Jones Creek and Hales Bar

Wednesday, September 24

Mary and Dave arrived early evening last night. We got all of their gear and goodies onboard and spent the evening talking and showing Dave the boat. For those of you that don’t know Dave, he spent fifteen years as the captain of a marine research vessel belonging to the Smithsonian Institute. When he checks out a new boat it is with a professional eye.

This morning we made use of Dave’s car to replace the propane cylinder for the BBQ and pick up a few last minute groceries.

About 10:30 we got underway for what was planned as an easy days run of 32 miles to an anchorage at Jones creek. The weather was again perfect; sunny, a light wind and temperatures in the mid 60s. By the time we anchored it was about 80.

Guntersville Lake was an interesting change from the last couple of days. There are still the hills surrounding the lake but the water level is maintained at relatively stable level and there is a good deal of development with larger homes build not to high above the water level and lots of boat houses.

By 2:30 we had the entrance to Jones creek in site. We pulled slowly into a very narrow but well buoyed channel and on into Jones creek. It is a beautiful bay with wooded hills on all sides except for the low land separating it from the river. The only development on the water is a Boy Scout camp that has a small shelter and a dock visible. There are a few houses just visible on the top of one ridge line.

We dropped the anchor in about ten feet of water, and settled in from a peaceful afternoon and evening. There were a few fishermen in the area but they all left by dusk. After sitting on the upper deck and enjoying the scenery and a snack we had dinner on the mid-deck and watched a beautiful sunset.

After we got settled in, the deck hands breathed a sigh of relieve after another hard day of cruising and said we are taken a break.

Live continues to be very good.

Thursday, September 25

It was a beautiful morning at anchor, there was just the start of some fog that quickly burned off as the sun rose in a cloudless sky. The temperature was just 52 and there was a bit of a breeze. We took our time and got the anchor up a little before 8:30. Again the windlass and wash down system made an easy job of it.

We planned a 43 mile run today up the rest of Guntersville Lake, thru the Nickajack Lock and on up Nickajack Lake, ending the day at Hales Bar Marina.




We continued to have gorgeous scenery with more and more mountains. The day was beautiful but with ten to fifteen mph winds in our face we all stayed with long sleeves all day. About 1:15 we call the Nickajack Lock to say we were twenty minutes out and would like to lock up. The lockmaster responded the lock was up and he would dump it and be ready for us when we got there. We continued on and as the lock came into site the gates were closed. We kept going and shortly the gates began to open. Now the gates were open but there was no green light. I called on the radio and asked if he was ready. He said the lights were not on and we could come right in. We kept right on going into the lock without having to hesitate. Twenty five minutes later we were out of the lock and headed the last 8 miles to Hales Bar.






We went straight to the fuel dock and had to make a couple of attempts to get to the dock with a strong cross wind blowing. We got fuel and a pump-out then over to a nearby face dock where we tied up easily since it was into the wind.

The numbers for this fueling are better than the last but still not what we would like, 3.25 MPG. It is all up river and there is some current on much of it. We also had a day where there was an engine idling for a long, long time.



Hales Bar was originally a dam and power plant started in 1904 and completed in 1913. Unfortunately there was porous rock under the dam and the fix was questionable and expensive. The eventual solution was to build Nickajack further downstream and remove Hales Bar Dam. The power house was left and there is now a marina with slips both above and below the power house. Here are pictures of the building that sat empty for years and now is being used for dry rack boat storage.



After we got settled in Oreo decided he wanted to know more about operating the boat, but he was an extremely un-attentive student.



We also got this nice picture of Memories in the sunshine. Once we were off the water the late afternoon was actual quite warm.



Mary cooked dinner tonight, a cream with sausage, mushrooms and zucchini spaghetti, it was delicious. We again had dinner on the mid-deck on a glorious evening.