Fall Colors
Our neighbors Faye & Karl invited us to accompany them on a trip up Tellico to the end of navigable water near Chilhowee Dam (about 22 miles up-stream from our yacht club). Of course, we were delighted and yesterday afternoon about 1:30 we headed out for our adventure.
Karl has a 30 foot pontoon boat with inboard engine and lots of room so we just spread out and enjoyed the ride.
Tellico Lake runs from NE (at the Ft. Loudon lake canal) to SE at Chilhowee Dam. Of course the lake twists and turns along the way and the 20 mile straight line distance is over 30 miles along the river. Every turn presented us with beautiful views of the Fall colors, lakefront scenery and various housing and industrial sites.
Railroad bridge near Vonore
We travelled past our own Tellico Village and the lakeside communities of Rarity Bay and Foothills Pointe on our route to the bridges at hwy 411 in Vonore, Tennessee where the Tellico River enters the lake.
Straight ahead under this bridge takes us up the Little Tennessee River toward North Carolina. Going right on the other side enters the Tellico River and heads upstream to the site of our earlier adventure “Looking for a cool place“
Historic Fort Loudoun lies about a mile upstream from here (see the photo gallery).
The water was very smooth here as we were sheltered from the SW winds by the ridges on our right. The winds picked up again past the fort as the river widened out to allow a pretty long fetch for the wind.
Beautiful rock formations.
All along the upper reaches of the lake are beautiful rock faces and formations reminding us that this entire part of Tennessee is really the rocky roots of the Smokey Mountains.
We had a great picnic lunch aboard as we tied up across the river from the mouth of Citco Creek and the Cherokee Tribes Memorial near the historic village of “Tanasi” from which Tennessee gets its name.
After lunch, we continued upstream for another couple of miles past an abandoned railroad tressle until the water became too shallow for us to safely continue upriver. We turned around and began our return trip with Richard at the helm (it was a dirty job but somebody had to do it.)
Captain Richard at the helm!
We arrived back at the marina about 6pm – a great day on the water. Additional pictures of the trip are in the gallery below, click on them to enlarge.
Faye & Mary
Jackson Island secondary channel
Little Jackson Island
Rarity Bay home
Karl & Richard
CSX bridge at Vonore
Tellico East business park
Railroad bridge near Vonore
Silo at Hwy. 411
Old 411 bridge
Tellico Blockhouse
Smokies
Fort Loudoun
Fort Loudoun
Fall Colors
Cherokee memorial
Beautiful rock formations.
After lunch
Captain Richard at the helm!
Looks like a fantastically lazy day on the lake with a great boat to travel aboard!
You’ve got that right. Karl’s boat makes my boat seem like a bathtub toy – lol.
OK, go ahead and rub it in!! I know you and Mary are masters at retirement, enjoying every minute of it, yada, yada, yada!! When I learn how to be retired I’ll return the darn favor!!
HM
Rub, rub, rub. We plan to enjoy it as much as possible.
The photos are beautiful. I envy you and the fun you are having being retired.
Thank you Kim, we are having a ball. Say hello to everyone at Hall Ins. I miss all of you.
What wonderful pictures! And it looked like a fun day. But then a day out on my dad’s pontoon boat is always a treat. Say hello to him for me next time you see him. He sure doesn’t look like a Great-Grandpa!! 🙂
I’ll tell him. We really enjoyed the trip and he IS talking about being a Great-Grandpa.