Tag Archives: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail

GA 133 and Knights Ferry in 2.5 weeks of Valdosta and Florida water quality data 2020-09-24

Update 2020-10-02: Health Advisory, Withlacoochee River, State Line 2020-10-02.

Mostly all clear on the Withlacoochee River in a bunch of data Valdosta and FDEP posted recently, except a bad reading at Knights Ferry Friday a week ago, and yet again a problem at GA 133 this past Monday.

The latest (Wednesday by Valdosta and Thursday by Madison Health) indicates good quality for this weekend. Since there has been hardly any rain to wash anything into the river, all the WWALS Withlacoochee River “beaches” remain green on Swim Guide.

Happy boating, so far as we can see!

[Charts and map]
Charts and map

Valdosta’s new data goes back two and a half weeks downstream, and FDEP filled in Tuesday a week ago as well as this Tuesday and Thursday.

That long chart is hard to read, so let’s take it a week at a time. Continue reading →

One month to WWALS Boomerang paddle race into Florida and back to Georgia 2020-10-24

It was a lot of fun for all ages last year, and you can paddle this year! The WWALS Boomerang is coming up Saturday, October 24, 2020, at State Line Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River. You can choose 1, 2, or 3 miles downstream into Florida, and then back up.

[Pictures Banner]
Pictures Banner

There is plenty of room for distancing at the boat ramp, and even more room on the water.

Each of the winners in many categories gets one of those WWALS Boomerang tumblers, and there’s a $100 First Prize!

Tickets are on sale now, $20 online until October 15, then $30 at the event.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwals-boomerang-paddle-race-2020-tickets-118844038719

Canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards are welcome to register starting at 9 AM, Saturday, October 24, 2020, with the race to begin at 11 AM.

It was a fast start last year: Continue reading →

Alapaha River good water quality at Berrien Beach and Lakeland Boat Ramp, also Withlacoochee 2020-09-12

Update 2020-09-16: Bad lower Suwannee, good Withlacoochee and Alapaha 2020-09-14.

Results look good from the Alapaha River Saturday, at Berrien Beach and Lakeland Boat Ramp. Florida Thursday Withlacoochee River results corroborate the WWALS State Line results of that same Thursday we reported last time, and extend them downstream into Florida, also good.

However, more than half an inch of rain fell on Okapilco Creek Thursday, 0.75″ at Spence Field east of Moultrie, and also 0.6″ at Dixie in the west of Brooks County. Is that enough to wash some manure into the creek? We shall see.

[Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers]
Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers

Berrien Beach

After the Berrien Beach Boat Ramp (and Beach) cleanup, I collected a sample at Continue reading →

Pictures: Twomile Branch Cleanup 2020-08-29

It was fun and productive: cleaning up Twomile Branch and Sugar Creek, plus a bit of the Withlacoochee River.

And we got a statewide award while we were there!

[Bucket, need boat, Withlacoochee River, spider, bottle, handoff, Great Blue Heron, trash, Volunteer of the Year --GA AAS]
Bucket, need boat, Withlacoochee River, spider, bottle, handoff, Great Blue Heron, trash, Volunteer of the Year –GA AAS

The award was the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer of the Year Award, for all the WWALS water quality testing volunteers, many of whom were at this cleanup. Thanks again to Georgia Power for the grant for testing equipment. WWALS is doing an AAS testing training this Saturday.

Join us for another cleanup at Sugar Creek on Saturday, October 10, 2020, or any of several other river and creek locations that same day, in conjunction with Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta. Or help us clean up this Saturday, September 12, 2020, at Berrien Beach Boat Ramp, northeast of Nashville, Georgia, on the Alapaha River.

Thanks to Nic Llinas and Sean of Current Problems for coming up from Gainesville, Florida, to bucket fish in Twomile Branch. Continue reading →

WWALS Boomerang 2020-10-24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, GA, September 4, 2020 — For the third year, people will paddle down the Withlacoochee River from Georgia three miles into Florida, and back upstream, in the WWALS Boomerang! Canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards are welcome to register starting at 9 AM, Saturday, October 24, 2020, with the race to begin at 11 AM. There will be prizes, and food, and drink. “There will be plenty of water, no deadfalls, and probably some shoals to make it more interesting,” said Boomerang mastermind and WWALS Outings Chair Bobby McKenzie.

[WWALS Boomerang 2020]
WWALS Boomerang 2020
PDF

Tickets are on sale now, $20 online until October 15, then $30 at the event.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwals-boomerang-paddle-race-2020-tickets-118844038719

State Line Boat Ramp is at 6461 Madison Highway, Valdosta, GA 31601. Heading south down I-75, take Exit 11, turn west, and keep going until you see the boat ramp sign, then turn right. From Madison, Florida, head up CR 150 until you cross the river, make a U-turn, and head down to the ramp. “That’s the WWALS road sign for State Line Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail,” said WWALS Trails Committee Chair Dan Phillips. “And down by the boat ramp we have two informational signs: what to see downstream and up, safety, etiquette, etc.”

The course starts in Lowndes County, Georgia, and goes through Brooks County, GA, and Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida.

“Thanks to the many sponsors Bobby has rustled up: Continue reading →

Cleanup at Twomile Branch 2020-08-29

Update 2020-09-09: Pictures

Cleanup at Twomile Branch and Sugar Creek! We have permission from the landowner on the north side of Twomile Branch and the east side of Sugar Creek to get to those creeks that way, all the way down to the Withlacoochee River. But first meet at the Salty Snapper Parking Lot. If we have time, we’ll also go up to the Millpond spillway on Jerry Jones Drive.

