On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:16:27 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

On Mar 19, 8:40*am, wrote:
Tim,

Here is the Army Corps of Engineers site for navigation maps of the
Upper Mississippi (from the Ohio River).

http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/NIC2/...ts.cfm?index=5

I'll try to find the link for the maps of the Ohio to the Cumberland
River when I can squeeze in the time.

J. I'm going to read up on stuff, but I was curious, do you need any
special permits to go up that way? Or are there hidden charges that a
person needs to be aware of?


I'm getting excited about this already.

I'm not aware of anything, Tim, beyond your boat license and/or permit
from your state of origin. Lock passage is without charge. But you
should, if at all possible, radio the locks to request passage as a
"pleasure craft" once you're within 3 to 4 miles of the lock. You
need to hail the lock by lock number, and if I remember correctly the
hailing channel is 13. If not 13, it's 16. They may hold you up at a
lock for passage of barge traffic. If that's the case you could
possibly have to wait up to 2 to 2 1/2 hours for barge passage. (That
is if you arrive at a lock immediately after a barge is permitted
passage and the thing has to be divided for passage.) I think,
though, if you take a route from the Wabash, you should only have to
negotiate the lock at the lake dam. There are pull chains at the
locks that small boats can pull to alert the lock operator to your
presence if you don't have a radio. Whatever you do, you want to
study the maps carefully before you take any route on the rivers.
There are restricted areas and areas with underwater barriers. You
want to be very alert to those types of obstacles.