It took 60 separate legs over three years to traverse the 652 miles of the entire Tennessee River for four members of the Soggy Bottoms Kayak Club.

The accomplishment isn’t an end to their adventures, either. They’re just getting started.

Terri Cox, Melanie Harmon, Pat Hart and Dee Prickett have all been outdoorswomen their whole lives. With the Soggy Bottoms Kayak Club, they began to traverse different areas of the Tennessee River during retirement.


One camping trip took them toward Chattanooga, and when they looked up, they knew that the journey was calling them.

“We realized that we had done about a third of the Tennessee River,” Hart said. “We thought, ‘Well, might as well finish this river.’”

The route took the ladies through Knoxville, down toward North Alabama, skirting a corner of Mississippi before finally reaching Tennessee again and ending in Paducah, Kentucky.

Breaking the trip up helped the group be able to plan and execute all on their own: Camping part of the way, transporting their kayaks in their own shuttles and, of course, navigation. Hart, the group-appointed coordinator of logistics, helped ensure the foursome remained on track through a use of both paper and digital maps, as well as using the database provided by Tennessee Riverline.

Nevertheless, there were still obstacles to face and overcome along the way. When asked of their motivation for staying the course, the answer was simple: passion and determination.

“Once (we) decide (we’re) going to do something, (we’re) gonna do it no matter what,” said Hart.

CONNECTING WITH NATURE

Being able to connect with nature has always been a focal point in the lives of each of these women. It wasn’t only a reason for them to “continue” on the journey, but to embark on it in the first place.

“We love the outdoors,” said Harmon. “We love (how) it makes us feel. So even when we were saying, ‘Man, that was a tough day!’ or I’m cold or tired or hungry, we knew we wanted to keep feeling what the outdoors gives us.”

There was even a little danger involved, too, the group said. Cox said that at one point, the group was traversing a narrow gorge when a monstrous barge came up behind them, almost running them over.

Being in Chattanooga at this point and near an industrial park, the group initially thought it was a train before other paddlers began to warn them.

It wasn’t all close calls though. The group traversed through a number of different and diversified areas. From wading through shorelines filled with shacks to being shot out of a boat ramp, the twists and turns that come with a trek of this size could fill a book.

And maybe they’ll write one someday.

‘GATORS & EAGLES & PELICANS (OH MY!)

They also got some good use out of their field guides, too. As they made the journey, they were exposed to a number of different forms of wildlife from the land, air and sea.

Alligators sulked through the waters in Alabama, eagles soared overhead in Tennessee and pelicans grazed along the shorelines of the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.

The quartet had a front row seat to nature in the making as they rowed through Tennessee history.

“To learn about the role the Tennessee River played in the history of this whole region, let alone the Civil War … that for me was very interesting and helped me connect with the river and the region,” said Harmon.

The river was a crucial battleground during the Civil War, acting as a serious point of contention in the Western Theatre conflicts and played host to a number of battles throughout its four-year span. The Union Army overtaking it in 1862 was arguably an early catalyst for their eventual victory.

ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER

For the women passing through these hallowed grounds, it became hard to ignore the solemnity of where they were.

“When I was in school, I was just reading and it didn’t seem real to me,” said Hart. “But when you get out there and you realize there were real people like us, living and experiencing all that, it was interesting.”

The group is planning on several more kayaking trips in the coming months, both with the Soggy Bottoms Club as well as on their own time. They’ll be paddling through Florida this week, Wisconsin in July, and the Sewanee River in November.

They say the sense of accomplishment that comes with conquering these forces of nature has only increased as they’ve got older.

“You don’t know how many more years you’ve got to do the things we’re doing,” Harmon said. “And I think when one is young, it’s easier to not think about the big things one does — and the big trips.”