If we get enough people, we may also go to Onemile Branch.

When: Gather 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, August 29, 2020

Put In: Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602

GPS: 30.861717, -83.318712

Take Out: N/A

Bring: wet boots, sturdy gloves, trash pickers, trash bags, masks, and hand sanitizer. We will have some of those supplies, but whatever you can bring yourself will be great.

Free: This is a cleanup, so no charge.

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

Event: facebook, meetup

[Twomile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River]
Twomile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

Continue reading →

Reed Bingham SP, underrated southern nature lover destination –Forbes 2020-08-07

The Little River Trail mentioned is a hiking trail, but it and Reed Bingham State Park (RBSP) are on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. RBSP is the site of the annual WWALS and FORB BIG Little River Paddle Race and where last summer FORB invited WWALS to help fifty new boaters paddle.

Jared Ranahan, Forbes, August 7, 2020, Six Underrated Southern Destinations To Include On A Nature Lover’s Road Trip,

[Forbes: Reed Bingham State Park, Underrated Southern Nature Lover Destination]
Forbes: Reed Bingham State Park, Underrated Southern Nature Lover Destination
“The gopher tortoise is a burrowing animal, and other creatures such as gopher frogs, indigo snakes, … [+] Georgia Department of Natural Resources”

Reed Bingham State Park

For those wishing to encounter a wide array of native Georgian flora and fauna, few destinations compare to Reed Bingham State Park, a 1,613-acre stretch of land located in the depths of rural southern Georgia. The park is rife with hiking trails that showcase the rich biodiversity of the region—the Little River Trail crosses through pristine swamp, offering glimpses of river otters, turtles, and bald cypress trees, while the short Turkey Oak Trail is home to native ectothermic species ranging from indigo snakes to Georgia’s own state reptile, the gopher tortoise. Be sure to spend some time exploring the banks of Reed Bingham Park Lake—this idyllic water feature is a popular local spot for kayaking and fishing.

Continue reading →

Just when you think it’s safe, nope, Withlacoochee River to GA-FL line 2020-07-29

Update 2020-08-01: Florida clean? Withlacoochee River 2020-07-30.

Subtitle: lack of data doesn’t mean good water quality.

Valdosta finally came through with downstream results for Friday, Monday, and Wednesday, at 1:21 PM today, and they ain’t pretty.

[Map: Bad Knights Ferry and Nankin in Swim Guide]
Map: Bad Knights Ferry and Nankin in Swim Guide

Valdosta got results way above the 1,000 cfu/100 mL E. coli alert level at Knights Ferry and Nankin Boat Ramps Friday, at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps Monday, and again at Nankin on Wednesday, with a too-high single-sample count of 510 at Knights Ferry for Wednesday. See What do these numbers mean?

So we have set Knights Ferry and Nankin Boat Ramps red in Swim Guide.

We can’t set State Line Boat Ramp red because, even though that contamination has probably reached there by now, we have no data for yesterday or today. Similarly, we can’t set anything new for Florida stations, because we have no Florida data since Tuesday a week ago.

Floridians: maybe you’d like to ask your statehouse elected officials to fund FDEP to implement regular river testing all the way from the state line to the Gulf. If Valdosta can do it, the great state of Florida can do it. For that matter, FDEP told us last November that they already had money for that and were allocating it regionally. Maybe you’d like to ask FDEP to allocate some of it to the Suwannee River Basin.

[Bad downstream]
Bad downstream
For the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of results from Georgia and Florida, as well as other context, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing/.

Valdosta’s Friday 3,900 E. coli for Okapilco Creek @ US 84 shows something did wash down Okapilco Creek from the upstream rains. That testing station is upstream from where Crooked Creek joins Okapilco, so that E. coli did not come from Crooked Creek. And maybe some of this downstream contamination did come down from GA 133 over the weekend.

[Map: Devane Road to State Line]
Map: Devane Road to State Line, in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

You may wonder: how can the WWALS Wednesday results for Knights Ferry and State Line Boat Ramps be so different from Valdosta’s results? Usually, because Continue reading →

Still green to go, Withlacoochee River to GA-FL line 2020-07-29

Update 2020-07-31: Just when you think it’s safe, nope, Withlacoochee River to GA-FL line 2020-07-29. Continue reading →

Twomile Branch and Withlacoochee River 2020-07-28

Update 2020-07-31: Just when you think it’s safe, nope, Withlacoochee River to GA-FL line 2020-07-29.

For Monday, July 27, 2020, Valdosta reports still slightly elevated bacterial counts at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, but nothing like the alert level of Friday. Yet counts at US 41 upstream and US 84 downstream remain completely normal. We can guess that rainwater coming down the Little River into the Withlacoochee diluted the contamination.

[Towmile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River]
Towmile Branch, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

We don’t know where that Friday GA 133 contamination came from. Both Valdosta and Lowndes County say they did not spill any sewage, and the state of Georgia still reports no sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin (ditto for Florida).

[Downstream, 16:25:10, 30.8661346, -83.3102568]
Downstream, 16:25:10, 30.8661346, -83.3102568

I even tested Tuesday on Twomile Branch just below Joree Millpond and behind the last house on Lake Drive (thanks to the landowner). Results there were higher than are good for longterm average, but below the single test limit.

[Upstream again, 16:12:23, 30.864, -83.3158]
Upstream, Twomile Branch, Lake Drive, Valdosta, GA, 2020-07-28, 16:12:23, 30.8640000, -83.3158000

We have no Valdosta results downstream of US 84 since Wednesday a week ago, and nothing from Florida since Tuesday a week ago. Continue reading →