LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER

July 14, 2009---With our two guests on board we left the Fort Loudon Marina at 7:30 a.m. Crossed the Tennessee River just above the lock and went under highway 444 bridge to the Little Tennessee River. This area is the Tellico lake resulting from a rock and earthen dam in addition to the Fort Loudoun Lock & Dam. Many large homes can be seen along the banks of the river. Old concrete grain silos could be seen rising from the water. This indicates there was farmland here when the dams were built and the lake filled up. The scenery is wonderful and the water is clean. Reaching the end of the official navigation channel at mile 29.6 put us at the foot hills of the Great Smoky Mountains. As the crow flys it is about 15 miles to North Carolina. There was a haze over the mountains that certainly gives them a smoky appearance.

The Great Smoky Mtns lie in front of us toward the east. Cherokee National Forest is to our right and the Chilowee Mountain to the left. Our cameras cannot do justice to the great view.

Susan & Loles Duhon from New Iberia, Louisiana could hardly keep from smiling with the mountains all around!

Traveling back down river we had decided to anchor near a narrow peninsula of land at mile 27.5 to check out the markers that could be seen on the grassy rise. It is great to have a dinghy to be able to go ashore.

The upright markers represent different clans that lived in the Cherokee town of Chota on this site in the early 1700s. Clans were Deer, Wild Potato, Wolf, Paint, Bird, Long Hair and Blue.

After some quaility time on the land we went back to the Dream Manor and loaded the dinghy. Next stop was near the site of Fort Loudoun at mile 19.5 where we chose to anchor.