Tag Archives: Blueway

Clean downstream, Withlacoochee River 2020-12-10; odd Gibson Park, Suwannee River 2020-12-05

Update 2020-12-14: Still clean Withlacoochee River 2020-12-12.

Despite Adel’s Monday spill and a Valdosta water main burst Wednesday, all Withlacoochee River water quality results through Thursday are clean. Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend! Of course, there could be rain and something washed in then, but none is currently predicted. All the WWALS “beaches” are green on Swim Guide.

We did get an odd result at Gibson Park on the Suwannee River last Saturday, though.

[Clean Withlacoochee River, odd Gibson Park, Suwannee River]
Clean Withlacoochee River, odd Gibson Park, Suwannee River

Josh and Angela Duncan got pretty clean results at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps Thursday, December 10, 2020. Madison Health got clean at State Line, Sullivan Launch, and FL 6 Tuesday, and Valdosta got clean results at US 41, GA 133, and US 84 Monday and Wednesday. Continue reading →

WLRWT Road Signs by GDOT 2020-12-10

Yesterday I picked up some of the signposts for the at-water signs for the water trails. The road signs had just come in, and GDOT let me photograph them. Here are two examples:

[Two examples]
Two examples

That’s more or less how they will look once GDOT plants them on signposts along the roadsides for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

Pictures of all these new road signs are on the WWALS website:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2020-12-10–wlrwt-road-signs

There are actually two typos, one for which GDOT is reprinting the signs, and another that is not so serious. Can you spot them?

All of these road signs go on the Little River, except this one, which goes on the Withlacoochee River: Continue reading →

Water Trails, Okefenokee, Pellet Plant, Songwriting Contest, Light Parade –Suwannee Riverkeeper on Steve Nichols Radio 2020-12-08

Always fun to be on the Steve Nichols radio show, 105.9 FM WVGA, especially when he just agreed to be the Master of Ceremonies for the 2021 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

You can ask Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to get GA-EPD to deny permits for a titanium strip mine far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp. While you’re at it, you can ask him to deny a permit for the Adel wood pellet plant. You’ll see our water trail signs popping up along the rivers and on the roadways, and we’re distributing the brochures. Don’t forget to come to the Solstice Light Parade at Banks Lake, Saturday, December 19, 2020, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Saturday, August 21, 2021 at the Turner Center Arts Park in Valdosta.

Here are WWALS videos.

Alapaha River Water Trail At-Water signs ready to plant 2020-12-08

Here are all the at-water signs for the Alapaha River Water Trail, and the top signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. We thank the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for the grant that enabled printing these at-water signs. The same grant also funded printing 10,000 copies each of z-fold brochures for each of the two water trails, as well as some road signs we bought from the Georgia Department of Transportation, along with some metal posts for hanging the at-water signs. More later on those other items.

You can help defray the cash match. Also, we will print and sell you a pair of signs if you like.

Who wants to dig some postholes and pour some of the ton of concrete the grant paid for?

[All the ARWT signs and WLRWT top signs]
All the ARWT signs and WLRWT top signs

For what’s on the signs in more detail, see
https://wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-26–drafts-metal-signs/.

The Statenville Boat Ramp sign is one of my favorites. That stretch has waterfalls, rapids, a fallen island, and it crosses the state line. Continue reading →

At-water metal sign drafts, ARWT and WLRWT

Thanks to a generous Educational Recreational Trails Program grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, on the WWALS website are images of new metal signs to go near the water along the WWALS water trails:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2020-09-26–drafts-metal-signs

They have all gone to the metal sign printer.

You can still help defray the cash match, and yes, we will sell you a pair of signs if you like.

If you click on any small image, you will see a larger image. Click again and get a still larger image. Or click on the word PDF to get a PDF version.

These signs go in pairs on each signpost:

  • The top sign is about the entire water trail.
  • The bottom sign is about the specific access point.

Here are three examples, for Statenville Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, in the Alapaha River Water Trail, and for the two rivers in the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, for Red Roberts Landing on the Little River, and for Langdale Park Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River.

