Senior Moments

The Ocoee River in Tennessee, August 17, 2012.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.)

This is my post for the Our World meme.  This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

In August Betsy and I had to go to Young Harris, Georgia, so Betsy could attend a bridal shower for her future daughter-in-law.  Since there are several waterfalls in the area that we haven’t visited, we decided to go down a day early and do some hiking.

We decided to take the ‘scenic route’, and drove along the Ocoee River here in Tennessee for several miles.  The Ocoeee River was the site of the whitewater slalom events during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.  A mile-long Olympic whitewater course was built by the Forest Service fed by releases of water from Ocoee Dam #3.

White water on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. August 17, 2012.

Downstream from the Olympic course is a 4.5-mile whitewater rafting area fed by water released from Ocoee Dam #2.  This section of the river has been open to the public since the 1970s, mainly for daytime releases of water on weekends and holidays.  We stopped along this public section of the river to get some pictures.

Rafts on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. August 17, 2012.

There were many rafts and kayaks along this stretch of the river.  While the rapids were not the highest we’ve seen, people seemed to be having a lot of fun floating down the river.

Kayaks on the Ocoee. August 17, 2012.

All of the rafts we saw made it through the rapids near us without incident.

Oops! A kayak going over in white water on the Ocoee River. August 17, 2012.

Not all of the kayaks were so lucky.