Pickwick Lake and Peter Frank

[Captain Kidd]

I've been casually following Peter Frank (FB page Peter's Voyage and website whereispeterfrank.com - he has an interesting story and you'd enjoy reading it). He's a 23 year old adventurer who is currently canoeing the Great Loop backwards (clockwise). He started in Michigan and is now on the Tennessee River. He is just over 400 days and at almost 4000 miles of paddling! I thought it would be fun to try and catch up to him. Based on my schedule and his progress, the best place for me to try was around Pickwick Lake, so on Monday morning I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove to Pickwick Landing State Park which is right at the Pickwick dam. I figured I could catch him going through the lock. I got on the lake by mid-morning, but his tracker showed he wasn't moving. I waited til mid-afternoon. It turns our he rested on Monday (I had no way of knowing this), so I had to bide some time. Got dinner at a neat place called the Outpost which is just on the  north side of the dam, went back to the lake and anchored in a cove to wait til Tuesday. Just before noon local time here he came. I had "parked" right in front of the dam and introduced myself as he came by. He stopped and I asked if he minded if I locked through with him. No problem. He was immediately taken with my boat. We chatted a bit through the process (my first time through a lock) and then he continued on. I had shuttled my tow vehicle so I didn't have to lock back through. Took out just below the dam, loaded up and headed home.

About 400 miles and 8 hours of driving but it was an interesting experience.

Oh, and BTW, my tent is now "field tested". No rain but worked great. I sailed a bit but wind was light. More rowing than sailing. Oh, and my daggerboard is shot! Delaminated and swollen. Will have to make another.

(the two picks of me were taken by him - one before the lock and one leaving the lock)

Wish I could write more but no time right now.

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and there he goes

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[Captain Kidd]

Sorry if you don't have Facebook but look at this post if you do:

https://www.facebook.com/TennesseeRiverLocks

see post from yesterday about the Pickwick Lock.

[Frank B.]

Cool! I wonder if he is going to stop at Bay Springs Lake for any time, that's where I keep my sailboat.  Would go up and meet him but he may be already through there by now.

[Doug SC]

I think that was a great idea to meet him on the water. I sure would think he enjoyed that.  I too find myself admiring your boat.

I hope to be doing a bit of cruising as the weather cools down, but only for a few days at a time. I think the pop-up tent will be great for the warm weather and plan on using it. I have already slept under my canvas tent last fall but feel it would be hot in the summer. Thank you for posting about the pop-up tent. I had previously seen one on a video posted by Mary in England that she used on a Mirror Dingy. She now uses it on her Scamp. It has a separate fly but isn't made anymore.

[Captain Kidd]

Cool! I wonder if he is going to stop at Bay Springs Lake for any time, that's where I keep my sailboat.  Would go up and meet him but he may be already through there by now.

He has already been through Bay Springs - headed north. He has a live tracker on his website.

[Frank B.]

Cool! I wonder if he is going to stop at Bay Springs Lake for any time, that's where I keep my sailboat.  Would go up and meet him but he may be already through there by now.

He has already been through Bay Springs - headed north. He has a live tracker on his website.

Yep, I missed the clockwise reference.  So how was the lock through experience?  When I leave Bay Springs Marina, I go about a half mile and pass within a couple of hundred yards in front of the Jamie Whitten Lock and dam to get to the main lake, yet I've never locked through, would only do so if I were needing to go south.  The best sailing is on Bay Springs and Pickwick which don't require use of a lock to get to and from, just a long boring run through divide cut.

[Captain Kidd]

So how was the lock through experience?  When I leave Bay Springs Marina, I go about a half mile and pass within a couple of hundred yards in front of the Jamie Whitten Lock and dam to get to the main lake, yet I've never locked through, would only do so if I were needing to go south.  The best sailing is on Bay Springs and Pickwick which don't require use of a lock to get to and from, just a long boring run through divide cut.

It was an interesting experience. Pretty simple actually. He had notified them by the time he got to me, so they were expecting him. They were also aware of his notoriety. They opened the gate and we entered. Peter hung on to my boat and the attendants instructed my to tie a line to a post that would drop with the water level. He started on my outside but the current swung us around, so he was between me and the wall. I grabbed a line off his bow and with my oar and his paddle we kept ourselves from scraping the wall as we dropped. When the water level was down, they opened the other gate and we paddled/rowed out.

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I think some locks operate on demand while others have a schedule - like every other hour or so. They have a phone number which Peter used to contact them. I believe they also monitor a radio frequency (maybe channel 16?)

Here are some cool pictures the lock attendants posted on their FB page which popped up on my newsfeed. I was unaware they were taking pics. The overhead shots are really neat! The shot of us leaving gives some perspective on the size of those locks.

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[Charles Brennan]

Dale, As a general rule, Ch 13 is the bridge hailing VHF frequency and usually applies to locks as well.
Until you get to the Mississippi River.
There, it is mostly (but not always!) VHF channel 14.

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/portals/54/docs/recreation/rivers/lockingthruflier2.pdf

https://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/vhfchanl.pdf

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Wayne Howard]

Channel 13 works most of the Gulf ICW locks and bridges and ship to ship UNTIL you get to Galveston Bay. Once you cross the Houston Ship Channel going west, everyone runs on 16. Who thought this was a good idea?

[Captain Kidd]

Update:

Peter has not been able to subdue the mighty Mississippi. He found the current impossible to overcome paddling a canoe. He said the jetties were the killer as they force the current to the middle of the river and are just about impossible to get around.

So he has hitched a ride from the convulence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, IL up to the convulence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers at Grafton, IL. He celebrated his 24th birthday in Grafton yesterday and will proceed up the Illinois River in another day or so.

He did paddle the Mississippi a couple years back when he went from source to sea, so he has done it - just not upstream.

There have been a couple men who paddled it upstream, Verlen Kruger being one; but he did it back in the early '80's when the river was apparently a bit more tame.

[Doug SC]

It has been a significant year for intense rainfall. I suspect in a drought year upstream would be a different story. The CFS of rivers can be quite different over time and conditions and can change dramatically in a short period.