Tag Archives: deadfall

Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup Again, 2023-01-28

Update 2023-03-14: Again rescheduled: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-10.

Update 2023-02-15: Rescheduled: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-03-19.

Update 2023-01-27: Rescheduled: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-02-19.

You do not have to use a saw to join us as we clear three or four more deadfalls on the last five Suwannee River miles down to Fargo.

[Chainsaw in canoe --Shirley Kokidko 2022-12-29]
Chainsaw in canoe –Shirley Kokidko 2022-12-29

Thanks to Adam Schock of the Conservation Fund for permission to use Three Steps Landing. That will make this one a lot easier than last time.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, January 28, 2023 Continue reading →

Pictures: Griffis to Fargo, Suwannee River 2022-12-29

Update 2023-01-12: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup Again 2023-01-28.

This chainsaw cleanup finished well before dark, Suwannee River, Griffis to Fargo 2022-12-29. Thanks, TJ Johnson for leading it, and Shirley Kokidko for getting the wettest.

[Griffis, Deadfall, Gauge, Fargo 2022-12-29]
Griffis, Deadfall, Gauge, Fargo 2022-12-29

The Fargo gauge was about 2.47 feet (93.07′ NAVD88) and the Above Fargo gauge was about 4.93′ (95.93′ NAVD88).

We found one deadfall already cut and we cut another one.

We found three more: one to duck and float under, one to drag under to the left, and one requiring portage. We shall return.

We saw the mysteriously-placed Suwannee River above Fargo Gauge. The GOPRO360 photographed three creeks: Jones (or Tatum) Creek, Sweetwater Creek, and Alligator Creek, or at least those look like creek mouths more or less where USGS thinks they are.

We saw a new-to-us private landing and got pictures of it and the six others between Griffis Fish Camp and Fargo Ramp.

Also the closed bats-in-the-belfry Suwannee River Visitor Center at Fargo. Continue reading →

Chainsaw Cleanup, Suwannee River, Griffis to Fargo 2022-12-29

Update 2023-01-04: Pictures: Griffis to Fargo, Suwannee River 2022-12-29.

Come help chainsaw some deadfalls on a longish Suwannee River paddle.

You do not have to actually use a chainsaw, but if you’ve got one and know how to use it in a boat, bring it along.

The days are short, so be at Fargo Ramp by 8AM, so we can do a reverse shuttle, carrying the boats up to Griffis Fish Camp. The weather prediction is sunny and warm: low 51, high 71.

When: Gather 8 AM, launch 8:30 AM, end 4:30 PM, Thursday, December 29, 2022

Put In: Griffis Fish Camp

Take Out: Fargo Ramp

GPS: 30.681833, -82.560167

Free: This outing is free to everyone because it is a cleanup.
However, bring $2 in cash for the put-in fee at Griffis Fish Camp.

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations

[Map: Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo Ramp in WWALS SRWT]
Map: Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo Ramp in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT)

Bring: 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. And a chainsaw, if you have one and know how to use it.

Boats: bring your own if you have it.
If you need a boat, Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River 2022-10-16

Update 2023-05-19: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, 2023-06-24.

There must be a better way to order pizza.

[Start, chainsaws, pizza, sandbars]
Start, chainsaws, pizza, sandbars

The good news: we did get pizza delivered on the river during the Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-10-16. We cleared many logjams. Some of them we had sawed at higher water levels several times before. It seemed like we were a relix rock band doing a greatest hit tour. And at twelve hours we beat our record of taking longer than expected.

Our advice if you want to try paddling this stretch with the water this low (3.6′ or 113.8′ NAVD88) on the US 41 (North Valdosta Road) USGS Gauge?

Don’t.

Not unless you want to drag your boat much of the way. Also, stock up on magnesium and vitamin C for the muscle cramps. Continue reading →

Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-09-25

Update 2022-09-24: Rescheduled: Chainsaw Cleanup Withlacoochee River, 2022-10-16.

We need volunteers with boats to pick up trash while a few people chainsaw some deadfalls.

We aim to collect the trashjams we didn’t have room for last time, and to chainsaw the remaining Withlacoochee River deadfalls between Sugar Creek and the Little River Confluence. Then we’ll paddle up the Little River to take out at Troupville Boat Ramp.

Unlike last time, we’re scheduling seven hours for the shuttle, for chainsawing and trash collecting, and for the four-mile paddle. With luck, nobody will get stuck this time.

All dependent on the weather, of course. Could be hurricane season finally by then, or could be plenty low to make this easy.

When: 9 AM, Sunday, September 25, 2022

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws]
Trashjam, deadfall, chainsaws, 2022-07-30; Photos: John S. Quarterman.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30

Update 2022-10-17: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup with pizza, Withlacoochee River 2022-10-16.

Update 2022-08-09: What made them? Pictures: Tracks, GA 133, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.

Everything went exactly as planned for Chainsaw Cleanup Returns, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, if the plans included two trucks getting stuck, several chainsaws getting stuck, and the whole thing taking more like ten hours than three, with no lunch.

[Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River]
Banners, Chainsaws, Trash, River

But we cleared a bunch of deadfalls, collected many bags of trash, and recorded where the remaining deadfalls and trash are for later expeditions. That makes this stretch much more paddlable between Sugar Creek and Troupville on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail.

The water level on the Valdosta US 41 gauge was 6.05′ (116.35′ NAVD88).

Thanks to the three new chainsawers, Shawn O’Connor and Grant and Art Herring, and regulars Bobby McKenzie and Russell Allen McBride. And thanks to the Good Samaritan who gave me a ride to my truck so I could use my logging chain to pull Bobby’s truck out at the take-out. Plus thanks to the two different vehicles that were used to pull my truck out at the put-in.

Note for next time: if you add a four-mile river paddle with a slow boat to chainsawing many deadfalls and the same people picking up many bags of trash, it takes longer.

There are many more Continue reading →

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-06-25

Update 2022-08-06: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.

Five of us with five or six chainsaws cleared more than three log jams out of the Withlacoochee River above the Little River Confluence, and collected some trash, in the Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25.

[banners, boats, sandbars, and saws]
banners, boats, sandbars, and saws

We’ll be back at it after about six weeks, i.e., probably in August. The current goal is to clear the stretches from Langdale Park Boat Ramp past Sugar Creek, and on around to Troupville Boat Ramp. Fortunately there are no log jams on the Little River from the ramp to the Confluence, but there are plenty left on the Withlacoochee River. Stay tuned. Continue reading →

Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25

Update 2022-06-29: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Troupville 2022-06-25.

Third time’s the charm! Let’s start downstream and go up, to get some more of the deadfalls blocking the Withlacoochee River between Langdale Park Boat Ramp and Troupville Boat Ramp. We know there are logjams between the GA 133 Withlacoochee River Bridge and the Little River Confluence. Phil is scouting out which ones to try first. Gather at Troupville Boat Ramp.

[Movie: Electric chainsaw, 30.8630861, -83.3232384 (30M)]
Electric chainsaw, 2022-06-05

Continue reading →

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]
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)]
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 →