Tag Archives: Alapaha River

Five Rivers Clean 2022-06-09

2022-06-17: WWALS Thursday tests clean, but Valdosta bad Wednesday results for US 41 and GA 122, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-16.

All tested clean: Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers, for Thursday. Sure, those were only a few test sites on each river. But there’s been little rain, none predicted, and no sewage spills reported. So happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

Thanks to Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2022-06-02

Update 2022-06-11: Five Rivers Clean 2022-06-09.

Seventh week: all rivers clean! Happy swimming, fishing, and boating in the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers.

For example, tomorrow morning, Florida Campsites to Allen Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04.

Of course, there can be undetected local water quality problems (see below). But all the WWALS sites tested Thursday got clean results. While there is a prediction of rain today and tomorrow, if it’s like what we’ve been seeing, it will be light and won’t wash much contamination into the river. No sewage spills have been reported in Georgia or Florida in the past week. So have a good weekend.

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Wednesday upstream and Wednesday of last week downstream. Those were all clean, too.

But earlier contamination was detected in Valdosta results. Continue reading →

Ideas for short paddles

Update 2024-06-22: Grassy Pond still closed and some other updates.

Update 2022-08-08: Couple more short paddle ideas: State Line Boat Ramp upstream to Arnold Springs, and Florida Campsites upstream.

Update 2022-05-30: Three more short paddle ideas (on the Withlacoochee River and the Alapahoochee River), along with safety information and links to the WWALS water trails with more information.

We often get questions like this: “The wife and I just got our kayaks and we’re looking for some ideas for short trips.”

Here are some suggestions on lakes, swamps, and rivers in the Suwannee River Basin.

Safety first! Always wear your personal flotation device (PFD). You’d be surprised how hard it is to find your PFD after you fall in. And especially if you’re new to paddling, don’t go alone. You may want to join some of the many WWALS outings. See:
https://wwals.net/outings/

[Ideas for Short Paddles, Suwannee River Basin]
Ideas for Short Paddles, Suwannee River Basin

See also: How far from one Boat Ramp to the next landing? WWALS Water Trails
https://wwals.net/?p=52193

Lakes:

Easy paddles with no current, no worries about water levels, and no need for a shuttle: put in and take out at the same spot.

But no matter how easy lakes are to paddle, wear your PFD.

Banks Lake Boat Ramp

Banks Lake Boat Ramp. Photo: John S. Quarterman 2022-10-31

Continue reading →

Clean All Rivers 2022-05-26

Update 2022-06-03: Clean Rivers 2022-06-02.

All tested sites Thursday were clean on five rivers: Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers. No sewage spills have been reported in Georgia or Florida in the Suwannee River Basin for the last week. It hasn’t rained much, and no rain is predicted for the weekend.

So happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday of last week downstream. Those were all clean, too. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers again 2022-05-19

Update 2022-05-28: Clean All Rivers 2022-05-26.

Happy swimming, fishing, and boating on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers this weekend.

There has been no rain and no sewage spills reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. All WWALS sampling sites tested clean. No significant rain is predicted, so no cattle manure is likely to wash down Okapilco Creek, nor even much trash down Sugar Creek. So this is about as unqualified as we can get on a positive river quality report.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide]
Chart, River, Swim Guide

Thanks to Elizabeth Brunner for her Continue reading →

Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe all clean 2022-05-12

Update 2022-05-20: Clean Rivers again 2022-05-19.

WWALS got good results on five rivers from samples Thursday. No significant rain is predicted. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia. So happy swimming, boating, and fishing on the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

These samples are of course only from a few locations, so they cannot give the condition of the entire rivers. Still, they’re a pretty good indication.

The only red thumb sticking out is at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, where for Monday Valdosta got way too high E. coli. Since there was no rain recorded upstream, that looks like the old problem of somebody dumping something in the river. Probably it has washed away and gotten diluted by now. But we have no more recent tests at that location to tell. Some time next week Valdosta will publish the rest of their results for this week, and then we’ll know. Continue reading →

Pictures: Pafford’s Landing cleanup 2022-04-16

Here are pictures and commentary by WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman at the WWALS Earth Day Pafford’s Landing cleanup on the Alapaha River.

Meanwhile, I’d like to know what we need to do to get people from Lakeland and Lanier County to come clean up? What happened to the regular cleanups apparently promised by the Sheriff and the County Commission? Must we call in the Marines every time to clean up Pafford’s Landing?

After previous cleanups in Lanier County, the county dump accepted all the trash we got from the river, including tires. Why not these three tires this time?

The dump did accept the approximately 300 pounds of bagged trash. Thanks to the Marine recruits for helping bag it.

Also, Hooters, KFC, Hardees, Chick-fil-A, and Budweiser, maybe if you didn’t produce so much single-use trash, there wouldn’t be so much of it thrown away.

[Begin, Volunteers, Marines, Trash]
Begin, Volunteers, Marines, Trash

Shirley and I were the volunteers to sign in and we waited for other WWALS members or Lanier County people to help out but no more came. We are looking fresh and clean at 9AM. Continue reading →

Pictures: Mayday to Statenville, Alapaha River 2019-03-23

It was a ten!

It was a fine spring day for thirteen miles on the Alapaha River from Mayday to Statenville. Cypress, oaks, pines, tea-colored water, and a sandy lunch spot.

See it in these pictures by Gretchen Quarterman.

[Collage]
Collage

The water level was about 9 feet or 85.1′ NAVD88 on the Statenville Gauge. That’s higher than our old recommended maximum, so we’re raising the max to 10 feet (86.1′ NAVD88). Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2022-05-05

Update 2022-05-13: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe all clean 2022-05-12.

Another clean river week! All the WWALS test results for Thursday and Wednesday are good.

It did just rain cats and dogs, but only briefly. We can’t know yet, but my guess is there wasn’t enough rain to wash much contamination into the rivers, not even down Okapilco Creek. I would paddle this weekend, or swim, or fish.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

If you’re not doing that, come on down to the Salty Snapper for the WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup. Continue reading →

Clean rivers again 2022-04-28

Update 2022-05-06: Clean Rivers 2022-05-05.

Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!

Come on down to Reed Bingham State Park tomorrow for the BIG Little River Paddle Race.

[Chart, rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, rivers, Swim Guide

All the WWALS results for Wednesday and Thursday and the Valdosta results up to Monday agree: all the tested locations are clean of E. coli. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, and no rain is predicted. Continue reading →