Why The Tennessee River?

Why the Tennessee River and not some other river? That's easy. I live in Chattanooga, the river city. I have hiked along the banks of the river. I have canoed the Tennessee River Blueway, a fifty mile stretch of the river from the Chickamauga Dam to the Nickajack Dam through the Tennessee River Gorge. I have been involved in River Rescue and other river related organizations for years. It's a natural for me to be interested in the Tennessee River.

Check out my trip down the Blueway on my website CanoeTennessee.com. Now that I'm retarded, I mean retired, and have the time to finally get the job done. I have been talking about and planning this trip for years.

Also I am a touring paddler and not a white water paddler. The Tennessee River is really just a long skinny linear lake because of the 11 dams along the river. Who knows. If I have fun on the Tennessee River, perhaps the Cumberland River will be next.

This journey will be 652 miles, 11 locks and 1,144,000 paddle strokes in about 6 weeks.