Tennessee River

Overall Fastest Known Paddle: 7 Days, 9 hours, 54 minutes

Trey Reaves, of Florence, Alabama, age 46

(This is also the fastest known paddle for a solo male)

637.9 miles per Trey’s GPS as recorded by RaceOwl

Boat: Stellar Falcon Surfski

Supported by Michael Carson

Start: Beginning of Tennesse River. Knoxville, TN. 7:00am on June 7th, eastern time zone

Finish: Confluence with the Ohio; Riverside Park/ Foot of Broadway, Paducah, KY. 4:54pm on June 14th, central time zone

Map resources from Tennessee RiverLine

Trey was tracked via RaceOwl; see his split times and more info at RaceOwl

About Trey: Trey is a two time Great Alabama 650 winner also have raced the Yukon 1000 and most of the longer distance races

Trip Report from Trey Reaves:

Our original plan was to take off from Ijam’s park about 3/4 of a mile south of the start and paddle north to the start line to begin. As we arrived at at the gate it was still locked at 7:00 am so werealized a start from there at 8:00 wasn’t gonna be possible. Luckily Brad Collet and Lila Honaker from the Tennessee Riverline were meeting us there and let us know if Holston River park which is about 1 mile Above the confluence with French Broad River where the Tennessee River begins. After loading my gear up in the boat, taking a few pictures, and doing an interview with the local news channel it was time to take off on my 652 mile journey. I take off about 10 mins till 8 and paddle up to mile 652 the start of my Adventure.

I take off and before I make it 3 miles into downtown Knoxville it’s already starting to rain itwasn’t really a big deal to me cause the rain and clouds would keep the temperature downwhich would really help me out on the trip.I pass through downtown Knoxville past U of Tennessee past Neyland stadium and continue south. My plan is to stop and resupply and stretch every 30 miles or so. It’s my normal stopping schedule and has always worked well for me. I have a pretty uneventful trip the 1st 30 miles passing a lot of residential areas heading out of town to Carl Cowan Park. I met Mike Carson (Mike is along to video, document and be my crew for the majority of the trip), Alicia my wife, our youngest Kylin, and a new friend who is also planning a paddle of the Tennessee River, Paul Richkus. After a short break to eat lunch.

I take off and head towards Fort Loudoun Dam. As on most Saturdays on a busy lake the boat traffic was terrible. Tons of big boats and wake boats making the conditions anything but favorable. I arrive at the Ft Loudoun lock and call the lock master he had just locked a boat down so I had about a 15 mins wait before he filled the chamber and let me in. The lock had about a 50 foot drop that took about 15 mins to complete after waiting to get in. On the other side of the dam the boat traffic had died down quite a bit as I made my way down the City of Loudoun boat ramp for my next resupply. It’s raining lightly as I roll into the ramp. I eat a little food and refill water and snacks and take off into what was planned to be an all night paddle. I take off from Loudon feeling good and energized from a meal my next stretch is 36 miles to Rockwood ramp. I have a beautiful moonlight that first night and a great paddle but I’m not feeling great the further I go towards that stop so when I get to Rockwood I decide to take ashort nap and see if that helps me kinda reset. Lucky for me I decided to because a pretty serious thunderstorm came thru while I tossed and turned. I always have a hard time sleeping that first cycle.

Next I get up and head towards Watts Bar Dam. Originally my plan was to get thru the lock at

Watts Bar and sleep till around noon but since I had already at least attempted to sleep I get locked thru about noon take a quick resupply break at a boat ramp right below the dam and head on. For the next 30 miles I fight head winds. On my way to Blythe Ferry. Seemed like no matter which way I went the winds were just following the valley cause I would go around a big bend and face every direction on my way around them but it was always a head wind. Finally I make it to Blythe Ferry. I meet Alicia, Mike, and our youngest Ky he was fishing and caught one to show me about the time I arrived. I stay for a few minutes but am excited to get back going because an awesome friend of mine John Wellens is gonna meet me out in the water before Chickamauga dam, lock thru and paddle the next 40 or so miles with me. I Run into John about 5 miles from Chickamauga we make a quick stop at a park right at the dam and I call the lock operator to inquire about locking thru and the lock master didn’t like the idea of paddlers going thru after dark. It was around 11:00 pm but I told him what I had going on and that even if we had to portage the dam we were gonna paddle thru the night he decided to let us thru. John and I paddle into Chattanooga and thru the Tennessee River George. As we arrive at raccoon mountain I am having a hard time staying awake and decide I better rest just a little so I take about a 2 hour break to get a little rest. Once I get up we take off again meeting Mike at Hales Bar to eat a quick biscuit and then paddle on to Nickajack Dam.

