Osceola Island

Went for a walk around Osceola Island yesterday evening and took some photos with the new iPhone 6. It's amazing how far cell phone camera technology has come in the last 10 years. I think my first flip phone had a whopping 1.3 mega pixels - and the images weren't anything you'd ever print or do much of anything with. Today there are colleges offering iPhone photography courses.

Osceola Island is a terrific place to have a picnic and then explore. It's located a mile below South Holston Dam outside of Bristol, TN. A footbridge leads visitors to a 1.8 mile long gravel trail around the island (map here). On both sides of the island are the unique weir dams you see in the photos. Designed to aerate the river below, the waterfalls only flow when the dam is generating electricity. You can find out when they are generating by clicking here.

Here is a PDF map of the nearby area.

Because the dam generates electricity by pulling water from the bottom of South Holston Reservoir, the water in the river below the dam (called the tailwaters) is very cold. In fact, even on a hot summer day, the water temperature will only be in the mid-50s at midday. Perfect conditions for trout fishing.