We left Florence around 8am and since we were now heading with the current, the trip was a little faster. We had passed this stop on our way to Florence so we knew kind of about where it was. Our plan was to leave in the morning and make it there by 3pm.
We were getting close and was on the lookout for our opening. The waterfall is in a small cove that is only big enough to hold a couple of larger boats, so we were hoping no one else was there. We found the turn off and pulled in to an empty cove. The waterfall was in the back, and we inched in slowly, not knowing how deep it was. We had seen pictures of other Loopers back there with larger boats, so we knew it was possible. Once in, we turned the boat around, with only twenty feet on either side to the banks. We dropped our anchor and backed down closer to the falls. I then took a smaller anchor in the dinghy and dropped it farther behind the boat as a stern anchor. We now have two anchors deployed, one in front and one in the rear holding us from swinging into land and we were in about 12 feet of water. Lauren joined me in the dinghy with Frank and we went to shore. There was a large beach area we could walk around which we enjoyed the beautiful scenery- one side was the open lake, and the other was our boat anchored in front of a waterfall- how awesome was this! We noticed there was remnants of a campfire on the beach, so I started gathering firewood as we walked Frank and Lauren knew there was no stopping me now. She was quite amenable to the idea of a campfire, so she started collecting wood too. As we were dragging a log to the collection, a smaller boat was pulling into the cove. I went to the shore to tell the approaching boat about our stern anchor, and he said he was going to pull up to shore ‘over there’, which is where our dinghy was sitting. I offered to move it and he said that would be great. I jumped in and ended up going to our boat for beverages, while I watched him pull his boat right onto the sandy shore. The shoreline is deep enough that he could do this and still keep his propellers off of land. Once his boat was on the sand, he hopped off and tied a line to a tree to keep them from moving backwards. We introduced ourselves and met Mike and Theresa. They were unloading fishing gear and I asked if they wouldn’t mind if we had a fire? They were quite happy to assist with some wood gathering and we soon had a fire blazing on the shoreline. We all hung out and talked for a while and they cast their reels. I went back for some more beverages and we sat around the fire for a bit to keep warm as it was getting chilly when the sun went down. There was a bite on the line, so Mike gave me the reel and told me to bring it in. I had to fight it a bit, but eventually got it to shore where Mike could grab the line and haul it in. It was an eight to ten pound catfish, which he removed the hook and tossed back. Eventually Lauren and I went back to the boat for dinner. We ate and relaxed a bit, and I went back to the shore as I had seen the fire still going. Mike, Theresa and I sat around and told stories some more and roasted marshmallow she happened to have, and too soon it was time to me to go back and retire for the night.
Tomorrow we will start heading down the Tenn-Tom River, which also has ten locks we will have to navigate through on our way south.