Category Archives: Lake

Banks Lake Full Hunter’s Moon Paddle 2019-10-13

Join us for a Full Moon paddle and star gazing at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge. This is a leisurely paddle around the refuge that lies in the Grand Bay–Banks Lake ecosystem, in the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).

When: Gather 5:45 PM, launch 6:15 PM, Sunday, October 13, 2019

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.

GPS: 31.035097, -83.097045

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit.
Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.
And a light! It’s going to be dark.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

[Yellow]
Yellow Sunset
Photo: John S. Quarterman, sun setting at Banks Lake, July 16, 2019.

Continue reading →

Moody AFB sewage spill, Mission Lake 2019-08-06

Update 2021-04-02: Moody AFB NPDES Permit No. GA0020001, which affects not only Beatty Branch in the Withlacoochee River Basin, but also Mission Lake and Grand Bay in the Alapaha River Basin, via “Sanitary, groundwater infiltration, runoff, potable water treatment plant, and vehicle maintenance.”

Did you know Moody Air Force Base had two sewage spills this month? Thanks to GA-EPD, we knew about them, and Moody AFB posted news reports on both of them. One went into Mission Lake, upstream from Grand Bay and the Alapaha River. The other went into Beatty Branch, upstream from Cat Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

[Building 769 and Mission Lake]
Building 769 and Mission Lake

23d Wing Public Affairs, News, 7 August 2019, Sewage Spill Notification, Continue reading →

Pictures: Banks Lake Full Buck Moon Paddle 2019-07-16

A fine full moon paddle on Banks Lake, plus Jupiter and a gator.

[Moon paddlers]
Moon paddlers Continue reading →

Sunrise at Banks Lake, Time Lapse Video by Guy Bryant 2019-07-29

Found this on YouTube. Thanks, Guy Bryant and Amy Sturkey. Everyone is invited to come see the opposite, the sun set, (and the moon rise) at Banks Lake, Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

Sunset at Banks Lake by Guy Bryant 2018-07-29

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Cancelled due to cold weather: Banks Lake Full Moon Paddle 2019-01-21

Well, it’s never happened before, but the weather is too cold for WWALS to paddle. Expedition leader Shirley Kokidko says it’s not a good idea to take people out on the open water after dark, when the prediction is 42 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill feeling like 40 degrees. So she’s cancelled the full moon outing formerly scheduled for Monday evening, January 21, 2019, on Banks Lake.

[Boat light, double moon, 18:30:47, 31.0273566, -83.1061174]
Boat light, double moon, 18:30:47, 31.0273566, -83.1061174

Next: Our next scheduled paddle outing is Continue reading →

Rochelle details, and Tifton spills at Agrirama Lift Station 2019-01-15

Tifton, and any other cities: if you keep spilling from the same place whenever there’s a big rain, maybe it’s not the rain that’s excessive. Maybe your sewage infrastructure is inadequate and you should fix it.

Map: Agrirama Lake, Spills
One day a week ago GA-EPD included latitude and longitude in the spreadsheet, with this for Tifton’s Agrirama Lake Lift Station: 31.464770, -83.530532, shown here on the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

In yesterday’s GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report we have a little more detail on the 300-gallon Rochelle, GA spill: Continue reading →

October Hunter’s Moon Paddle, Banks Lake, 2018-10-23

Join us for a leisurely sunset paddle to watch the Hunter’s Moon rise over the lake.

Plan to arrive early enough to prep your boat so that we can launch by 6:15p. That will allow time to paddle around most of the lake before dark while we look for birds, gators and bats. Sunset on the lake is usually spectacular. If the sky is clear we will see the nearly full moon rise at 6:41p.

This is a leg of the Alapaha Quest, since Banks Lake is in the Alapaha River Water Trail.

When: 6 PM, September 11, 2018; be on the water by 6:15PM

Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County.

GPS: 31.035097, -83.097045

Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Bring: Bring a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight), and bring a rope for your boat. You must wear a PFD. A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark. Mosquitos can be bad at the marina but bugs are usually not a problem on the water. Don’t forget boat, paddles, anacks, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

This will be one night before the new moon. It will be dark once the sun goes down at 6:45 PM.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

Loaner boat with new paddler, On the water
A previous Banks Lake paddle, 2018-07-27.

Continue reading →

Banks Lake Sunset Paddle 2018-07-27

Venus gleamed through the fires of sunset as the full moon and Mars hid behind clouds.

Sunset, On the water

The sound of frogs brought out swoops of bats, as a dozen or two paddlers braved the placid flat waters of Banks Lake Friday evening in the least strenuous yet one of the most enjoyable of all WWALS outings. As one new participant remarked, it’s one thing to see it from the road, but out on the water the size, the lucidity, and the sunset are startling while calming.

Bret Wagenhorst, who brought a crew of new people from Tifton and paddled out with them first, reports: “Got to see: ospreys and nest, eastern kingbirds, egrets, ibises, bats, gators and hear Continue reading →

Lake Cleve on Cherry Creek, Valdosta, GA 1964

Nevermind what googlemaps says, the lake on Cherry Lake below Cherry Lake Road is Lake Cleve:

[Marker: Lake Cleve]
Marker: Lake Cleve. Named for Cleve B. Watson, Jr.
Photo: Scotti Jay

Thanks to Scotti Jay for finding the evidence, which reads: Continue reading →

Ockolocoochee, Little River 1889-01-29

Update 2023-12-28: Revised version..

Who knows the Ockolocoochee River? No, not the Ochlockonee River; that’s a bit to the west. You do know the Ockolocoochee River as the Little River, of the Withlacoochee, of the Suwannee. Here is news from 1889 that also includes the boat that didn’t survive from Troupville to Ellaville, which was apparently not a paddlewheel steamer.


Irwin County, 1885a, GeorgiaInfo, Rand McNally Map of Georgia, 1885

Atlanta Constitution, January 29, 1889, Pg 12., quoted in Ray City History Blog, 18 October 2010, More About Troupville, GA and the Withlacoochee River,

THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER.

VALDOSTA, Ga., January 19. -[Special.]- Away up near the northern limit of the great wiregrass section there is a big cypress swamp. They call them bays there. From this bay emerges Continue reading →