Tag Archives: Gornto Road

Y, Scouts, Food, Photography at WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2018-11-03

Update 2018-10-28: Now at State Line Ramp! Yes, we’ve moved downstream, to plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals, in two states (Georgia and Florida) and four counties (Lowndes, Brooks, Madison, and Hamilton).

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

WWALS Boomerang
Langdale Park to Sugar Creek
and Back Again
Withlacoochee River
Valdosta, Georgia
11 AM, Saturday, November 3, 2018

Join us for a fun filled day of kayak and canoe racing and leisurely paddling on an idyllic blackwater river by the biggest Suwannee River Basin city.

New sponsors: the YMCA on Gornto Road, and the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, with aerial drone photography by The Georgia Photography Fanatic, and food by Under Construction BBQ, plus at the turnaround walk up to The Salty Snapper.

Flyer, WWALS Boomerang
Follow this link for a printable PDF flyer.
Or this link for the same flyer 2 per page.

WWALS Boomerang, Logo

Event: facebook, meetup, but don’t forget to get tickets!

Tickets: $30 per boat.
We also recommend Continue reading →

Deadline extended for WWALS Boomerang early-bird tickets, through 2018-10-13

Update 2018-10-28: Now at State Line Ramp! Yes, we’ve moved downstream, to plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals, in two states (Georgia and Florida) and four counties (Lowndes, Brooks, Madison, and Hamilton).

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, GA, October 8, 2018 — By popular demand at the Hahira Honeybee Festival, WWALS has extended the deadline for early-bird $20 tickets through Saturday, October 13, for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, coming up Saturday, November 3, 2018. This new event goes downstream and back again on the Withlacoochee River and the west edge of Valdosta, the largest city in the Suwannee River Basin, only a few miles from Valdosta State University. Someone from the Atlantic coast of Florida won our spring BIG Little River Paddle Race this spring, and kayaks or canoes from everywhere are welcome at the Boomerang as well. If you don’t have a boat, two outfitters so far have signed up to supply those. There will be food and drink and music at this WWALS fall paddling festival.

WWALS, Parade
WWALS Boomerang organizer Bobby McKenzie and family with fellow WWALS board member Dan Phillips in the parade at the Hahira Honeybee Festival.

Boomerang paddlers will race from Langdale Park Boat Ramp, just off of North Valdosta Road (US 41), down the Withlacoochee River to Sugar Creek Landing, and back upstream. If you don’t want to race, you can just paddle, and if you don’t want to paddle upstream, you can take out onto Gornto Road. Bobby’s four-year-old son finished our other paddle race, so paddlers of all ages are welcome.

For all the details and to get tickets, Continue reading →

Flyer and last discount ticket day for WWALS Boomerang Withlacoochee River paddle race by Valdosta

Update 2018-10-28: Now at State Line Ramp! Yes, we’ve moved downstream, to plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals, in two states (Georgia and Florida) and four counties (Lowndes, Brooks, Madison, and Hamilton).

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

Update 2018-10-08: Early-bird $20 ticket deadline extended through October 13th!

Today is the last day for the $20 early registration for WWALS Boomerang, Langdale Park to Sugar Creek and Back Again, Withlacoochee River, Valdosta, Georgia.

Here is a flyer and a two-per-sheet version, both in PDF ready for printing.

Flyer, WWALS Boomerang
PDF flyer.

Get your $20 early-bird tickets today before they go up to $30!

And if you come to the Hahira Honeybee Festival today, you can see Bobby and the McKenzie clan march in the parade.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

WWALS Boomerang, Withlacoochee River, Langdale Park, 2018-11-03

Update 2018-10-28: Now at State Line Ramp! Yes, we’ve moved downstream, to plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals, in two states (Georgia and Florida) and four counties (Lowndes, Brooks, Madison, and Hamilton).

