Tag Archives: deadfall

Pictures: Alapahoochee River, GA 135 to Sullivan Launch Sasser Landing 2021-06-05

Update 2023-01-26: Pictures: Many deadfalls, shark teeth, and rapids: Alapachoochee Adventure 2022-07-09.

Bird Chamberlain and others had been suggesting it for years, and we finally did it: the Alapahoochee River from GA 135 to Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River. We paddled over many deadfalls, across the GA-FL line, past the creek of shark teeth, under old abandoned steel Beatty Bridge, through Devil Shoal, right by Turket Creek Waterfall.

Banners, Alapahoochee River, Deadfall, Beatty Bridge, Devil Shoal, Turket Creek Waterfall

Many thanks to Bobby McKenzie for organizing this expedition, to the WWALS Outings Committee for planning it, and to all who paddled, including Suzanne Welander, author of Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, who came down from Atlanta for this outing. 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)

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 →

Cypress Creek South (CR 6) to Cone Bridge, Suwannee River, 2019-05-04

Update 2024-05-14: Pictures: Cypress Creek South (CR 6) to Cone Bridge, Suwannee River 2019-05-04.

Rescheduled due to low water. Now we’re starting at Cypress Creek Launch on CR 6, and paddling to Cone Bridge Ramp.

A quiet, tranquil 9.4 mile section of the Suwannee River on a paddle appropriate for paddlers of any level.

When: Gather 9:00 AM, Launch 9:30 AM, Saturday, May 4, 2019

Put In: Cypress Creek South Launch @ CR 6. From White Springs, Travel north on CR 135 to SR 6, turn right; travel east to the bridge. At the foot of the bridge, turn left onto road shoulder and follow the road to the river.
From Valdosta, GA, travel south on I-75 to exit 460 for FL-6 toward Jasper, FL; travel east 11.4 miles, turn right to stay on FL 6. Continue through Jasper onto Hatley Street, which becomes CR 6. Continue 14.5 miles to the left turnoff just before the Suwannee River.

GPS: 30.50737, -82.71711

Take Out: Cone Bridge Ramp. From Lake City, travel north on US 441 to NW Cone Bridge Road; turn left and follow road to ramp.

Bring: a rope to drag your boat, 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.

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!

Event: facebook, meetup

Photo: John S. Quarterman, Cypress Creek South Launch, 2016-09-05.

This paddle is on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT). Continue reading →

Cone Bridge, Big Shoals Portage, to Suwannee Wayside Park, Suwannee River, 2019-05-04

Update 2019-04-18: Due to low water, changed to Cypress Creek South (CR 6) to Cone Bridge, Suwannee River, still May 4, 2019.

This 15.6 mile paddle includes a strenuous portage around Big Shoals, the biggest whitewater rapids in Florida and paddling over a smaller set of rapids at Little Shoals. Due to the portage which involves climbing up and down steep, sandy banks with kayaks, carrying kayaks 300 feet and lifting over downed trees, this trip is listed as difficult. You must be physically able to get back into your kayak on the slippery edge of this swift moving section of the Suwannee River. We help each other as much as possible, but ultimately you are responsible for your boat. We will take a break at the shoals and enjoy the outstanding view. No one is paddling over the shoals and this portage is the only way around.

When: Gather 8:30 AM, Launch 10 AM, Thursday, May 4, 2019

Put In: Cone Bridge Ramp, From Lake City, travel north on US 441 to NW Cone Bridge Road; turn left and follow road to ramp in Columbia County.

GPS: 30.445156, -82.670845

Take Out: Suwannee Wayside Ramp, From White Springs, travel south on US 41 to the river; the ramp is on the south side in the town park. Hamilton County.

Bring: a rope to drag your boat, 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.

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!

Event: facebook, meetup

Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, Cone Bridge Boat Ramp, 2015-11-22

This paddle is on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT). Continue reading →

Withlacoochee River near Troupville 2018-07-21

Got some deadfalls in the Withlacoochee River at Troupville, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT), found once again by intrepid WWALS explorer Aaron Sirmons. Here are some pictures and a Google map.

Troupville, the old county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, was mostly west of the Withlacoochee River over to the Little River and down to its confluence, although as you can see in this map Troupville Cemetery was to the east of the Withlacoochee River.

Withlacoochee River at GA 133 in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)
This is a still image from the interactive Google map.

WWALS did a cleanup recently down to the Confluence, by permissionon private land that is for sale. All about the history of Troupville. You could start at Troupville Boat Ramp and paddle a week downstream on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, even in June.

