Tag Archives: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail

Bucket surfing the Withlacoochee River 2020-05-01

That bucket needs to be clean before I get a water quality testing sample out of it.

[Bucket]
Bucket

Here’s a YouTube video Continue reading →

High, fast, and dirty: Withlacoochee River, Okapilco and Crooked Creeks 2020-04-25

WWALS testers Conn and Trudy Cole noted for these four Saturday test stations: “All of these were high and flowing fast.” Also dirty. You can help WWALS buy supplies for water quality testing.

[All four dirty]
All four dirty

You don’t even have to be a trained tester to tell none of those Petrifilms looks good, and that bottom row is by far the worst.

cfu/100 mL
E. coli		Where
444 Little River @ GA 76 (Cook County Boat Ramp)
1,200 Withlacoochee River @ US 84
900 Okapilco Creek @ US 84
TNTC Crooked Creek @ Devane Road

All four locations were above the 410 single-sample limit, and two were above the 1,000 alert limit.

As expected, every location tested was filthy. Crooked Creek at Devane Road was so much higher that it could only be recorded as Too Many To Count (TNTC). That’s in the left middle of this map, where Continue reading →

Video: Waterkeepers Florida toast Earth Day 2020-04-22

The facebook livestream didn’t happen, but here’s YouTube video of yesterday’s Waterkeepers Florida Toast to Earth Day. Most of the fourteen Waterkeepers of Florida spoke.

And you can still pick up trash for Earth Day and post pictures or videos with hashtag #SuwanneeCleanup, as some WWALS members already did.

The Suwannee Riverkeeper segment is at 6:35.

[Intro]
Intro

I was at the Withlacoochee River at State Line Boat Ramp, 6461 Madison Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31601. You can’t see in the video, but only a few minutes before, the place was hopping with activity: a guy on a very loud four-wheeler, people in SUVs with beers, two trailers pulling out boats, the former police chief of Live Oak, Florida, and a group of young people hiking back from down the river. All declined to get on the boat ramp to be in the video. They were mostly staying apart from other groups.

[Caution signs]
Caution signs

We put up these Caution signs because Continue reading →

Earth Day online with Waterkeepers Florida 2020-04-22

Update 2020-04-23: Video of WKFL Toast to Earth Day and examples of #SuwanneeCleanup.

Join Suwannee Riverkeeper and all of Waterkeepers Florida tomorrow evening to toast clean water in the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day.

WWALS is also celebrating with a distributed cleanup. Go to any convenient river, creek, spring, or swamp, pick up trash, and post pictures or video with the hashtag #SuwanneeCleanup.

When: 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM, Earth Day, Wednesday, April 21, 2020

Where: Facebook livestream in the facebook event.
We will start a watch party.

Also on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/91684283854
Dial in: +1 929 205 6099 / Meeting ID: 916 8428 3854#

[WKFL Earth Day Toast]

Physical: State Line Boat Ramp, 6461 Madison Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31601
That’s where Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman will be speaking.
You can come help clean up, provided you keep six feet apart.
Post pictures or video of yourself, and use #SuwanneeCleanup. Continue reading →

Better Saturday at Knights Ferry, Nankin, Withlacoochee River, but rain 2020-04-18

Update 2020-04-24: OK quality mid-week, but much rain yesterday, Withlacoochee River 2020-04-22.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall got 300 cfu/100 mL E. coli at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp Saturday, and 333 at Nankin Boat Ramp, both on the Withlacoochee River. That’s similar to Thursday at Knights Ferry, and better at Nankin; both not good, but not terrible. See also What do these numbers mean?

But watch out: it rained a quarter inch in Brooks County, Georgia, Sunday. WWALS continues testing and correlating results from various sources with rainfall.

You can help by donating for water quality collection supplies. Even those metal yellow Caution signs cost money. See below for those signs going up during the livestreamed virtual Earth Day cleanup at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp.

[Boaters, Suzy, signs, trash, Bobby]
Boaters, Suzy, signs, trash, Bobby

There were a bunch of boaters, all keeping their distance. They were already aware of the contamination, but did not plan to get in the river water.

Apparently most of the previous contamination had washed down the river, but how far? Continue reading →

Bad quality north Lowndes to state line, Withlacoochee River 2020-04-15

If it was this bad at the state line yesterday, this contamination must be in Florida by now. So watch out Lowndes and Brooks Counties, Georgia, and Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida.

I am going now to collect some samples, as are some other WWALS testers. You can help.