Update 2018-10-25: See new blog post with PDF flyers including new sponsors the YMCA and Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, plus food by Under Construction BBQ, and at the turnaround walk up to The Salty Snapper, with aerial drone photography by The Georgia Photography Fanatic.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

Update 2018-10-08: Early-bird $20 ticket deadline extended through October 13th!

Downstream and up again: it’s the WWALS Boomerang, from Langdale Park Boat Ramp to Sugar Creek Landing on the Withlacoochee River. Join us for a fun filled day of kayak and canoe racing and leisurely paddling.

WWALS Boomerang, Logo New WWALS board member Bobby McKenzie, whose son Zavier was the youngest finisher at our spring BIG Little River Paddle Race, has volunteered to organize a fall race, with the enthusiastic support of the board and the Outings Committee.

We would also like to thank George Page, Executive Director of Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA), for his and VLPRA’s support. VLPRA renovated Langdale Park last year, so let’s go boat from there.

When: 11:00 AM, November 3, 2018

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602. This is just outside the Valdosta City limits in Lowndes County, off of North Valdosta Road (US 41 North). Only 5.5 miles from downtown and only 4 miles from Valdosta State University.

GPS: 30.88727, -83.32395

Tickets: $20 per boat through extended October 13, then $30.
We also recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

The very picture of a lazy river
Withlacoochee River, 2016-03-20.

Continue reading →

Langdale Park to Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, 2018-06-23

A leisurely two-mile morning paddle from the recently reopened Langdale Park on the largest river through the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin, arriving at the recently rediscovered Sugar Creek Landing, well in time for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest in the afternoon.

When: 9AM, Saturday, June 23, 2018

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602.

GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395

Take Out: Sugar Creek Landing, 2410 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602, recently rediscovered next to the YMCA, and just across the railroad tracks from The Salty Snapper, venue of the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. If you don’t have a boat, let us know; we may able to loan you one.

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

No sand bar, 11:13:35,, Boat Ramp
Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 1 November 2017, when the water was much lower.

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

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

Earl Wetherington Foot Bridge

Maybe this bridge was named for Earl Wetherington Foot, since it has vehicular traffic. Since I can’t find any mention of such a person, maybe it was named for Earl Wetherington (1925-2013) and once upon a time was a foot bridge. Anyway, it’s on Gornto Road in Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, over Sugar Creek, slightly upstream from the Withlacoochee River.

Bridge, Over Sugar Creek

Bridge, Over Sugar Creek

It was closed in the “700-year” flood of 2013, which followed the “700-year” flood of 2009 (I think it was closed then, too). Continue reading →

Small Valdosta sewer spills after big rains 2017-01-23

Update 2017-01-25: And also a spill at the WWTP.

Nobody likes sewer spills, but no, these are not the same as before Valdosta’s recent wastewater system improvements: Document-0001 nothing this time came from the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the amounts were small compared to previous years (10-62%) and in far fewer locations.

That didn’t stop WTXL from using this title: Amber Lewis, WTXL, 24 January 2017, Major Sewage Spill Reported in Valdosta,

The City of Valdosta has reported that a large amount of untreated sewage has spilled in the area.

The Florida Department of Health reports that Continue reading →

Valdosta rains sewage down Sugar Creek into Withlacoochee River 2015-08-28

Valdosta can’t blame this one on rain upstream: it fell directly on Valdosta, and once again the same Meadowbrook Drive neighborhood that’s been getting doused in sewage since 2009 saw it surging out of a manhole, after three other streets got it. Valdosta says it reported all this to GA-EPD, but good luck finding it (or anything else) on EPD’s website. Once again Valdosta on its own website didn’t even say which river Sugar Creek dumps into, US 41 (North Valdosta Road), Withlacoochee River but Florida figured it out, and ain’t happy. The Florida Department of Health advisory is findable, and news media and SRWMD picked that up. Maybe Valdosta’s ongoing force main project will fix these overflows: bids were requested earlier that same month for more parts of that project. Maybe Valdosta could try to explain itself better in its own press releases?

Valdosta News, 29 August 2015, Update: Overflows Stopped, Continue reading →