When we go on a trip in the RV, whether a day-trip or a weeks-long ad venture, we begin by noting the time and odometer reading. At 12:15 pm, we set of in the RV for a half-day tripto Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in hopes of seeing Sandhill Cranes and perhaps other waterfowl. The Hiwassee Refuge is about 80 miles, one way, at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. It is near a Cherokee Memorial Park that commemorates a site where many Cherokee overwintered in government custody, awaiting a suitable river crossing. It is one of the Trail of Tears sites.
On the way down, we stopped at Watts Bar Dam (and the site of Watts Bar Reactor) to have our picnic lunch and see if we might find any interesting birds. We saw a few gulls and a blue heron, but nothing close-by or unusual. While picnicking we saw a small yacht lock-through traveling downriver. By 2 pm we we on our way again.
There were a large number of Sandhills in the vicinity of the refuge viewing area. None were particularly close, but we enjoying watching them at a distance. I was surprised that we saw very few other species of waterfowl. We have see numerous ducks, geese and even white pelicans here in the past.
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| Cooling Towers of Watts Bar TVA Nuclear Generating Plant |
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| Watts Bar Lock |
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| An unusually light Sandhill, not big enough to be a Whooping Crane |
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