I take off and lock thru Nickajack the second I exit the locks it decided to pour down rain. I was pretty much committed at this point to paddle 30 miles since phone service was not great and that was our plan. While it was raining really hard it wasn’t too cold so it was terrible and it wasn’t lightening so I paddled on. I pass under the blue bridge at south Pittsburgh, TN and about that time it clears up. I continue paddling and cross over the Alabama state line. I pass thru Stevenson and meet Mike at the hwy 117 bridge boat ramp about 7:30 pm. The pedal on the boat has been getting harder to deal with so I decide to swap out the foot board with the one from the spare boat I brought. After that and a quick burger I get back on the water headed across Lake Guntersville. I paddle on making a stop about 11:30 at another boat ramp and having to pass thru a lot of eel grass to get into the ramp and that would be a problem the rest of the way across the stretch. I got back out in the river but every time I’d get going good I’d run into a patch of the eel grass. It was slow moving the rest of the night because of the grass then Mike calls and lets me know a thunderstorm is about to move in and gives me a spot I can meet him and get off the water till the storm passes. I take a nap while I wait out the storm. I wake up to fishing boats and a lot of them. Mike grabs me a biscuit and sends me off as the sun is coming up. As I get back to paddling I start getting caught up in the eel grass and a light drizzle. Finally coming into the town of Guntersville the eel grass thins out some and I get to moving a little better.

I paddle on and see one of the best sights I could. I see my friend Matthew White paddling his yellow kayak in his orange paddling shirt. I could see him for probably a mile away it was so nice to meet him out there. He paddles the next few miles to the dam with me before turning around and I go on and lock thru the dam. While Mike is waiting at a boat ramp on the other side. The lock masters at Guntersville were awesome. They stayed out and talked to me the majority of the time I was locking thru it was one of the two best lock experiences I had. I get thru the lock and meet to resupply and have lunch. I’m pretty excited when I take back off I’m on wheeler lake one dam away from my home and before my next stop I’ll pass the half way point. I think the section between Guntersville dam and Huntsville is just a beautiful section of water. With high cliffs. I paddle on crossing mile 326 the half way point and on to Triana where our next stop is. In Triana Mike has an amazing sandwich waiting for me so I eat and cool down a little this was the first day of pretty serious sunshine luckily so far the trip hadn’t been to hot and the rain the past few days kept the temperature down even with the sunshine.

I get back in the water and paddle on there will be much more familiar waters for quite a while. I get to decatur as the sun was going down. It wasn’t far from my next stop but it got dark fast and the lake there is very wide. There is also a lot of industry along the water here so it makes it very difficult to judge what you are actually heading towards and it made the next 6 or 7 miles terrible. The lights were kinda blinding making it very hard to see so I just followed my GPS and eventually I got to the campground in Cowford. Alicia, Ruthie, and Ky were with Mike when I arrived that was very nice and I got my first and last shower of the trip. I decided I’d take a little nap and get an early start in the morning I got a really good 3 hours or so of sleep and head back off. I’m about 30 miles from Wheeler Dam then another 15 miles to Wilson Dam where I will have to portage my boat about a mile but I also know I’ll see a group of family and friends.

As I’m crossing wheeler lake two fisherman approach my and ask if I’m Trey? They had seen me paddling on Facebook. We talk for a minute they were two younger guys who had never locked thru the dam. I let them know it wasn’t to bad and if they would meet me over at wheeler dam when I lock thru they could lock thru with me and so they agree. When we got in the lock we had an awesome conversation. I learned all about them and told them all about me and my trip up until that point.

We get to the bottom of the lock and the doors open and we go on our way. I pick up my pace knowing the next stop I have I’ll see several familiar faces. All of a sudden my phone rings and it’s my friend and just a great man Jeff Abrams he was telling me he was about to run out and say hello on his jet ski. Next thing I know he’s brought me so awesome rolls stuffed with cheese and sausage they really hit the spot. We say a prayer and take back off. Finally about 11:30 I get in. I got a firehouse sub as I hit the dock and I hung out for nearly an hour talking to family and friends before picking up my boat and carrying it a mile to the put in. Wilson lock is having some repairs done so the auxiliary lock was only allowing commercial traffic thru.

As I get back on the water I decided to head on to Pickwick dam before I stop for the night. I do plan to stop at Colbert Ferry. The point where the Tennessee River crosses the Natchez Trace Parkway. When I get there my oldest daughter who couldn’t get off work earlier was there to say hello. I take off and it begins to get dark. This is another section of water that’s really wide. Has lots of lights all over and it can get confusing. Add to that the clouds are completely covering the full moon I had planned to have as my light made it very difficult to see. I push on but get on the wrong side of an island I hadn’t anticipated and it really got confusing for a few miles. I finally decide to get out my phone and figure out where I went wrong since the houses and lights I was planning to see just weren’t there. After realizing it was an island I continue on and eventually get around the end of it. And back on course. I pull into Pickwick state park about midnight to take a rest and eat a burger.

