Boat U.S. - January 2008 - (Page 26) BIG Blazes Boat Trail Photo by David Andrews/Chattanooga Area CVB Chattanooga’s waterfront now boasts an 1,800-ft long transient dock thanks to BIG funding. W When “Boaters cruising these two rivers now have a series of stopovers, almost like ‘rest stops’ on interstate highways, designed exclusively to suit their needs,” reports Edward Poolos, who administers the program for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “Beginning at Knoxville, which is the Tennessee Boating Trail major city farthest east on Kentucky Boating Infrastructure Grant Transient Facilities the trail, boaters can cruise down the Tennessee River BoatU.S. Cooperating Marinas to Chattanooga, through the top of Alabama and across a corner of Mississippi and back into Tennessee at Pickwick Lake, with six BIG projects to help them enjoy the trip.” Turn south at Pickwick, er Poolos explains, and the trail iv Tennesee connects through Yellow Creek to the Tenn-Tom Waterway that continues south via the Tombigbee River, and then the Black Warrior River, to Mobile, AL, and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Turn north at Pickwick Mississippi to stay on the Tennesee Georgia Boating Trail and the cruise Alabama takes you through some 200 miles of largely undeveloped rural countryside and into a access to the region’s river towns, boating With the announcement last year of a bit of the Blue Grass State via Kentucky Lake. BIG grant to build dedicated transient facili- services, visitor attractions and just plain That’s the route north that connects with the ties for cruisers at Harpeth Shoals Marina on beautiful cruising country than ever before. Ohio River and the Mississippi eventually, With a total of 11 BIG-funded transient but a 20-mile jog up Kentucky Lake leads to the Cumberland River, the agency declared projects on the Tennessee and Cumberland the Tennessee Boating Trail complete. a canal that links to Lake Barkley to the east. rivers now complementing the commercial Harpeth Shoals Marina joins six more From there boats can enter the Cumberland BIG-funded projects built in partnership with marinas already available, boaters have tie-up River system and cruise south again, back facilities that are never more than an easy private marinas, state parks and municipal into Tennessee. 26 BoatU.S. Magazine January 2008 the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency started talking about a water trail through the state in 1999, they weren’t thinking about canoes, kayaks and cartop boats. They were thinking big. Big, as in 800 miles of designated rivers and waterways. Big, as in accommodating vessels up to 100 feet and longer. And BIG, as in the federal Boating Infrastructure Grant program. governments in Tennessee to create the water trail over the past eight years. The development is the first new marina to be built on the river since 1976 and the $125,000 transient dock is a key feature. By incorporating existing BIG projects in Mississippi and Alabama, which share some stretches of the Tennessee River, the Volunteer State has created a comprehensive network of sites. Transients now have more day’s cruise apart, about six hours, maximum, at typical trawler cruising speeds. Rolling on the Rivers Te n ne se e R Cum ber er lan d Ri ve r Te n n e s e e R i v
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.