Phillip Williams has found and marked more trails and waterways in his continued exploration of Langdale Park on the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County just west of Valdosta, Georgia. As you can see, the trails are much more usable since Parks and Rec. has been cleaning them up lately. Yay, George Page, Jessica Catlett, and Jeff!

Dark Branch, trashjam, canebreak, island, log bridge, waterfall

I’ve updated his material in the WWALS WLRWT map, so you can pan, zoom, and click.

He’s been communicating with the park owner, Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA). He’s updated many of the trail names. For example, the trail south from Langdale Park Boat Ramp by the Withlacoochee River is Trail B. Trail A runs all the way from the Pavillion just south of Hyta Mederer Drive down to Three Mile Branch. Supposedly it then turns right and goes west to the river, but apparently VLPRA hasn’t finished cleaning up that stretch.

Langdale Park Trails by Phillip Williams in WLRWT 2022-12-13 in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

He’s especially been exploring Three Mile Branch lately.

Three Mile Branch by Phillip Williams in WLRWT 2022-12-13

Along it, in the east half of the park that is within the Valdosta City limits, he’s discovered a cypress swamp and something he calls Dark Branch that drains it into Three Mile Branch.

Confluence of Dark Branch and Three Mile Branch by Phillip Williams

Phillip wrote:

There is a cypress swamp in the east half of Langdale Park. There is a branch that flows very slowly out of it. It looks the part of the park where the trails mainly are is just high enough to normally separate the flow of water leaving the cypress swamp from the drains that drain water the next drain system upstream, but that during flooding the Three Mile Branch drainage system connects with the next drainage system upstream at a few points.

Map: Dark Branch by Phillip Williams in WLRWT 2022-12-13

He added, “It looks like all the water from the cypress swamp slows the water coming from Three Mile Branch down. There is also a canebrake that goes along the western edge of the cypress swamp near where it joins Three Mile Branch. The canebrake has a lot of trash in it.”

Trashjam by Phillip Williams

Canebrake by Phillip Williams

He noted, “Once you get out of the canebrake along Three Mile Branch the trash debris field rapidly decreases. The canebrake must be catching a lot of the trash.”

Trash Field in Canebrake by Phillip Williams

Small Island by Phillip Williams

Trail Crosses Three Mile Branch by Phillip Williams

Log Bridge by Phillip Williams

Waterfall: Stream descends more. by Phillip Williams

Other

Phillip wrote, “…once you get about 100 yards east from Trail A you can usually start seeing bits of trash. There are some tires marked on the most recent update on that map in that area. A tree is growing through the center of one of the tires. Those tires are nearly 700′ from where the cypress swamp flows into Three Mile Branch. I am not sure if they might have been dumped there instead of having floated there

Tree with a Tire by Phillip Williams

Everybody takes a picture of this thing. It is on the map with a question mark on Trail A just west of the cypress swamp, labeled “Something high up in the trees”. Looks to me like evidence of how high flood waters can get.

Window tree: Something high up in the trees by Phillip Williams

Phillip wrote yesterday:

I am going to try to explore that bit of land southeast of the borrow pit a bit more. The sun was starting to set by the time I got around to exploring it on Sunday. There was a bit of trash in what part of that area that I saw. I would expect as I get closer to the other side of the cypress swamp that there will be more. The grassy area with some trees just kept going and going.

All the pictures in this post are ones Phillip included in his map. He has posted many more on facebook, most recently yesterday.

Bobby McKenzie has posted some videos of Three Mile Branch on Langdale Park. from when he and Russell Allen McBride walked down it many months ago. Those videos are in a post in the WWALS facebook group. You may not be able to see them if you are not in that group. To join that facebook group you must be a WWALS member.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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