The lock master at Pickwick lock didn’t want to let me thru in the dark so we make the decision to portage the dam the only option was to load the boat and drive the several miles around the dam. I had paddled past the lock and was gonna put in right at the bottom of the dam and since they weren’t releasing any water I’d paddle up to the dam on the low side so that I wasn’t missing any milage.

I never thought there would be much beyond Pickwick dam. I paddled on and it seemed like it was gonna be muddy banks and not a lot of scenery. I got to Savannah and was met by two ladies from the Hardin county tourism board and they told me I was about to be in for a treat but I still couldn’t imagine the beauty. It was a long day of paddling though and really a really hot day. The first miserably hot day of the trip. The river was narrower though so I found some places to hide from the sun. I meet Mike at a couple of boat ramps along the way and around lunch we meet at the Clifton marina. One of my cousin in laws Joe Calloway meets us there to have lunch. I had a BLT one of the best meals of the trip. We visit but I know I have to get back going. I get about an hour away from Clifton and hit the first storm of the trip thar was so bad it forced me out of the water. The wind and rain was so bad I couldn’t keep going so I found a house under construction and hide under it. I take roughly an hour long break waiting on the weather to pass and take back off. This section was so cool there were islands people had cleared where there was volleyball nets set up and just a lot of cliffs and things to see continuing on down it kept looking about the same. I had someone meet me with some snacks and it started getting dark. The moon was out so that helped me navigate the darkness and I paddled till about 12:00 before I met Mike. I actually passed the boat ramp where he was luckily I saw a fisherman as I was looking for him and he pointed me in the right direction which was good cause I had no phone service. I was feeling good but another storm was coming so I decided to get a few hours of sleep and then continue. That pretty much would be the entire next day. I would paddle get caught in rain storms. Get to Mike try to wait them out go again, get caught in another rain storm find Mike and just continue this until that afternoon. After passing through New Johnsonville another pouring storm comes through with lightning I’m ten miles from meeting Micheal so I have to paddle through it. I pull into the boat ramp soaking wet having dodged lightning for the last hour and a wanna be TikTok star ask me to make a video it was a very strange interaction luckily Micheal was there to shoo her away. I take a little break and Alicia and Ruthie meet us. They will be along the rest of the trip which makes me happy. I take back off and the wind picks up. Luckily the rain and lightning had cleared out it’s about 3pm and I just fight the wind around 7 I meet the crew at a campground that has a restaurant and eat a good meal I get a little rest but decide to take back off. The wind is really strong and the water is rough having now opened up into another huge lake. This is the last lake of the trip but it’s a huge body of water and the wind has made big waves. I paddle on but at some point I’m just beat and find a small place to meet Mike and get a little rest.

I finally take back off its dark but I decide that trying to hug the bank is really difficult because the reverb of the waves so I take out to the open water. As I’m heading across I see a barge I think is parked I’m moving faster than it is so an assume it’s not moving at all. I get close to it probably closer than I should have and all of a sudden it hits me with its huge spot light and I realize it’s not parked. I take off away from it and luckily didn’t have anymore issues from that. About an hour before sunrise I meet Micheal again for a resupply and as the sun is coming up I take off for what will be my last day on the water. I’m 30 miles from the last dam and it’s 22 miles after that. We decide to meet once more about halfway to the dam just for a quick check in and I paddle as hard as I have the entire trip the 30 miles to the dam seem to fly by. I make a quick stop but don’t want to slow down and I paddle on to Kentucky Lake Dam. I get out there and because of heavy commercial barge traffic I can’t lock thru the lock so we portage the boat once more. As I’m about to get back in below the dam the skies start to darken and a fisherman says man you’re about to get wet. I told him I’ve been wet for the last week and the rain isn’t gonna bother me. I take off and it was a short storm but it had it all. Wind, lightning, thunder, and pouring rain for about 10 mins. I just hugged the bank and continued on. This 22 miles was very heavy industrial with so many barges and it was the not a ton of fun but plenty of excitement.

The one saving grace was there were tons of eagles. I get to the point where the Tennessee River and the Ohio meet and get to the finish at the Foot of Broadway park in Paducah, KY. I was so happy to have gotten finished. There was I big welcoming committee from the city of Paducah and the Tennessee RiverLine and My awesome crew. I talked to the local news and the Mayor named me the Duke of Paducah. We went out to eat afterward at Doe’s Eat Place for steaks and got a great night of rest.