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AWESOME DAY ON THE SEQUATCHIE! August 10,2024
On a perfect Saturday 16 paddlers met up to enjoy the 6.7 mile trip down the Sequatchie River from the Water Company ramp near Dayton, TN down to the rustic takeout ramp at Stone Cave Road. A quick shout out to the many new paddlers joining us for the first time: Jon Appel, Don & Robin Bailey, and Bob & Susan Gray. Welcome to TVCC!
The weather conditions were outstanding but the river was a bit low, running at only .89 ft. Ideally, we like at least 1.0 ft, but decided to run the trip at the lower level. As a result we experienced some bony conditions and more exposed obstacles than normal, but everyone made it through to the take out. This will make for some good stories in the years ahead!
  The first half of the trip presented the greatest challenges for the group. Several new trees were down across the river and required some teamwork to navigate. The first one, less than a quarter mile down from the put-in, proved passable after some quick bare-handed pruning of tree branches provided a navigable path along the river left bank. A mile later a double tree fall blocked the river completely and forced us to run a portage of about 50 feet on the left shore. Luckily, the bank was very low at this point. Typically, the Sequatchie has very high, steep banks! There were also a couple instances, due to low water, where assistance was needed to get boats over exposed logs blocking the way and one instance where paddlers had to drag their boats across a bony shoal. Outstanding teamwork by the crew made all the difference and we got past all the obstacles safely.
 After a well deserved break at a comfortable lunch stop about half-way we continued on to the take out with only one minor issue to navigate. Both the lunch stop ramp and take out ramp were more challenging due to the low water which again required awesome teamwork to get people safely in/out of their boats.
The Sequatchie River never fails to provide a great trip. Despite the low water issues, the scenery, and serene natural beauty of the river always deliver a memorable time.
My thanks again to everyone for being patient in dealing with our trip issues, and for the outstanding teamwork that made it happen safely! Lastly, my thanks to Don & Robin and Rebecca Chapman for sharing some of their pictures from the trip.
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