Beavers?, 2018:07:14 10:02:45, 30.8491566, -83.3404211

Trash, River

Start of cutoff, Oxbow cutoff

Narrow, Oxbow cutoff

Deer stand, Oxbow cutoff

Deer stand, 2018:07:14 10:11:39, 30.8472271, -83.3428214

Reflections, Oxbow cutoff

Wider, Oxbow cutoff

Deadfall ready to block entire river, Oxbow cutoff

Side deadfall, 2018:07:14 10:17:13, 30.8461670, -83.3430003

End of cutoff, 2018:07:14 10:18:11, 30.8467601, -83.3425382

Trees, Downstream

Trees, 2018:07:14 10:41:51, 30.8479584, -83.3408428

Power line, 2018:07:14 10:52:08, 30.8499246, -83.3400640

Submerged deadfall, 2018:07:14 11:14:34, 30.8519610, -83.3391584

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Google Map

Follow this link for the interactive google map, or it’s also embedded below. This map also includes the deadfall upstream from I-75 of Aaron’s other report.

Deadfall, Withlacoochee River, upstream of I-75, 2018-07-21

Update 2018-07-24: Deadfalls and an oxbow cutoff downstream by Troupville, with a map including the deadfall in this post.

Yet another deadfall in the Withlacoochee River, this one just upstream from the I-75 bridge, discovered by intrepid WWALS explorer Aaron Sirmons.

Deadfall

Finding out what’s in the rivers is part of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

More pictures: Continue reading →

Alapaha River Beauty should not be hidden 2018-04-07

Randy Patten used to say he’d never seen an alligator on the Alapaha River in Lanier County, but he just saw a log with eyes and a tail.

He also changed his mind about something else:

I have been against the publication and the making public of our river for people kayaking it, due to the fact that we couldn’t get people out of the river if they got in trouble.
Well, after a couple of years of planning with the assistance of the county commissioners, and volunteer firefighters, and everybody that would assist, we now have signs, 24 actually, up and down the river, from Atkinson County to Echols County. So every few miles you’ll see a sign with a phone number. And later on, when I get close to one I’ll go live again and show you what they look like.
But it makes it a lot nicer to know that if we have people looking at its beauty, which should never be kept a secret, but if something does happen, we have the ability to come get you. Continue reading →

Canoeing the Alapaha, April 2018

Received April 21, 2018. I’ve added some links. -jsq

Seven of us drove down from north Georgia to the Alapaha for a long weekend paddling trip starting April 12. I had long thought of making this trip, especially because the Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to Georgia rated it as one of the state’s most scenic rivers, “A+.”

We chose the upper stretches, between Willacoochee and Lakeland. One of our group arranged, through extended family, to “camp” the night before putting in, at a house in Lax, just a few miles from the GA-135 bridge where we we started out the next day.

We launched with four boats, three canoes and a kayak, and found the river every bit as scenic as the guide described. We enjoyed the forests of cypress, tupelo, pine, oaks, maples, birch and willow. And the wildlife was equally magnificent: ibis, geese, egrets, herons, buzzards, woodpeckers, beavers (evident through their marks on the trees), and deer and raccoon tracks on the beaches.

First Camp: a beach on a point

The paddling was nice and easy, making about 3 mph without breaking a sweat. We had a few tight spots, including Continue reading →

Deadfall, Alapaha River, between Berrien Beach and Lakeland 2018-04-15

Update 2018-04-24: deadfall pinpointed, with latlong and map, and see trip report.

Sometimes it takes paddlers from Atlanta to alert us to a river obstruction, in this case Robert Marshall about the Alapaha River:

A group of seven of us mostly from Atlanta paddled from GA-135 south of Willacoochee, to US-129 east of Lakeland, this last weekend. Loved the river, and appreciate all your organization does to promote its preservation.

You probably already know this, but there is a huge tree totally blocking the river, about halfway between the GA-168 bridge and the US-129 bridge. Water level at Statenville was about 3.5 during our trip. The tree’s top surface was probably a foot and a half above water level, and it spanned from bank to bank. We portaged on the right side.

That’s between Continue reading →

Gornto Road, Valdosta, access to Withlacoochee River 2018-01-24

It could use some markers to keep people on it and off private property, and maybe some loaner kayak wheels, but there is public access to the Withlacoochee River off of Gornto Road in Valdosta.

Tea-colored water, 16:22:37,, Withlacoochee River 30.8623900, -83.3224600

And a very nice blackwater river it is. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.