TTA Hiwassee River Campout 2018

The Highland Rim chapter hosted a camping, hiking, and kayaking weekend at Hiwassee-Ocoee Scenic Rivers State Park in Delano, TN.

Friday we used our own kayaks and floated a portion of the Hiwassee River and had a wonderful potluck on Friday night.

Saturday started with a 3 mile hike in the Cherokee National Forest to a great waterfall and then we took "Duckies" (inflatable kayaks) down the whitewater portion of the Hiwassee. Another potluck Saturday night and then Sunday, some went home, some paddled in their own boats a calmer stretch of the Ocoee and others did the whitewater Ocoee float.

It was a wonderful weekend for all involved and many thanks to Joan Hartvigsen who put this whole thing together without a hitch!

We had people from Nashville, Tullahoma, Winchester, Murfreesboro,  Chattanooga , Memphis, Gallatin and Crossville and even one as far away as Indiana on this trip.

Great gang!

We got to enjoy the company of my Aunt Linda and Uncle Rick for the weekend. We camped at the Eagle Cove RV park Beautiful park and friendly people.

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TTA Hiwassee River Campout

Joan set up another great trip for the TTA. We met at the Gee Creek campground on the Hiwassee River. We got camp set up and then headed up to Reliance to put in at the boat ramp next to Hiwassee Outfitters. We had thirteen kayaks and two canoes. It was a beautiful river ride with a few rapids to make it interesting. Paolo entertained us by flipping over after hitting a rock. It took a while to get him back in the boat with the strong current.  Later on Dick and Debbie entertained us getting caught up in the trees. Lost paddle and Maui Jim sunglasses sacrificed to the river. We got the paddle back. The boat ramp is hidden with a quick current that led to a fast paced ending to our trip.

We had quite the spread for a potluck dinner that night with more people arriving. Lots of visiting around the campfire that night.

Day Two:

We got up and prepped for our trip today. We were leaving the campground boat ramp and going to the Dentville road bridge. We were waiting on them to start generating power so the river would come up. It kept getting later and later. Finally we just went and it worked out OK. Another wonderful section to float. Our entertainment for today was the pop up thunderstorm. God blessed us with a boat house and a friendly home owner. There were boats in the house, under the dock, and along the river side. The storm dumped about three inches in twenty minutes knocking down limbs from trees all around us. After it stopped and we bailed out the water, we continued our trip. Another great day.

Day Three:

Today the plan was to paddle Parksville lake. We put in at the Parksville lake boat ramp, losing one of our people on the way there. Sorry Paolo! We paddled across the lake heading towards the inlets. A juvenile eagle perched in a tree got out attention for a few minutes. Joan led us to the church camp area that we found last summer, so we had a pretty shaded grassy area to eat our lunch and get a swim in. Today was sunny and hot, making up for the storm yesterday. We paddled back and loaded up our kayaks and headed home. What a great weekend!

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