NORRIS DAM STATE PARK

Wednesday, October 5 - We vowed to take it easy this week at Raccoon Valley and not do any excessive sightseeing. We've succeeded fairly well with this goal. We've enjoyed relaxing around the campground, sharing time with fellow Escapees, meeting new friends, working on our hobbies, and “veggie out” in the wonderful fall weather.

One thing we have discovered is Knoxville is a pretty cool city, and there is quite a bit to see in this area. We look forward to returning when we are in a more “touristy” frame of mind. We've already added several sights to our “to see next time” list. Things like Cumberland Gap, Alex Haley Statue, WDVX Blue Plate Special live radio show on the square, Bush's Best Beans, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge Nuclear Museum, and the Museum of Appalachia.

We went up to Norris Dam State Park today to enjoy the area and the fall colors. The trees are just beginning to change......getting beautiful. Norris Dam, what a wonder area. We're disappointed we didn't find this area earlier. This 4,038-acre park, located on the Norris Reservoir, began in 1933 as the first Tennessee Valley Authority project. They have tons of hiking and walking trails, a Grist Mill, picnic areas, and a campground. We would be a little tight getting into most of the campsites, but smaller units would have no problems. We saw deer grazing in the woods next to the campground.

Views of Clinch River.

Miles of trails.

18th Century Rice Grist Mill.
 

The Trigonia Elm was declared to be the largest American Elm I the U.S. on page 39 of The New Yorker magazine for July 15, 1961. It was way taller than either of us.

Can you see the little one reaching up for leaves while mother looks on?

Don't miss this great area! You can hike a different trail everyday for a week.

We spoke to a gentleman that was volunteering at the Dam Visitors Center. He worked on the crews that built most of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Powerhouses in the area. What a great guy and a wonderful source of knowledge.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the nation's largest public power provider. The TVA completed Norris, its first dam, in 1936. By the end of World War II, the agency had build 16 more.The Norris Dam is 1860 ft. long and 265 ft. high. 

Clinch River that supplies the water.

Norris Lake on the other side of the Dam.

Here comes Paul over the Dam.

We did have a scary experience on the way home. Driving down one of the back mountain roads, we came upon a boy and dog running in the middle of the street. The boy, about eight years old, was completely naked and appeared to be chasing the dog in and out of traffic. It was really scary. We thought for sure they were going to be hit. Amazing, people weren't stopping! After stopping and trying to talk to the boy, we discovered he was autistic and couldn't really communicate with us. After several other motorists stopped, we were able to get him to put on a ladies sweatshirt and got him in the back seat of our car. We called the police and waited about fifteen minutes for them to arrive. They luckily knew the boy and have had similar problems in the past. Evidently his parents are not very caring, and it's a bad situation. Child Protection Agencies are involved so hopefully he will receive some help. What a sad situation. We were both very shaken up over this.

A quick comment about our last blog's title…BELLA IS IN HEAVEN IN THE WOODS! We knew perfectly well what we meant by the title BUT can now see we should have reworded it to BELLA IS IN HEAVEN WHEN IN THE WOODS. We are sorry we caused undue worry to several of our readers. We appreciate the concern for Bella. She is alive and doing super. Also, she enjoyed another day in heaven WHILE taking another walk in the woods today.

NEW…Thanks to Bob's comment and help from Rick of Rick and Paulette's RV Journal, you can now click on any graphic, and it will enlarge for better viewing. At least it is suppose to work that way!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!