[ARWT and WLRWT signposts]
ARWT and WLRWT signposts

As part of the grant, we ordered extra copies of eight of these signs as spares and for educational display and demonstration purposes.

Also included for reference, Continue reading →

Sulak’s Defeat at Jennings Defeat 2020-08-26

Explorer Dr. Ken Sulak has solved an Alapaha River rapids naming mystery. He recounts:

So in 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a poem inspired by a dream.

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
   Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

Insert three ‘A” and the dreamscape river becomes the Alapaha, and appropriately so. Yesterday, I embarked on the foolish idea of a solo kayak journey up 3 miles of the Alapaha from Sasser Landing (just below the confluence of the Alapaha and the Alapahoochee rivers) to the site of the 1800s Roebucks Ferry and later Roebucks Bridge.

[Jennings Defeat Rapids, Ogeechee Gum, GS&F RR trestle below CR 150]
Jennings Defeat Rapids, Ogeechee Gum, GS&F RR trestle below CR 150

That crossing brought settlers and other travelers from Jacksonville and Fernandina along the GA/FL border across the Alapaha to Miccotown, the old Seminole Indian town in the triangle of land protected by the two flanking rivers. The road/trail (gone now on both sides) continued west across the Alapahoochee at the site of the early 1900s Beatty Bridge (undoubtedly preceded in the mid-1800s by an undocumented ferry), and on to Hickstown in Madison County and westward. Miccotown became the first county seat of Hamilton County as the settlers suppressed the Seminoles and the old Indian town faded into obscurity in 1839. Continue reading →

Langdale Park open and upgraded –Bobby McKenzie 2020-11-29

Bobby McKenzie says:

I drove by Langdale Park yesterday and it was open.

[Driveway, pavillion, streetlight, logjam, sandbar (rotated)]
Driveway, pavillion, streetlight, logjam, sandbar (rotated)

VLPRA did a great job cleaning up the road back there. There wasn’t a single rut to be seen, all filled in nice and smooth the whole way. Continue reading →

Canceled because of weather: Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon Paddle 2020-11-29

Expedition leader Bobby McKenzie says: “I’d like to cancel tonight’s Full Moon paddle. I’ve been monitoring the weather and it looks like there is thunderstorm movement headed our way and will hit while we are on the water. I’ve attached reports from 3 sources.”

So today’s outing is cancelled.

[Three weather reports]
Three weather reports

But no worries! The Full Cold Moon Banks Lake paddle is coming up Tuesday, December 29.

Before that, bring your boat and decorations to Banks Lake for the Winter Solstice Light Parade, Saturday, December 19!

More: For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS calendar or the WWALS outings and events web page. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter. Continue reading →

Floyd’s Island, Okefenokee Swamp, Suwannee River 2020-11-07

A little rain didn’t stop us on a fun two nights of camping and two days of paddling to and from Floyd’s Island in the Okefenokee NWR. Yes, the dozen of us saw gators, cormorants, and herons on the Suwannee River, the tree canopy over the run to Floyd’s Island, and deer on the island.

Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading this expedition, and to Shirley Kokidko for provoking it.

[banners, river, gator, canopy, island, deer]
banners, river, gator, canopy, island, deer

Also we saw Georgia River Network’s thirty paddlers coming in Sunday as we were going out, but my camera had run down by then. Here’s a picture of GRN E.D. Rena Ann Peck on the Friday before, in Moniac, GA.

Here are more pictures, also on the WWALS website.

Many paddlers posted pictures on facebook. Continue reading →

Pictures: Ichetucknee, Santa Fe Rivers 2020-01-20

The manatee swam under my boat; I was sitting still. This was on the Ichetucknee River, just above the Santa Fe River. Shirley Kokidko led us on the Redo: Ichetucknee and Sante Fe River Paddle 2020-01-20.

We’re going again January 2, 2021.

[Manatee under boat, 14:07:12, 29.9327060, -82.8000880]
Manatee under boat, 14:07:12, 29.9327060, -82.8000880

This is just a small selection of pictures. There are more here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2020-01-20–ichetucknee-santa-fe-pictures

Click on any small picture to see a larger one. Continue reading →