Clifton By Water, Then By Land

Day 140  | Lick Hollow to Clifton   |  4.8 Hours  |  28 Miles 

A nice sunrise ushered in an otherwise routine morning. Another heavy dew provided the opportunity to wipe down Crossroads, the anchor came up encapsulated in a large clump of the muddy bottom it dug into overnight, I washed it off, and we were on our way. The limestone facade of Lady Finger Bluff towered over us as we continued to move upstream on the Tennessee River.

Every day brings out more fall color. I'm looking forward to the full eruption of autumn's hues. The Tennessee River was flat today providing great views around every turn. A reflected image of stone, trees, rolling hills, and blue sky is how I will remember this portion of the Loop. Perfect slabs of stone seemed to lie ready for installation as a patio or table in someone's backyard. The sign for the Mermaid Marina is definitely unique and eye-catching.

Our concerns over the past week have been with high water levels. The water is now being lowered to winter pool levels, leaving some docks low and dry. More evidence of the erosive power of water and wind was seen in the rounded table-top of this cliff. We made good time to our projected anchorage at Double Islands and arrived there at 11:00. We deemed that too early to call it a day and decided to continue on to Clifton. We had 10 more miles to go. The town of Clifton came into view first, with a small park overlooking the river. The entrance to the marina was just beyond town. We docked, plugged in, put the sun screens on the windows, and took a much-needed walk into town. The few municipal blocks we explored were pristine and nicely decorated for fall with scarecrows affixed to many street signs and power poles. It was, however, deserted and not a single business was open on this Sunday afternoon. The lone vehicle we saw was that of a police officer who stopped in the middle of the road to tell us about the town and ask about our Loop journey.

For lack of human specimens, I got a photo with this local. Down by the river was the Visitor's Center. Along with the usual brochures was a route map of the Great Loop. A monument recognizing the First Western Tennessee Raid by General Forrest during the Civil War stood beside the road.

Our final stop was the small park we had seen from the riverfront just a couple of hours earlier. We headed back to the marina, stopping by the marina office/captains' lounge for some cold beverages and to watch a little football. Once back on Crossroads, I spent a few minutes stalking the turtles that were sunning and swimming just beside the boat. I saw four, which is twice as many as I saw at Green Turtle Bay. We each got a load of laundry done before it was time to call it a night.

We'll leave tomorrow morning around 8:30 on our way to the Diamond Island anchorage, about 40 miles south of Clifton.