Category Archives: Outing

Big Little River Paddle Race

188253_10200781394396347_1903725575_n Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Bret Wagenhorst, WWALS Watershed Coalition will be hosting the first Big Little River Paddle Race on Saturday March 23rd at 10am. The goal for the days event will be to have fun, enjoy the natural beauty of our watershed, and to hopefully raise funds for watershed conservation and preservation. The paddle race will be held on a three mile course, where we will float upon the tannin stained waterways, and pass both indigenous as well as invasive species. For anyone who has not previously paddled the Little River, we hope you will enjoy yourselves, and hopefully make use of this resource more frequently. For the experienced paddler, good luck and enjoy the journey.

Register Here

Registration costs $20 per boat in advance through 20 March 2013. Event day sign-in will be from 8:30 to 9:30am; registration at the event costs $30 per boat.

Flyer with details: PDF

First Annual

Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Proceeds to benefit Friends of Reed Bingham and WWALS Watershed Coalition

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WWALS outing called because of weather, but….

Gretchen posted:

The “official” event is off because of the weather. However, if you want to see the location, gather at Gary Rampley’s, past Mullins Lane at 6974 Old State Road and park in his yard and then walk to the River (less than .2 miles) at 1:00. Meet others who like a cold, rainy outing.

Or, at 2:00pm meet at Let’s Eat Cafe (Exit 18 from I75—across from Austin’s Steak House at the Shell Station) to discuss strategies for keeping access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County.

Our local hosts still want to meet up with interested folks and for those not up to braving the weather, we will be indoors at Let’s Eat (an excellent local place to meet and eat).

Alapaha River trip 2009, ending at Hotchkiss Landing

In 2009 Bret Wagenhorst of Tifton organized a canoe trip on the Alapaha River. He says:

I believe we had nearly 15 people on that trip. The put in was at Burnt Church, just above the Boy Scout camp outside of Lakeland. The take out was the state road that is being proposed to be closed due to lack of use. The photos are in an album on my Facebook page. I believe it is titled “Alapaha River Trip”. The last photo of the album shows lots of people at the take out— the state road access that “is hardly ever used”! Feel free to copy any of the photos you like.

Since his facebook album requires facebook login to view, I’ve copied it to a flickr set. That last picture sure does look like Hotchkiss Landing:

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Alapaha River at Hotchkiss Landing, Naylor, Lowndes County, GA, 1 Feb 2013

Scouting for a potential WWALS outing (since scheduled for 16 February 2013, two WWALS board members and three local residents went to look at Hotchkiss Landing on Old State Road at the Alapaha River in Lowndes County. Here are a few pictures; we also have videos, some of which will follow.

Looking west (upstream):

Looking west (upstream) Continue reading →

WWALS February Event, Alapaha River, Hotchkiss Landing

When: 1PM, Saturday, February 16, 2013
Where: Hotchkiss Landing on the Alapaha River, Old State Road, Naylor, GA

The WWALS river outing for February is planned for the Hotchkiss landing.

B.Y.O.B.: Bring your own boat (there are none for rent at this location).

However, some folks have canoes with room in them so don’t let lack of a vessel stop you from joining us.

We have a local host and parking is available at a local land owners property.

Facebook event.

WWALS at Reed Bingham State Park 2012-10-22

WWALS had a brief canoe and kayak outing at Reed Bingham State Park Sunday, led by Bret Wagenhorst. Heading out, and some coppices of native trees.

Heading out Coppices Continue reading →

Big Little Water: Camera 1 Videos on the Withlacoochee by Tom Baird

Here are videos of Tom Baird’s talk for WWALS hosted at VSU by Blazer Gardens, about the Y-shaped Withlacoochee, or Suwannee, or Swithlacoochee, from the dry Paleo-Indian era 14,000 or more years ago through atlatls in the woodland period and Troupville queen city through the Ellaville log boom to current-day over-pumping of the aquifer.

Here’s a playlist.

Big Little Water by Tom Baird 2012-09-11

Update 2012-09-13: Pictures from Camera 1.

Tonight at VSU Student Union:

Big Little Water – a survey of the history, geology and archaeology of the Withlacoochee River, with replica artifacts people can handle, and slides.

“I’ll also get into some of the current threats to the river and maybe we can get into a good discussion and Q&A.”
Website event and facebook event.

WWALS Seminar September 22nd

Neill Herring, Veteran Conservation Lobbyist at the Georgia General Assembly, on the political economy of water conservation in Georgia.

Jesslyn Shields of Georgia River Network on River Protection Success Stories in Georgia

And a variety of other Presentations and Potluck Lunch, Discussions and Arboretum Walk. Join us for an interesting day and meet the Officers and Board of Directors to see how you can make a difference in our Watersheds in South Georgia. We are a Non-profit group who are interested in clean water and leaving a better planet for our kids and grand-kids.

Register here.
Update 6 September 2012: better JPEG rendering of flyer.