Where Georgia state legislators and aides could not miss us, half a dozen groups presented Okefenokee Day in the hallways of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.
This was the flyer for organizers. I’m one, since Suwannee Riverkeeper is part of the Okefenokee Partnership which was the principal organizing body for this event. Continue reading
Update 2025-02-15: Because the river was still closed for hurricane debris removal, Rescheduled: Ichetucknee to Santa Fe Rivers 2025-04-05.
Rescheduled to February 22, 2025, because of park closure.
Join us on a leisurely paddle on the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers, starting at Ichetucknee Springs State Park North Entrance, past many springs, taking out at the US 129 Boat Ramp.
When: Gather 8:30 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, February 22, 2024
Put In: Ichetucknee Springs S.P. North Entrance, 8294 SW Elim Church Rd, Fort White, FL 32038.
![[Ichetucknee River to Santa Fe River 2025-02-22, Ichetucknee Springs S.P. North to US 129 Boat Ramp]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-02-22--ichetucknee-santa-fe/fbmany.jpg)
Ichetucknee River to Santa Fe River 2025-02-22, Ichetucknee Springs S.P. North to US 129 Boat Ramp
Come out and join us for a late winter paddle on the Suwannee River in this remote 14-mile section of wilderness from Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo.
Rescheduled to March due to very cold weather in January.
Dress in case of a cold day and bring a change of clothes. Everyone must wear a PFD at all times on the water. Have a bow line/rope for your kayak.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, January 11, 2025
Put In: Griffis Fish Camp, 10333 Ga Highway 177 Fargo, Georgia 31631. From Fargo, travel south on US 441 to CR 177; turn left and travel 10 miles northeast; Griffis Fish Camp is on left, in Clinch County.
GPS: 30.7845, -82.446333
![[Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo 2025-03-01, Suwannee River, Late Winter paddle]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-03-01--griffis-fargo-suwannee/fbmany.jpg)
Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo 2025-03-01, Suwannee River, Late Winter paddle
Thanks to Richard Fowler for these pictures of the WWALS Suwannee River Water Trail signs being planted at Griffis Fish Camp.
![[Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River Water Trail signs, planted 2024-12-15, Photos: Richard Fowler]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-15--srwt-rtp-signs-griffis/many.jpg)
Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River Water Trail signs, planted 2024-12-15, Photos: Richard Fowler
Thanks to Linda Tindall for digging and leveling, to Shirley Kokidko for pouring, and to camp manager Walter Hickox for advising on where to plant the signs.
Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for the generous grant that paid for these signs, the signpost, the concrete, and the screws.
See also the other pictures of this sign planting, and also at Fargo Ramp:
https://wwals.net/?p=66605
And pictures of the paddle Shirley organized the previous day from Stephen C. Foster State Park
in the Okefenokee Swamp
down the Suwannee River back to Griffis Fish Camp:
https://wwals.net/?p=66675 Continue reading
It was a fast paddle from Stephen C. Foster State Park in the Okefenokee Swamp to Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River, as part of the WWALS campout and paddle: barely more than three hours. Or four hours, counting getting ready at the Park and getting out at Griffis.
But it still looked fun, through the Narrows, past piers of an old logging railroad, and through the Suwannee River Sill, with birds and gators.
![[Stephen C. Foster State Park, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-12-14 to Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-14--scfsp-griffis-suwannee-river-pictures/many.jpg)
Stephen C. Foster State Park, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-12-14 to Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River
Fast because expedition leader Shirley Kokidko decided to go through the first gate at the Suwannee River Sill, considering water levels were too low to go up to the second gate and back down the west side of the Sill.
Thanks to Shirley Kokidko of Pearson, GA, for leading and for one picture here, and to Phil Royce of Live Oak, FL, for the other pictures. And thanks to the paddlers, from Miami to Alabama to South Carolina, not to mention Hahira and other places in Georgia and Florida.
Stay tuned for pictures of the campfire cooking and the turkeys the next morning.
For more WWALS outings and events as they are announced, see:
https://wwals.net/outings Continue reading
Thanks to WWALS Board Member Janet Massengale for delivering the Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak to raffle winner Belinda Edwards Herndon in Live Oak, Florida.
It’s slightly-used 12-foot 9-inch sit-on-top kayak with paddle, a Hurricane Skimmer 128. Continue reading
Update 2025-01-02: Another view: Griffis Fish Camp Suwannee River Water Trail signs planted –Richard Fowler 2024-12-15.
We got two sets of at-water signs planted Sunday on the Suwannee River in Georgia, at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp, just downstream from the Okefenokee Swamp.
