10/18/20 – Fort Loudon Island Anchorage to Fourmile Creek Anchorage

Day 37

On Saturday morning, the 18^th, we pulled anchor and continued heading up Tellico Lake (aka Little Tennessee River) as far as we could go with Legacy’s 5-foot draft. The scenery on this beautiful lake did not disappoint! It wasn’t long before we realized from the incredible lake mansions lining the shores that Tellico Lake is definitely the place to be in this part of the country. We continued upriver into the Cherokee National Forest, finally crossing into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As we approached to the end of safely navigable waters on the Little Tennessee, the giant houses disappeared and we were once again surrounded by mostly nature, with the majestic Smoky Mountains as a back-drop. I decided we should anchor in this very spot because of the stunning panoramic views, but it was not to be. Every time we dropped the anchor, we couldn’t get it to set. We tried over and over, noticing that each time we lifted the anchor to move a few yards to another location, there was absolutely NO mud on the anchor or the anchor chain. We finally assumed that the river bottom in that location must’ve been nothing but rock. An anchor won’t set in solid rock, so we had to turn around and travel back down river a bit to another place where the bottom was muddier and more anchor-friendly. We dropped the dinghy back into the water and took it all the way to the Chillowee Dam on the Little Tennessee River.