Day 85 – Ditto Landing to Goose Pond Colony, Guntersville Lake - September 29, 2011

Everyone says that the further up the Tennessee River you go, the more beautiful the scenery.  We are finding that to be very true.  We are beginning to see more hills and higher rock cliffs and bluffs.

We had just one lock to go through today, but it was by far our longest wait from the time we first called the lockmaster to when we actually cleared the lock.  We waited just over two hours for a tow with barges to lock through before us, then another 45 minutes or so before we exited the lock into Guntersville Lake.  So, although we didn’t travel that many miles today, it still felt like a very long day.

            Miles: 47.4      Bridges: 1        Locks: 1

the view gets more beautiful the further we go up the Tennessee River

Painted Bluff - the abrupt end of Merrill Mountain

Painted Bluff

Guntersville Lock and Dam

The cave you can see at the waterline that is protected by a wire fence
is a sanctuary for the federally endangered gray bat.  The number
of gray bats living in the cave fluctuates annually but ranges
from 20,000 to 45,000 between April and September.