Trevathan publishes book about 652-mile upstream canoe journey

Feb. 5, 2021

Photo of Kim Trevathan and dog in canoe
Photo credit: The Daily Times
(used with permission)

Kim Trevathan, associate professor of writing communication at Maryville College, has published Against the Current: Paddling Upstream on the Tennessee River (University of Tennessee Press, 2021).

The book, which is his fourth book of nonfiction, chronicles a 652-mile canoe trip up the Tennessee River from Paducah, Ky., to Knoxville, Tenn.

A virtual book launch, presented by Union Ave Books in Knoxville, will be held Thurs., Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. Trevathan will be joined in conversation by Charles Dodd White, author of How Fire Runs. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, please visit tinyurl.com/kimtrevathan.

The two-month journey took place 20 years after Trevathan’s first trip paddling the length of the Tennessee River – downstream, or “the right way” – with his 45-pound German shepherd mix, Jasper. The 1998 trip is the subject of his first book, Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on Easy Water (University of Tennessee Press, 2001).

For the latest journey, Trevathan chose to paddle upstream, against the current, starting out in early spring instead of late summer, and with a different canine companion: Maggie, a 65-pound, mixed-breed rescue dog with “unpredictable energy.”

“From the perspective of the same canoe, I wanted to see how the river had changed in 20 years, how I had changed and whether I could complete the trip, at age 60, buffeted by wind and cold, and challenged by strong current and nine dams to lock through,” the professor said.

Trevathan set out on his journey with Maggie on March 21, 2018 in Paducah, Ky., facing 20 mph winds and 40-degree temperatures. His 10-month-old puppy helped fuel the trip “with her energy, toughness and penchant for misadventure” – and helped create adventures he never would have imagined.

Photo of "Against the Current" book cover

“We met fascinating people – lock operators, fishermen, campground managers, park rangers, amateur historians, and an array of animals – most of whom Maggie attempted to befriend, including a sick raccoon and a herd of black Angus cattle,” Trevathan recalled.

One particularly harrowing part of the trip occurred about 200 miles into the journey, while they were inside the Pickwick Dam Lock. As the doors were opening in the lock, Maggie jumped out of the canoe and started paddling through the doors. Luckily, the lock operator saw what happened and stopped the opening of the doors.

The book includes Trevathan’s descriptions of the life of the river before and after the dams, the sometimes daunting condition of its environment, its banks’ host of evolving communities – and the many mishaps involving Maggie.

“Whether he is struggling to calm his land-loving companion, confronting his body’s newfound aches and pains, craving a hard-to-find cheeseburger, or scouting for a safe place to camp for the night, Trevathan perseveres in his quest to reacquaint himself with the river and to discover new things about it,” the book description reads.

While Trevathan noticed changes in the river that were both surprising and disorienting, he found that the trip became a study in memory, as he tried to piece together the parts of the Tennessee River he remembered from the 1998 trip, including Shiloh, Wilson Dam and Kentucky Lake’s new Eggner’s Ferry Bridge.

On May 17, 2018, after 58 days on the river – and 25 pounds lighter – Trevathan arrived with Maggie in Holston River Park in Knoxville, where the Tennessee River begins.

To help fund the project, Trevathan received a fellowship from the Appalachian College Association’s Faculty Fellowship program that allowed him to spend spring 2018 researching and executing the trip.

A native of Murray, Ky., Trevathan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville, master’s degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Wyoming, and an MFA from the University of Alabama. In addition to his first book, he has also published two books: Coldhearted River: A Canoe Odyssey Down the Cumberland (University of Tennessee Press, 2006) and Liminal Zones: Where Lakes End and Rivers Begin (University of Tennessee Press, 2013). His outdoor columns have appeared in The Daily Times, Metro Pulse and Knoxville Mercury. He has published fiction and essays in the Florida Review, Texas Review, New Millennium Writings, Distillery, New Delta Review and other literary journals. Trevathan has been teaching writing (journalism, creative nonfiction, fiction and first-year writing) at Maryville College for 19 years.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”