Blue Hole Summer 2017 Roadtrip Diary

Here's a final update for my 2017 journeys up to Tennessee and to Blue Hole!

Dates Plans Comments

May 16th and 17th, 2017 Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made! Very sunny Tuesday and partly sunny Wednesday with air temps in the 80s, but water temps ranging from 72F to 76F...a bit chilly, but doable. Met some really awesome folks including Malcolm, Caleb, Autumn, Ben, Chloe, Dillon, D and Eli, as well as my friends Geoff, Eden and Joshua from the Copper Basin and my dear friend Randall and his son Sid. Photos from this trip are now posted here!

May 30th and 31st Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip postponed With cool temps forecast for the mountains and my foot really hurting from three busy days on my feet (I have plantar fasciitus), I'm postponing this visit to next week; see below.

June 6th and 7th Tentative "make-up" trip on Tuesday and Wednesday cancelled This would have been a "make up" visit for last week's postponement, but it's chilly again this week following a lot of rain...plus my foot is hurting a bit, too.

June 13th and 14th Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made! I'm pretty well sunburnt from two really good days up at the river. No photos or video, though, as I kept getting distracted by conversations and the water was a bit cloudier than normal on Wednesday. Great seeing Geoff and Eden, Anthony and some other folks from past visits. It thundered for an hour on Tuesday but never rained at Blue Hole itself, and Wednesday -- which also featured The Invasion of the Reasonably Well-Behaved Boy Scout Troops -- stayed dry until 5:30, when a sustained downpour after 5:30 chased me off.

June 28th Rare one-day roadtrip made! Forecast highs on Tuesday were only 76 (and then changed to 79), but Wednesday's high was around 84 so I went up for a rare one-day visit (visited Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor down here on Tuesday instead). I was in the water from about 12:45 through 8 pm so it was worth my while, but the water was quite chilly, 72F, starting out and the area was crowded at times. By the end of the day the water had warmed to around 77F but the dry air made it chilly. Still, not a bad visit and my masks and goggles were frequently loaned out. No pics or vids this trip as the sun was intermittent and the area by the tunnels was frequently busy.

July 3rd and 4th Monday and Tuesday roadtrip made! The river flow was somewhat elevated on the 3rd and even higher on the 4th...high enough that the tunnels were well covered over with water. Had a decent day on the 3rd but with the water high and cloudy on the 4th I left early and headed back to Georgia to view Marietta's fireworks with my family. A few photos of the elevated flow are posted in a public Facebook album here.
I was kinda glad that this trip didn't cost me anything but some gas and food money -- I was off for the holiday and I stayed over at my friend Derek's house -- since it was a little underwhelming.

July 11th and 12th Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made! Finally two good days up at Blue Hole! The river was still a bit higher than I like but the water settled out at around 78 or 79F by midafternoon, so reasonably warm. Tuesday was mostly clear and it rained only briefly on Wednesday. The area was quite busy both days, with an annoying church-group on Tuesday and a less-annoying group of several Boy Scout troops there on Wednesday. It was great seeing some old friends on Tuesday -- Anthony and Colby, Randall and Siddhartha, David Ballew and others. On Wednesday my friends Chris and Diane came up from Atlanta and we all left together later.
I'm posting pics and vids from July 2017 in a public Facebook album here.

July 25th and 26th Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made! Excellent weather and warm water and lots of cool people, aside from a crowd of 335 kids who thankfully left by 2:30 pm each day. Water at around 85F and the flow, as seen in the pics, was the slowest so far this summer. Really awesome seeing a lot of cool people, including James and Waylon (both from before), Joe and Jeremiah, Alex, Garrett, Christian, David and Justin, and many more cool folks.
I've now uploaded pics and vids to this Facebook album!
Videos from 2017 -- including two from this visit -- are being posted to this Youtube playlist!

August 8th and 9th Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip cancelled I decided to call this trip off due to cool temperatures and a rainy forecast.

August 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd Expanded "eclipse" roadtrip made After having my cellphone and Fuji underwater camera stolen at Chilhowee on Sunday and viewing the (awesome) total solar eclipse from Etowah TN, I was up at Blue Hole on the 22nd and 23rd. Two great days with lots of sun, really cool people and good times. Photos and two underwater videos are now posted on Facebook here! It was really great meeting Zach and Alek, Britney, Ken and Quinn, Robbie and Blake, a bunch of cool incoming freshmen at MTSU, and a group of student-staff from University of West Georgia, my alma-mater! For those who expressed interest, you can find me on Facebook here!
All 2017 videos are now also available in this YouTube playlist.

