Tag Archives: Echols County

Statenville to Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River, WWALS Outing, 2015-02-15

Expert Paddle on the Alapaha River Sunday, February,15th 12:00pm. facebook event

Update 2015-03-06: Summary and pictures.

Launch site: Statenville boat ramp on HWY 94 just west of Statenville, GA, 30°42’15.3″N 83°01’57.9″W 30.704260, -83.032750.
Take out:Alapahoochee boat ramp (Sasser Landing) HWY 150 a few miles east of Jennings, FL, 30°36’02.6″N 83°04’23.7″W 30.600710, -83.073260.


Picture by Michael Rivera,
used with permission.

We will meet at launch site at noon, unload boats and shuttle vehicles to the take out (25 miles Round trip), on the water by 1:00.

This event is FREE! All we ask is that Continue reading →

Little Alapaha River

Probably the least-known tributary of the Alapaha River, the Little Alapaha River is so shy it disappears underground between Jennings and Jasper, Florida.

The Little Alapaha River arises in Echols County, Georgia, just before it flows into Hamilton County, Florida, where it falls into a sinkhole west of Jasper, briefly reappearing before vanishing again. Theoretically it is a tributary of the Alapaha River, but it is not clear the waters of the Little Alapaha River ever reach the Alapaha River aboveground. Like the Alapaha River, the Little Alapaha’s sinkhole disappearance happens at the Cody Scarp. Chris Graham found this very interesting reference, Continue reading →

Alapaha River rainy season?

Veteran boater Bret Wagenhorst asked:

300x214 Alapaha, GA 02316000, in Alapaha River gauge heights over time, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 1 December 2014 Is there a defined “rainy season” on the Alapaha? I have seen the water high in December, March, July, and once even in September.

Good question!

300x214 Irwinville, GA 02315920, in Alapaha River gauge heights over time, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 1 December 2014 Looking at the record high water levels for the gauges, they’re all in April, March, February, or January.

Also, the only January one is for Irwinville, the farthest upstream, which also had its highest ever in February with that January high only slightly lower.

300x214 Statenville, GA 02317500, in Alapaha River gauge heights over time, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 1 December 2014 Downstream, Continue reading →

Canoeing Guide to the Alapaha River c. 1979

300x601 Cover: Georgias Cleanest River, in Canoeing Guide to the Alapaha River, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 0 1979 Here’s a different guide to the Alapaha River from the one WWALS previously received; this one is courtesy of John Leonard, Executive Director of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). The Alapaha River Water Trail WWALS is currently developing is merely a continuation of this more than three decade old Alapaha Canoe Trail.

John Leonard said that when he started at the predecessor of the SGRC in 1980, calls came in frequently asking about water levels on the Alapaha River. It took him a while to realize why: the Alapaha River Trail had been written up in Southern Living! He did not have Continue reading →

Alapaha River water levels

300x655 Example 2014-11-03, in Alapaha River Water Levels, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 3 November 2014 Update 2016-12-23: graphs from water.weather.gov.

Update 2016-05-31: See sea level gage reports.

Update 2015-04-28: Added flood stages and tentative highest safe and lowest boatable water levels, both above the charts for each gauge and in a summary table. If you have data, please let us know.

Here are water level gauges for the Alapaha River in Georgia and Florida, north to south. The graphs should show the current levels at this time, in feet, plus for most of the gauges a bar graph of selected historic levels.

This is a draft of a concept for use with the Alapaha River Water Trail. See also Alapaha River Rainy Season.

It is also a companion to the similar set of graphs for the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.

See below for the current Alapaha River water level graphs. Continue reading →

Bill Gates gobbling up Georgia farmland, too

300x567 Aerial of Southwest Echols County, in Cottonwood Ag Management in SW Echols County, by John S. Quarterman, 22 October 2014 Update 2015-01-11: People seem confused as to what Bill Gates is doing. However, since he announced in 2012 he was going to “fix” agriculture in conjunction with Monsanto and Syngenta, and he’s buying up hundreds and thousands of contiguous acres at a time, it seems pretty clear he’s promoting corporate pesticided GMO agriculture.

Update 2015-01-13: More Gates purchases in more counties.

Add Echols County and Lowndes County, Georgia, including much of Lake Park, and Hamilton and Madison Counties, Florida, in addition to what Amber Vann wrote in the VDT and other papers today 22 October 2014, Bill Gates gobbling up Florida farmland

LIVE OAK, Fla. — The investment company that manages the wealth of the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, has been acquiring gobs of farmland in north Florida the past two years, real estate records show.

Lakeland Sands Florida, a subsidiary of Cascade Investments LLC, which oversees the Gates fortune, recently bought more than 4,500 acres in Suwanee County near McAlpin, an unincorporated community just south of here.

300x529 Southwest Echols County, in Cottonwood Ag Management in SW Echols County, by John S. Quarterman, 22 October 2014 Meanwhile, Bill Gates owns Cascade Investment LLC, which owns Los Arboles LLC, which changed its name to Cottonwood Ag Management LLC, which bought land in Echols County on the Alapahoochee River, a year after Bill Gates said he was going to fix agriculture in conjunction with Monsanto and Syngenta.

Cottonwood Ag Management LLC does not own any land in Lowndes, Hamilton, or Madison Counties. But Lakeland Sands does: Continue reading →

1970s Alapaha River Trail

Thanks to Glenn Dowling of Georgia River Network for this flyer from the 1970s for an Alapaha River Trail on “Georgia’s Cleanest River”.

Front

300x343 Georgias Cleanest River, in Canoe Guide to the Alapaha River Trail, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 0 1979 CANOE GUIDE
to the
Alapaha
River Trail

GEORGIA’S CLEANEST
RIVER

GEORGIA
State of Adventure

Back

Continue reading →

Alapaha River at Statenville: January WWALS Outing

Meet at the boat ramp/parking lot on the left just before you get to Statenville heading east on Hwy 94 at 1:30. Boat launch is at 2. We will paddle upstream for 30 to 45 min. and then float back down. The river will likely be up, so it should be a work out.

The river water temperature is currently 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so dress warmly. The Alapaha River at Statenville is currently at 9 feet and rising, which is well above the level recommended by Brown’s Guide for this river.

Jungle-like in its remoteness and luxurious with exotic vegetation, the dark reddish-brown waters of the Alapaha wind through a swampy wonderland teeming with wildlife. Signs of habitation are rare along the river’s course; only a few isolated cabins intrude on the remote tranquility.

Here’s a map: Continue reading →

Alapahoochee River

Proposed for the WWALS January 2014 outing: the river most people know nothing about, from the convergence of Mud Swamp Creek where Grand Bay Creek forms the border between Lowndes County and Echols County in Georgia east of Valdosta, about 14 miles through Echols County between Lake Park and Statenville, to the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida east of Jennings: the Alapahoochee River.

It has a waterfall, limestone caves, and boat ramps, all pictured by South Georgia Kayak Fishing 3 September 2011 in Alapahoochee convergence at Alapaha River – Jennings, FL.

Here’s a brief day paddle description, Florida whitewater, Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal), by riverfacts.com:

Echols / Hamilton county, GA SR 135 to FL SR 150 on Alapaha section whitewater kayaking, rafting, and paddling information.

This stretch of Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal) in Echols / Hamilton County is 4.5 miles long and is according to American Whitewater a class II section of whitewater.

They include a map.

Continue reading →