Posted April 4, 2002

Driving through the Kentucky Dam area on this sunny Thursday afternoon, we crossed the dam and noticed that some of the 9/11 restrictions had been lifted.  Since September 11, security at Kentucky Dam has tightened and up until recently, all access to the dam was restricted.  Now some of those areas are open again - we were delightfully surprised.

We drove down the access road and saw a couple of deer off in the distance.  We tried to get a few pictures, but the deer just didn't show up very well when we downloaded them from our camera.  Driving on, we were greeted by a slow-moving P&L train crossing the dam.  Even though the train was traveling somewhere around 15-20 mph, we could feel the ground vibrate underneath us from where we were standing.

Once we reached the Visitor's Center area, we noticed there were a lot people fishing below the dam.  At this point, Kentucky Lake's tail waters, the Tennessee River, was flooded.  The water was close to 30 feet above the normal stage.  Folks were out fishing the fast-moving waters.  Here is a photo of a man fishing from the rocks.  Notice most of the gates of the dam are open and spilling.  We should point out that there were no boats in the water.  It is extremely dangerous to fish near the dam, especially when the gates are open.

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