Join us for a leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, our mini-Okefenokee just west of Lakeland, Georgia.
When: Gather 5 PM, launch 5:30 PM, moonrise 6:02 PM, sunset 6:02 PM, end 7:15 PM, Thursday, January 25, 2024
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
![[Banks Lake Full Wolf Moon 2021 for 2024-01-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-25--banks-lake-full-wolf-moon-paddle/igmany.jpg)
Banks Lake Full Wolf Moon 2021 for 2024-01-25
Update 2024-03-08: Pictures: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River 2024-03-02.
Update 2024-02-02: Now no fee required, thanks to a pledge from Georgia Power.
Update 2024-01-29: Press release, Fifth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River 2024-03-02.
Join us for a leisurely seven-mile four-hour paddle with the Mayor of Valdosta and the Chairman of Lowndes County on the Withlacoochee River.
On a new route this year, we’ll go three miles from Langdale Park Boat Ramp through Langdale Park past Three Mile Branch to Sugar Creek with early takeout. On this all-wooded route it is hard to believe you are next to the most populous city in the Suwannee River Basin.
Stop at Sugar Creek to see the WaterGoat trash trap purchased by the City of Valdosta and cleaned out by volunteer Russell Allen McBride and family, which keeps much trash out of the river.
Then we’ll paddle another four miles under the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge, past Wood Valley Subdivision and Sheri Run, and the I-75 and GA 133 highway bridges.
Notice all the deadfalls (fallen dead trees) sawed out of the way by numerous WWALS Chainsaw Cleanups.
We will see all the river frontage of the land recently purchased by Lowndes County for Troupville River Camp and Nature Park. After paddling a third of a mile up the Little River, we will take out at Troupville Boat Ramp.
When: Gather 8 AM, launch 10 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, March 2, 2024
Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602, off of I-75 Exit 22, North Valdosta Road.
GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395
Continue readingThanks to Holly Jones and Kimberly Godden Tanner for leading the November 2023 Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon Paddle on our watery living room, Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
![[Banners, Safety lecture, Setting off, Sunset, Bat tree @ Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon 2023-11-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-11-27--banks-lake-full-beaver-moon-paddle-pictures/many.jpg)
Banners, Safety lecture, Setting off, Sunset, Bat tree @ Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon 2023-11-27
The next one is coming up
today, December 26, 2023.
https://wwals.net/?p=63711
Before we paddled last month, Continue reading
The Crying Indian was Italian, and that ad was paid for by the producers of single-use trash, to shift blame onto individuals. Here’s what can be done about that trash.
Sure people shouldn’t litter, but Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers, as well as Nestlé, Coca Cola, and Walmart, should stop making and selling disposable bottles and cans.
![[Single-use trash, The fake Crying Indian, and what can be done about that]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-23--real-trash-problem/many.jpg)
Single-use trash, The fake Crying Indian, and what can be done about that
Fifty years ago those things had deposits on them, and people would collect them for the cash. That could be useful to a lot of people, and a lot more cleanups would happen. Sure, there was still trash back then, but not as much.
People still do in Hawaii and nine other states: California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont, plus Guam. They don’t have nearly as big of a litter problem.
But Georgia or Florida do not have such container deposits. Maybe we should change that.
No, recycling will not solve this problem. There’s no market for plastic to recycle, and recycling has been pushed by big oil for years as an excuse to make more plastic throw-away containers. Laura Sullivan, NPR, 11 September 2020, How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled.
You’ve probably seen the famous ‘Crying Indian’ ad from 1971:
A Keep America Beautiful advertisement by the Ad Council, which was launched in 1971. (Ad Council) – Original Credit: (HANDOUT)
Well, the “Indian” was Italian-American, and that ad was part of a campaign by the trash-producer front group Keep America Beautiful. Continue reading
Join us for a leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle, led by Holly Jones, who won last year’s raffle kayak just before this paddle a year ago.
When: Gather 4 PM, launch 4:30 PM, moonrise 5:14 PM, sunset 5:37 PM, end 6:30 PM, Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
Continue readingJoin us on The Spotlight Show on https://talk921.com at 6 PM, Thursday, December 7, 2023.
