Wow! What a beautiful cruise! "The Gorge" between Chattanooga and Guild, TN is really spectacular. It's not the Canadian North Channel or the Florida Keys, but it's by far the best river scenery we've ever cruised. We were sorry that our longtime friends, Don & Julee Norris were unable to join us at the last minute. When we came upriver, we saw the gorge shrouded in mist and with excellent fall colors. Today, we saw it in bright sun with the fall colors fading fast, but still pretty.

There are VERY tall bluffs and steep hills coming down to the river's edge. In many parts, the river is 50 to 100 ft. deep and the bluffs are 500 ft. tall. It goes like this for 30 miles or so.







Around every bend is another beautiful scene. Much more than half of the shoreline is uninhabited TVA land, so it looks like a cruise through nature.








The fall colors were dying down to browns, with a few still beautiful trees mixed in.











This guy had a house with a great view, but what a steep trip down to his boat dock. At least he doesn't have to worry about flooding!











Snake! The local marina cat caught this pretty little baby snake and was gently carrying it to the dock. It dropped it and gave it to me as a present, I suppose to prove it's hunting prowess. It was totally unhurt. I think it's a Prairie Kingsnake. It's not a baby Copperhead, so it's non-poisonous. It was very happy when I released it in the water close to shore and it could swim really fast. I'm glad the cat gave it to me instead of having it for supper.

Tomorrow, we're going on through Nickajack lock and on to Scotsboro, AL.