Pictures: Alapaha and Dead River Sinks 2016-11-06

the Alapaha River sink, 30.5855189, -83.0528064 A very scenic hike to some of the most unusual geological features in all of Florida: the Alapaha River Sink and the Dead River Sink. We walked over beds of 50-million-year-old fossilized oysters, above all our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. See many pictures and a few videos of the sights, and a google map of the sites.

Practicing Geologist Dennis Price led us by the scenic route on this hike, explaining the karst geology on display, which underlies all of north Florida and south Georgia, containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. Dennis and hike organizer Chris Mericle recommend making this very unusual area a state park.

The Alapaha River goes underground here unless it has a lot of water, which usually this time of year and right now it does not.

[Don't fall into the Devil's Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064]
Don’t fall into the Devil’s Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064

Update 2022-11-17: The Jennings Gauge read 61.70′ NAVD88.

Until recently nobody knew for sure where it comes back up, but this summer Suwannee River Water Management District turned the Dead River flourescent green in a dye test, and the dye came back up a few days later in the Alapaha Rise and in Holton Creek Spring, both on the Suwannee River a bit upstream from the Alapaha Confluence.

The Alapaha River Sink is prominently pictured on the WWALS brochures for the Alapaha River Water Trail.

WWALS banner at Alapaha Sink,

The better picture of the WWALS banner at the Alapaha Sink (above) and of the Dead River Sink itself (below) are by Gretchen Quarterman from her facebook album.

Dead River Sink,

Videos

You can hear Dennis Price explain it all, and the thunder of the Alapaha River Sink, in these videos.

More pictures below by John S. Quarterman. Click on any small picture to get a bigger picture. And there’s a google map of the locations pictured.

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Pictures

These pictures are by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition, except the several marked as by Gretchen Quarterman. Creative Commons attribution license.

JBT

[Jennings Bluff Tract, 30.5671901, -83.0389019]
Jennings Bluff Tract, 30.5671901, -83.0389019

JBL

[Jennings Bluff Landing, 30.5798842, -83.0392405]
Jennings Bluff Landing, 30.5798842, -83.0392405

Before

[Preparing, 30.5798842, -83.0392405]
Preparing, 30.5798842, -83.0392405

Hike

[Green Alapaha River; nitrogen? 30.5821472, -83.0417484]
Green Alapaha River; nitrogen? 30.5821472, -83.0417484

Down

[Gretchen starts down, 30.5845793, -83.0468497]
Gretchen starts down, 30.5845793, -83.0468497

Along

[Marching along, 30.5845793, -83.0468497]
Marching along, 30.5845793, -83.0468497

Below

[People down at the river, 30.5851047, -83.0464668]
People down at the river, 30.5851047, -83.0464668

Stump

[Nice stump, 30.5853902, -83.0465057]
Nice stump, 30.5853902, -83.0465057

Both

[Panorama of both sides, 30.5852778, -83.0463889]
Panorama of both sides, 30.5852778, -83.0463889

Explaining

[Movie: Dennis Price P.G. explaining (686M), 30.5852778, -83.0463889]
Movie: Dennis Price P.G. explaining (686M), 30.5852778, -83.0463889

Flowers

[Asters, 30.5847931, -83.0485753]
Asters, 30.5847931, -83.0485753

River

[On up the river, 105821, 30.5847664, -83.0486311]
On up the river, 105821, 30.5847664, -83.0486311

Bird

[Many tracks, 30.5840571, -83.0489746]
Many tracks, 30.5840571, -83.0489746

Confluence

[Crowd at the Dead River confluence, 30.5840348, -83.0501771]
Crowd at the Dead River confluence, 30.5840348, -83.0501771

Fossilized

[50-million-year-old oysters, 30.5839481, -83.0513220]
50-million-year-old oysters, 30.5839481, -83.0513220

Geologists

[Two geologists conferring (Dennis and Can), 30.5841235, -83.0515053]
Two geologists conferring (Dennis and Can), 30.5841235, -83.0515053

Deadfall

[People crossing deadfall, 30.5841667, -83.0519444]
People crossing deadfall, 30.5841667, -83.0519444

ARS

[Movie: Deanna and Bret at the Alapaha Sink, 30.5855110, -83.0523775]
Movie: Deanna and Bret at the Alapaha Sink, 30.5855110, -83.0523775

ARS2

[the Alapaha River sink, 30.5855189, -83.0528064]
the Alapaha River sink, 30.5855189, -83.0528064

DD

[Movie: Don't fall in, to the Devil's Den (47M), 30.5855189, -83.0528064]
Movie: Don’t fall in, to the Devil’s Den (47M), 30.5855189, -83.0528064

WB

[WWALS banner, 30.5852778, -83.0527778]
WWALS banner, 30.5852778, -83.0527778

MB

[More below, 30.5855556, -83.0527778]
More below, 30.5855556, -83.0527778

Aquifers

[Dennis explaining aquifers, 30.5855545, -83.0529399]
Dennis explaining aquifers, 30.5855545, -83.0529399

DD2

[The Devil's Den, 30.5855545, -83.0529399]
The Devil’s Den, 30.5855545, -83.0529399

BPAS

[Movie: Bret, Alapaha Sink, 20161106 112627 (33M), 30.5855545, -83.0529399]
Movie: Bret, Alapaha Sink, 20161106 112627 (33M), 30.5855545, -83.0529399

DR

[Back down to the Dead River, 30.5844745, -83.0519098]
Back down to the Dead River, 30.5844745, -83.0519098

LB

[Lunch break at the Dead River, 30.5839646, -83.0511557]
Lunch break at the Dead River, 30.5839646, -83.0511557

G2

[Stereo geologists, 30.5839546, -83.0513326]
Stereo geologists, 30.5839546, -83.0513326

D2

[Dennis and a rapt lunch crowd, 30.5839493, -83.0513395]
Dennis and a rapt lunch crowd, 30.5839493, -83.0513395

UpDR

[Over the oyster beds up the Dead River, 30.5839645, -83.0515484]
Over the oyster beds up the Dead River, 30.5839645, -83.0515484

DownDR

[Down, 30.5839044, -83.0529146]
Down, 30.5839044, -83.0529146

Pan2

[Panorama, 30.5838557, -83.0530662]
Panorama, 30.5838557, -83.0530662

Drysink

[Another sink, 30.5838557, -83.0530662]
Another sink, 30.5838557, -83.0530662

FT

[Fossil tracks? 30.5838341, -83.0530645]
Fossil tracks? 30.5838341, -83.0530645

BR

[Can and the black rocks, 30.5838363, -83.0530678]
Can and the black rocks, 30.5838363, -83.0530678

WW

[Wide with willows, 30.5840287, -83.0544565]
Wide with willows, 30.5840287, -83.0544565

Tea

[Tannic tea-colored water, 30.5826263, -83.0521584]
Tannic tea-colored water, 30.5826263, -83.0521584

EE

[Down from the easy entrance, 30.5823101, -83.0518601]
Down from the easy entrance, 30.5823101, -83.0518601

Dup

[Dennis up above, 30.5818388, -83.0517782]
Dennis up above, 30.5818388, -83.0517782

TP

[Tom Potter surrounded, 30.5837645, -83.0544796]
Tom Potter surrounded, 30.5837645, -83.0544796

GQ

[Dead River Sink with trash --GQ]
Dead River Sink with trash –GQ

Google Map

Follow this link to the google map, and it’s also embedded below.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/