Dates	Plans	Comments
May 16th and 17th, 2017	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made!	Very sunny Tuesday and partly sunny Wednesday with air temps in the 80s, but water temps ranging from 72F to 76F...a bit chilly, but doable. Met some really awesome folks including Malcolm, Caleb, Autumn, Ben, Chloe, Dillon, D and Eli, as well as my friends Geoff, Eden and Joshua from the Copper Basin and my dear friend Randall and his son Sid. Photos from this trip are now posted here!
May 30th and 31st	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip postponed	With cool temps forecast for the mountains and my foot really hurting from three busy days on my feet (I have plantar fasciitus), I'm postponing this visit to next week; see below.
June 6th and 7th	Tentative "make-up" trip on Tuesday and Wednesday cancelled	This would have been a "make up" visit for last week's postponement, but it's chilly again this week following a lot of rain...plus my foot is hurting a bit, too.
June 13th and 14th	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made!	I'm pretty well sunburnt from two really good days up at the river. No photos or video, though, as I kept getting distracted by conversations and the water was a bit cloudier than normal on Wednesday. Great seeing Geoff and Eden, Anthony and some other folks from past visits. It thundered for an hour on Tuesday but never rained at Blue Hole itself, and Wednesday -- which also featured The Invasion of the Reasonably Well-Behaved Boy Scout Troops -- stayed dry until 5:30, when a sustained downpour after 5:30 chased me off.
June 28th	Rare one-day roadtrip made!	Forecast highs on Tuesday were only 76 (and then changed to 79), but Wednesday's high was around 84 so I went up for a rare one-day visit (visited Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor down here on Tuesday instead). I was in the water from about 12:45 through 8 pm so it was worth my while, but the water was quite chilly, 72F, starting out and the area was crowded at times. By the end of the day the water had warmed to around 77F but the dry air made it chilly. Still, not a bad visit and my masks and goggles were frequently loaned out. No pics or vids this trip as the sun was intermittent and the area by the tunnels was frequently busy.
July 3rd and 4th	Monday and Tuesday roadtrip made!	The river flow was somewhat elevated on the 3rd and even higher on the 4th...high enough that the tunnels were well covered over with water. Had a decent day on the 3rd but with the water high and cloudy on the 4th I left early and headed back to Georgia to view Marietta's fireworks with my family. A few photos of the elevated flow are posted in a public Facebook album here. I was kinda glad that this trip didn't cost me anything but some gas and food money -- I was off for the holiday and I stayed over at my friend Derek's house -- since it was a little underwhelming.
July 11th and 12th	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made!	Finally two good days up at Blue Hole! The river was still a bit higher than I like but the water settled out at around 78 or 79F by midafternoon, so reasonably warm. Tuesday was mostly clear and it rained only briefly on Wednesday. The area was quite busy both days, with an annoying church-group on Tuesday and a less-annoying group of several Boy Scout troops there on Wednesday. It was great seeing some old friends on Tuesday -- Anthony and Colby, Randall and Siddhartha, David Ballew and others. On Wednesday my friends Chris and Diane came up from Atlanta and we all left together later. I'm posting pics and vids from July 2017 in a public Facebook album here.
July 25th and 26th	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip made!	Excellent weather and warm water and lots of cool people, aside from a crowd of 335 kids who thankfully left by 2:30 pm each day. Water at around 85F and the flow, as seen in the pics, was the slowest so far this summer. Really awesome seeing a lot of cool people, including James and Waylon (both from before), Joe and Jeremiah, Alex, Garrett, Christian, David and Justin, and many more cool folks. I've now uploaded pics and vids to this Facebook album! Videos from 2017 -- including two from this visit -- are being posted to this Youtube playlist!
August 8th and 9th	Tuesday and Wednesday roadtrip cancelled	I decided to call this trip off due to cool temperatures and a rainy forecast.
August 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd	Expanded "eclipse" roadtrip made	After having my cellphone and Fuji underwater camera stolen at Chilhowee on Sunday and viewing the (awesome) total solar eclipse from Etowah TN, I was up at Blue Hole on the 22nd and 23rd. Two great days with lots of sun, really cool people and good times. Photos and two underwater videos are now posted on Facebook here! It was really great meeting Zach and Alek, Britney, Ken and Quinn, Robbie and Blake, a bunch of cool incoming freshmen at MTSU, and a group of student-staff from University of West Georgia, my alma-mater! For those who expressed interest, you can find me on Facebook here! All 2017 videos are now also available in this YouTube playlist.

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Index to all diaries, photos and videos! | Current Summer Roadtrip Schedule

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