Nineteen paddlers in fifteen boats braved the early morning deluge, which quit just in time to start paddling the Alapaha River from Statenville Boat Ramp to Sasser Landing, past many waterfalls, quite a few shoals, one real rapid, and an incoming river too fast to paddle up. Even a couple of unexpected boat ramps, one of them concrete.
![[Ronnie, Shirley, Fountain, 13:50:02, 30.6253002, -83.0480667]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-07-06--statenville-sasser-pictures/20190706_135002.jpg)
Ronnie, Shirley, Fountain, 13:50:02, 30.6253002, -83.0480667
Around every corner, a waterfall. Continue reading
Thanks to Lindsey Garland and Ben Glass for explaining SRWMD springs, rivers, and water withdrawals to 300 new people from all over the world on #PaddleGA2019, at Camp Suwannee, Dowling Park, Suwannee County, Florida.
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) is the largest Continue reading
Join us for our monthly leisurely sunset paddle and watch the full moon rise over Banks Lake, our mini-Okefenokee in Lanier County, Georgia, with ospreys, fish, turtles, birds, and bats in the cypress trees. Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge is in the Grand Bay–Banks Lake ecosystem, which comprises the second-largest freshwater wetland system in Georgia.
Remember to BRING A LIGHT for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow stick, head lamp, or flashlight) so other boaters can see you in the dark.
When:
Gather 7:30 PM, Launch 8:00 PM, Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Sunset: 8:37 p.m.; moonrise: 8:41 p.m.
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635.
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!
![[Among paddlers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-05-18--banks-lake-full-flower-moon-paddle/20190518_195826.jpg)
Photo: John S. Quarterman, May 2019 Banks Lake Full Moon Paddle.
Update 2019-07-05:: Some WWALS videos on YouTube.
The first day of #PaddleGA2019 was a fun day, with a confluence, greetings by VIPs, creeks, small rapids, a limpkin, Valdosta’s notorious Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall, one bad water quality reading (not there), swimming, an even more notorious fracked methane pipeline, and Spook Bridge, with a pet deer across the river. Thanks to The Langdale Company for that takeout and the Port-A-Potty location, and thanks to the Battery Source for the loan of the golf cart to WWALS.
Here’s Gwyneth Moody, Georgia River Network Water Trail coordinator, getting her orange kayak in the water.
![[Load 'em up, 07:51:54, 30.8515032, -83.3476099]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-06-15--troupville-confluence-spook-bridge/20190615_075154.jpg)
Load ’em up, 07:51:54, 30.8515032, -83.3476099
Somebody was flying a drone. Continue reading
The Withlacoochee River hasn’t risen like this since The Salty Snapper moved in, which is good, since they’re catering the Final Feast tonight on the Suwannee River in Suwannee County, Florida for the last day of #PaddleGA2019, after we paddle in at the Hal W. Adams Bridge Boat Ramp in Lafayette County.
Donald O. Davis of the Lowndes County Historical Society writes:
The caterer’s building and the 2009 Withlacoochee flood. The original long-running restaurant in the location was JP Muldoons. The Salty Snapper opened in 2015.
![[WLRWT]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2009-04-09--sugar-creek-flooding/wlrwt.jpg)
Map: WWALS google map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
The Salty Snapper is just east of Continue reading
Donald O. Davis of the Lowndes County Historical Society, and a descendant of one of the early settler families at Journey’s End, writes for the last day of #PaddleGA2019:
In 1866 John H. Polk and his bride, Mary Frances Lewis Polk homesteaded on this bend of the Suwannee just below the now Hal Adams Bridge Boat Ramp. They were both from Withlacoochee Counties, he Lowndes, Ga. and she Hamilton, Fla.
![[Polk ca 1918 Mayo FL Suwannee River 001 400 dpi restored HE 2]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-06-21--polk-suwannee/Polk--ca-1918-Mayo-FL-Suwannee-River-001-400-dpi-restored-HE-2.jpg)
Polk ca 1918 Mayo FL Suwannee River 001 400 dpi restored HE 2He was severely injured in Continue reading
Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter and Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, representing the Mayor, greeted Paddle Georgia, #PaddleGA2019, and Gwyneth Moody at Land Between the Rivers, with Helen Tapp representing the landowners, at the Withlacoochee River Confluence. Donald O. Davis of the Lowndes County Historical Society provided background.
Here’s a LAKE video playlist:
Valdosta and Lowndes County greet Paddle Georgia at Land Between the Rivers 2019-06-15
Video by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS),
Golf cart shuttle courtesy of The Battery Source, driven by WWALS members Conn and Trudy Cole and Gretchen Quarterman.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Site of an old town, a governor’s house, an old bridge at the state line, and, last but certainly not least, Mozell Spells! Pictures of sites on Day 3 (today) of #PaddleGA2019, from Donald O. Davis, Director, Lowndes County Historical Society.
You’ll know you’re close when you hear the Olympia Bend Firing Range. Don Davis wrote about Olympia, Ga: Continue reading
Two new sites on the Withlacoochee River from the Lowndes County Historical Society, for Day 2 and Day 3 of #PaddleGA2019.
Day 2 of Paddle Georgia went by this site of Spain’s Ferry and Spain’s Bridge:
![[Spain Ferry and Spain's Bridge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2013-07-01--withlacoochee-crossing/Jul-Oct-2013_F-0006.jpg)
Spain Ferry and Spain’s Bridge
Day 3 (today) will go by this site of Warner’s Ferry at the GA-FL line:
The entire July – October 2013 newsletter of the Lowndes County Historical Society is on the WWALS website, courtesy of Donald O. Davis, the Museum’s Director.
We will add Spain’s Bridge and Warner’s Ferry to the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Semi-precious gemstones in the Withlacoochee River bed, during Day 2 of #PaddleGA2019, above Knights Ferry Boat Ramp.
![[Withlacoochee River, Lowndes County]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-06-15--agatized-coral-locohist/2019-No.-Online-A-0002.jpg)
Withlacoochee River, Lowndes County
![[About SRWMD]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-06-19--srwmd-paddle-ga/shot0003.jpg)
![[Canoe to the door]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2009-04-09--sugar-creek-flooding/3.jpg)
![[Map of Olympia, GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-06-17--museum-items/map-of-Olympia-repaired-HE--WM.jpg)
![[Warner's Ferry]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2013-07-01--withlacoochee-crossing/Jul-Oct-2013_F-0007.jpg)