A few pictures from today’s WWALS Outing on the Withlacoochee River from Clyattville-Nankin Road to GA 31, with 12 people in 8 boats (4 kayaks, 4 canoes).
Gage height, US 84 Quitman: 3.25 feet (86.75 feet NAVD 1988).
Withlacoochee River at Clyattville-Nankin Landing:
Heather sets out:
The June WWALS outing is from Clyattville-Nankin Road to Horn Bridge on
Madison Highway (GA 31) on the Withlacoochee River.
Meet at the Clyattville-Nankin Road putin at 9AM, put in at 10AM, Saturday, 22 June 2013.
Join the
facebook event if you like.
See you there!
Update 20 June 2013: How are we getting back to our vehicles with this trip? We’ll deposit all the boats at the put-in (Clyattville-Nankin Road), take most of the vehicles down to the take-out (Horn Bridge on Madison Highway aka GA 31), carpool in a few vehicles back to the put-in, and float down the river.
Tom Baird described this nine-mile two-hour trip as:
The section includes where Clyatt Mill Creek enters, a truly fun set of rapids (two drops) at the Ga – Fla border, a very nice Second Magnitude Spring (that I have yet to find the correct name), the remains of the enormous abandoned trestle over the river of the Georgia & Florida Railroad,or Ole God Forsaken as it was nicknamed, the ghost town of Olympia on the Georgia side, and several Indian quarry sites. It is along this section that the river cuts deeply enough that the banks switch from sand banks to limerock cliffs. Paddle distance is about 9 miles, so a little over two hours paddling time. There are plenty of places to stop and look around.
There are shoals right at the state line, so beware, esp. if you’re in a canoe. The book Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, by Susanne Welander, Bob Sehlinger, and Don Otey (2004) says: Continue reading
Got pictures of a designated Wilderness Area in Georgia? Send them to the Georgia Sierra Club
by June 1 with $25 for the
2013 Wilderness Georgia Photo Contest
or by November for the
Smithsonian Photocontest 2013
or bring them to the silent auction tomorrow at
the WWALS Janisse Ray fundraiser in Tifton.
A few excerpts: Continue reading
Water issues strongly affect economic development, so I talked about
the new WWALS Watershed Coalition at the
16 April 2013 Board Meeting
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.
The VDT declined to speak, so I did. After apologizing for no okra today, I commended the Authority for talking about the missing agenda items and for mentioning due diligence and flood control.
Mostly I talked about the new WWALS Watershed Coalition,
www.wwals.net,
incorporated in June 2012, which is about watershed issues
such as flooding, water quality, and invasive species related to the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee,
Alapaha, and Little River System.
I mentioned
arsenic in some local well water,
which
the Department of Health has finally said should be tested,
three years after
Janet McMahan discovered it was a problem.
I invited VLCIA board and staff to two upcoming WWALS events:
WWALS board meetings are every second Wednesday of the month, usually at the IHOP in Adel because it’s centrally located. WWALS is communicating with Valdosta and various organizations about flooding and other watershed-wide issues, which in my opinion have to do with things like too much clearcutting without consideration for where the water goes, too much development without consideration for what the impervious surface would do, (to my surprise, the Executive Director and several board members nodded along with that) so it was good to hear them mention flood containment.
Here’s the video:
Arsenic, Outings, and Flooding: WWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project Manager,S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 April 2013.
-jsq
Come paddle the Withlacoochee River from GA 122 to Franklinville, 10 AM 20 April 2013, in the monthly WWALS outing.
Update 2016-02-01: Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman.
Franklinville Road Bridge (closed):
Withlacoochee River:
Continue reading
On Saturday, March 30 WWALS held their first joint fundraiser with
the Friends of Reed Bingham State Park: the first annual Big LITTLE
RIVER Paddle Race. We had 18 boats and 27 paddlers participate. The
start was at Rountree Bridge at the north end of Reed Bingham State
Park.
-Bret Wagenhorst
Start:
Continue reading
Here are the slides I used yesterday at
Georgia River Network‘s
Weekend for Rivers 2013
in Roswell, Georgia:
Why WWALS?
-jsq
Big Little River Paddle Racepostponed
on account of weather for one week until Saturday 29 30 March 2013.
Sorry about that; please come next week!
-jsq
Today is the last day to preregister at the $20 per boat rate for the Big Little River Paddle Race!
Details here.
-jsq