![[Suwannee River Water Trail at-water signs planted at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp 2024-12-15]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-15--srwt-rtp-signs-planted/fbmany.jpg)
Suwannee River Water Trail at-water signs planted at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp 2024-12-15
Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for the grant that paid for these signs for the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT).
Thanks to Ray Figueroa of Miami for digging the hole at Fargo Ramp.
Thanks to Linda Tindall of Umatilla, Florida, for digging at Griffis Fish Camp, to Richard Fowler of I’m not sure where for photographing, and to Shirley Kokidko of Pearson, Georgia, for bringing water for the Quikrete.
Thanks to camp manager Walter Hickox for telling us where to plant the Griffis signs.
There are also signs for Stephen C. Foster State Park, but those are waiting on final sign-off by the Park and by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
There are more images below. Continue reading
The state-required five-year update process for the Echols County Comprehensive Plan has started, with a kick-off meeting December 5, 2024.
The first Workshop appears likely to be January 25, 2025, most likely in Statenville.
Stay tuned for updates from the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC).
https://www.sgrc.us
Or ask SGRC Planner II Alexandra Arzayus, aarzayus@sgrc.us, 229-333-5277.
![[Rivers, creeks, and Alapaha River Water Trail in Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-25--echols-comprehensive-plan/fbmany.jpg)
Rivers, creeks, and Alapaha River Water Trail in Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update
Meanwhile, WWALS has been doing its part since the last update, adopted
July 9, 2020.
https://dca.georgia.gov/document/plans/plan-update-2020-3/download
We thank the Echols County Commission for their Okefenokee Resolution to help protect the Suwannee River from strip mining near the Okefenokee Swamp.
We have paddled on the Suwannee River, including Fargo to campsite, Suwannee River 2022-03-05 and State Line to Turner Bridge, Suwannee River 2022-03-06.
We have formalized a Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT).
We have suggested to Echols County a boat ramp on the Suwannee River. As far as we know, the county is pursuing that opportunity with the landowner and the GA-DNR.
WWALS convinced GA-EPD to redesignate all of the Alapaha River in Echols County from Fishing to Recreational, meanwhile stricter levels of permitted contamination.
WWALS has designed, printed, and planted at-water signs and road signs for the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). Continue reading
Ferris Robinson, The Lookout Mountain Mirror, December 2024, Pages 18-19, Thatcher Keeps the Music Coming,
Lookout Mountain native and longtime Signal Mountain resident Robert Thatcher has always loved writing, poetry in particular. Coming from a very musical family, he probably learned to play the guitar before he learned to ride a bike. Those were always two separate activities, and Robert wrote poem after poem in various notebooks and on scrap sheets of paper and whatever was handy when the words came to him. And he has played guitar for a lifetime, strumming other folks’ songs.
His uncle is the late legendary Fletcher Bright of The Dismembered Tennesseans fame, and his cousin is Frank Bright, a great musician and songwriter. Both encouraged Robert’s music, but Frank planted the seed that Robert might want to try writing some tunes on his own, something that simmered for a while on the back burner.
But then things changed when he went to college. Continue reading
Update 2025-01-06: Rescheduled: Griffis Camp to Fargo, Suwannee River Paddle 2025-03-01
Come out and join us for a winter paddle on the Suwannee River in this remote 14-mile section of wilderness from Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo.
Very important to dress for a cold day and bring a change of clothes. Everyone must wear a PFD at all times on the water. Have a bow line/rope for your kayak.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, January 11, 2025
Put In: Griffis Fish Camp, 10333 Ga Highway 177 Fargo, Georgia 31631. From Fargo, travel south on US 441 to CR 177; turn left and travel 10 miles northeast; Griffis Fish Camp is on left, in Clinch County.
GPS: 30.7845, -82.446333
![[Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo 2025-01-11, Suwannee River, Dress warmly]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-01-11--griffis-fargo-suwannee/fbmany.jpg)
Griffis Fish Camp to Fargo 2025-01-11, Suwannee River, Dress warmly
![[Okefenokee Day, Georgia state Capitol 2025-02-06, Okefenokee Swamp Park, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-02-06--okefenokee-day-atlanta/fbmany.jpg)
![[Winner Belinda Edwards Herndon with WWALS raffle kayak 2024-12-19, Delivered to Live Oak, FL by Board Member Janet Massengale]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-19--raffle-kayak-winner/fbmany.jpg)
![[Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown profiled in hometown paper, After winning prize in Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-07--songwriting-awards/fbmany.jpg)