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and “Diamond” Jim Halter will talk about upcoming outings such as this weekend’s campout at Griffis Fish Camp where naturalist C.B. Adams will tell us old-timey stories before we paddle the next day from the Okefenokee Swamp down the Suwannee River.
![[Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-07--radio-jim-halter/many.jpg)
Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River
Also this December we’re having a chainsaw cleanup on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia.
To begin the New Year, swim with us on Iche Nippy Dip Day on the Ichetucknee River in Florida, and then paddle down the river.
In September, join us for the second annual WWALS River Revue sit-down fundraising dinner with new songs in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, 5-8 PM, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. Continue reading
Update 2023-12-26: Pictures: Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon Paddle 2023-11-27.
Join us for a leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle on our watery living room, Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Before we paddle, we will be drawing the winning raffle ticket for a Vibe Sea Ghost 130 kayak; you can still get raffle tickets.
When: Gather 4:30 PM, launch 5 PM, moonrise 5:40 PM, sunset 5:31 PM, end 6:40 PM, Monday, November 27, 2023
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
![[Full moon rising over Holly Jones and family in the raffle kayak they won 2022-12-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-11-27--banks-lake-full-beaver-moon-paddle/many.jpg)
Full moon rising over Holly Jones and family in
the raffle kayak they won 2022-12-07
That was possibly the best full moon view ever, at the Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon Paddle 2023-10-28, just after the Costume Contest.
![[Banners, Sunset, Moonrise, Jupiter, Bats, Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon 2023-10-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-10-28--banks-lake-full-hunters-moon-paddle-pictures/many.jpg)
Banners, Sunset, Moonrise, Jupiter, Bats, Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon 2023-10-28
The moon rose before the sun was set.
Jupiter was halfway between the moon and the horizon.
Bats were visible and audible (and smellable) in the cypress trees, even though they said it was too chilly to come out.
For humans the temperature was delightful.
All that and the return of Elizabeth Brunner, who had not joined us since I think January!
Thanks to Banks Lake Outdoors for free boat rental for these WWALS Full Moon Paddles.
Thanks to Kimberly Godden Tanner for hosting, including getting the key from Banks Lake Outdoors, distributing the boats, and getting people signed in.
Thanks to Elizabeth Brunner for leading, including the safety lecture and showing people around on the lake.
Thanks to Lisa Adkins Montisano for some additional pictures.
There are more pictures below.
See also facebook photosets by: Continue reading
Update 2023-11-07: Pictures: Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon Paddle 2023-10-28 2023-10-28.
Leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle, right after the Halloween full moon costume contest.
When: Gather 5:40 PM, launch 5:45 PM, moonrise 6:45 PM, sunset 6:48 PM, end 7:45 PM, Saturday, October 28, 2023
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
![[Banners, Boating witch, Lights 2020-10-31]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-10-28--banks-lake-full-hunters-moon-paddle/many.jpg)
Banners, Boating witch, Lights
2020-10-31
Langdale Park is back open to drive in, since Monday.
Join us at Langdale Park Boat Ramp on Saturday, Friday, October 20, 2023, for a boating cleanup.
Don’t worry: if you don’t have a boat or don’t want to use one, you can clean up on land.
You may recall that back on September 28th I thought I’d collect a water quality sample at Langdale Park, and I found downed trees all along the entrance road.
A week later, I checked again, and all that Hurricane Idalia debris was still there.
So I called Lowndes County Public Works. They agreed they did maintain Hyta Mederer Road, and they would open a work order. They asked if it was urgent, or would Monday do? I said Monday would be fine.
![[Thanks to Lowndes County Public Works for reopening Langdale Park]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2023-10-10--langdale-park/many.jpg)
Thanks to Lowndes County Public Works for reopening Langdale Park
And on Monday they got all the impediments off the road. Gretchen Quarterman tood these pictures Tuesday. She got there in her low-slung Prius C.
On the way back out, she took a video.
https://youtu.be/mbIY1uMhzos
![[FB: Paddlers 2023-03-04]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-02--mayor-paddle/fbmany.jpg)
![[IG: igmany.html Holly Jones and family in raffle kayak they won in 2022, full cold moon rising 2022-12-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-26--banks-lake-full-cold-moon/igmany.jpg)