducktown, TN. Ducktown is near where the borders of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia meet.
On the drive we spotted a sign to a waterfall and decided to investigate. The side road immediately started winding up into the mountains and got narrow. Then, we had several breaks in the pavement with deep ruts that we had to straddle. Since we don't just turn our truck around on a narrow steep road we continued on. Then, the road turned to dirt, but still no turnaround for us. All of a sudden we came upon a stream going across the road. Must be getting close to the waterfall right--Wrong!! We carefully crossed the stream, and then another, and a third, each one getting wider, deeper and farther into nowhere. We continued on, strategically picking our path on the one-way road. Finally, we came upon the fourth stream across the road, and determined that it was too rocky and deep to safely cross. There was also a turn around that we could maneuver, so we gave in and backtracked to the main highway. Never did find the dang waterfall!!
Back on the main highway it started to rain and got rather nasty--not a good day to explore any more side roads or take photos. Rather than retrace our path we decided to do a loop by following US Highway 64 back down into the Tennessee Valley. From Ducktown Highway 64 follows the Ocoee River out of the mountains. For the most part it is a curvy narrow two-lane road. Some corners are so sharp they slow traffic down to 15 MPH and warn you of trucks crossing the center line into your lane!! The signs also state "Be prepared to stop." We only met one eighteen-wheeler on one of these curves, and trust us we stopped and gave way to him.
The Ocoee River is just as wild as the highway with mile after mile of frothing whitewater shooting in and around huge boulders. It was an awesome sight, but due to the foul weather we didn't stop for photos. However, we both said to each other we've got to come back here on a nice day. The other amazing thing was there were rafts and kayaks on the river by the hundreds. Come to find out, the Ocoee River is where the 1996 Olympic whitewater competitions took place. We passed bus after bus loaded with rafters. The buses had as many as nine rafts strapped on top--that must have been quite a feat!
During the week we watched the weather and the 4th of July was forecast to be beautiful in the mountains. So, we got up bright and early, packed a lunch, and headed for the Ocoee River. We were excited with anticipation of a day of taking photos of the rapids and rafters. Our first clue that there may be a problem was as we drove along highway 64 there was no activity around the many rafting companies. Do you suppose they took the holiday off?! Our second clue was when we got to the mighty Ocoee River!! There was barely a trickle of water in the river!! It was a gorge of boulders--hence the picture of the week!!
Early this week we decided to take a drive into some unfamiliar territory. We headed East on TN Highway 68 up into the Smoky Mountains towards Ducktown, TN. Ducktown is near where the borders of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia meet.
On the drive we spotted a sign to a waterfall and decided to investigate. The side road immediately started winding up into the mountains and got narrow. Then, we had several breaks in the pavement with deep ruts that we had to straddle. Since we don't just turn our truck around on a narrow steep road we continued on. Then, the road turned to dirt, but still no turnaround for us. All of a sudden we came upon a stream going across the road. Must be getting close to the waterfall right--Wrong!! We carefully crossed the stream, and then another, and a third, each one getting wider, deeper and farther into nowhere. We continued on, strategically picking our path on the one-way road. Finally, we came upon the fourth stream across the road, and determined that it was too rocky and deep to safely cross. There was also a turn around that we could maneuver, so we gave in and backtracked to the main highway. Never did find the dang waterfall!!
Back on the main highway it started to rain and got rather nasty--not a good day to explore any more side roads or take photos. Rather than retrace our path we decided to do a loop by following US Highway 64 back down into the Tennessee Valley. From Ducktown Highway 64 follows the Ocoee River out of the mountains. For the most part it is a curvy narrow two-lane road. Some corners are so sharp they slow traffic down to 15 MPH and warn you of trucks crossing the center line into your lane!! The signs also state "Be prepared to stop." We only met one eighteen-wheeler on one of these curves, and trust us we stopped and gave way to him.
The Ocoee River is just as wild as the highway with mile after mile of frothing whitewater shooting in and around huge boulders. It was an awesome sight, but due to the foul weather we didn't stop for photos. However, we both said to each other we've got to come back here on a nice day. The other amazing thing was there were rafts and kayaks on the river by the hundreds. Come to find out, the Ocoee River is where the 1996 Olympic whitewater competitions took place. We passed bus after bus loaded with rafters. The buses had as many as nine rafts strapped on top--that must have been quite a feat!
During the week we watched the weather and the 4th of July was forecast to be beautiful in the mountains. So, we got up bright and early, packed a lunch, and headed for the Ocoee River. We were excited with anticipation of a day of taking photos of the rapids and rafters. Our first clue that there may be a problem was as we drove along highway 64 there was no activity around the many rafting companies. Do you suppose they took the holiday off?! Our second clue was when we got to the mighty Ocoee River!! There was barely a trickle of water in the river!! It was a gorge of boulders--hence the picture of the week!!
We stopped at the Olympic
Visitor Center and found out that the river is controlled by the Tennessee
Valley Authority for hydroelectric power. Generally the water goes through
tunnels into generators and then dumps into a lake downstream. They don't
release any water into the river on Tuesday or Wednesday! On other days of the
week they release water at scheduled times from eight to ten hours duration for
the rafters and kayaks. It is a premier whitewater destination with over
300,000 visitors each year. We tucked our tails between our legs and went home.
Saturday we drove back to the Ocoee River and weren't disappointed. It once again was frothing whitewater and loaded with rafters. We snapped over 700 photos and shot nearly two hours of video. Our favorite spot was a rapid named "Godzilla!" This rapid is so bad that each raft stops before entering it. The guides then instruct the riders on what they must do to get through it safely. However, we saw two rafts flip in Godzilla spilling riders into the whitewater. It was interesting watching people downstream throw lifelines to recover the people from the rushing water. At times the rafts would almost disappear. Hence--the second picture of the week.
Saturday we drove back to the Ocoee River and weren't disappointed. It once again was frothing whitewater and loaded with rafters. We snapped over 700 photos and shot nearly two hours of video. Our favorite spot was a rapid named "Godzilla!" This rapid is so bad that each raft stops before entering it. The guides then instruct the riders on what they must do to get through it safely. However, we saw two rafts flip in Godzilla spilling riders into the whitewater. It was interesting watching people downstream throw lifelines to recover the people from the rushing water. At times the rafts would almost disappear. Hence--the second picture of the week.
Until next time,
Dave and Barb
The Traveling Browns
Dave and Barb
The Traveling Browns