[Bad from US 41 to state line]
Bad from US 41 to state line
For context and the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of Georgia and Florida data, see wwals.net/issues/testing/.

So after contamination after last week’s rain, the Withlacoochee River was cleaner Sunday and even more so during the week. But that changed much for the worse with the rain yesterday. Continue reading →

How far from one Boat Ramp to the next landing? WWALS Water Trails

Update 2022-11-29: Get your z-fold water trail brochures at any WWALS outing or event, and see the at-water and road signs. This post updated with current images from the WLRWT map and Access web page.

Lately I’ve seen a lot of posts such as “how many miles from Knights Ferry Boat Ramp to Nankin?” That’s 6.65 river miles, or about 3.3 paddle hours, and here’s how you can find out, for the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, for the Alapaha River, and for the Suwannee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers, plus interactive maps.

[Map: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp]
Map: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp

The Access Points web page for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) lists all the public boat ramps and landings on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, with river miles downstream to the next one. Also an estimate of paddling hours, GPS coordinates, icons for amenities, and a link to the most relevant river gauge.

How can you find that web page? Go to Continue reading →

Cleaner at State Line, Withlacoochee River 2020-40-12

Much better water quality Sunday at State Line Boat Ramp than upstream the day before.

Sunday Suzy Hall got 333 cfu/100 mL E. coli at State Line Boat Ramp, which is merely not very good. That’s way better than the extremely bad result she got at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp Saturday, 15.55 river miles upstream on the the Withlacoochee River. WWALS continues to sample. You can help.

[Withlacoochee River]
All photos by Suzy Hall, Withlacoochee River

Suzy remarked: “Both days plenty of boats enjoying the weather. You see the WWALS sign remains, and looks like it probably needs to. Rain seems to wash uglies downstream.”

[WWALS Signs]
WWALS Signs

There wasn’t any more rain over the weekend, but Monday rain fell from half an inch at US 84 to more than an inch upstream. Continue reading →

Reroute: Little River, Cook County Boat Ramp upstream to Stone Bridge 2020-05-16

Update 2020-05-26: Pictures: Stone Bridge paddle from Cook County Boat Ramp (GA 76) 2020-05-16.

Update 2020-05-21: Three Little River Landings in Swim Guide 2020-05-21

Update 2020-05-20: Clean weekend 2020-05-17.

Changed to put in at Cook County Boat Ramp on GA 76 and paddle upstream past Stone Bridge, and then back. This avoids the outings problem during the stay-home period of the novel coronavirus pandemic: no shuttle, so no crowding together. Yes, boating is not just permitted, it is encouraged by the state of Georgia; see Florida and Georgia Boat Ramps Status 2020-04-09. To keep it that way, everyone please remember to stay 6 feet apart on land and 10 feet apart on the water.

This is a leisurely paddle on a very seldom-paddled stretch of wild south Georgia blackwater river, the Little River, between Adel and Barney.

When: Gather 9:30 AM, launch 10 AM, Saturday, May 16, 2020

Put In: Cook County Boat Ramp, Mile 31.41. 966 Quitman Highway (GA 76), Adel, GA 31620, in Cook County.
Between Adel and Barney, southeast side of GA 76, northeast side (left bank) of Little River, gravel ramp. Also known as Cook County Landing (GDOT). Left or right bank means when facing downstream.

GPS: 31.040042, -83.493085

Landmark 1: Stone Bridge, 31.04962, -83.49932, Mile 32.36, about a mile upstream from Cook County Boat Ramp.

Take Out: Same as Put In.

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. These days, a facemask would not be amiss.

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

Burt Kornegay, March 24, 2018, Stone Bridge
Photo: Burt Kornegay, March 2018, of Stone Bridge over Little River, SW of Adel, GA.
More about Stone Bridge, including more pictures: Stone Bridge, Little River, by Dan Phillips 2016-08-01.

Duration: 2 hours (depending on how far upstream we go)

Shuttle: None, so no crowding together.

Landmark 2: Continue reading →

Source of the Little River 2020-02-27

The source of the Little River (of the Withlacoochee) is in those trees.

[From Warwick Hwy @ CR 16, 31.749923, -83.767258]
From Warwick Hwy @ CR 16, 31.7499230, -83.7672580

I took this picture from Warwick Highway (CR 249) where CR 16 (Charlie Lamb Road) joins it, in Turner County, Georgia. Perhaps another time I will have time to Continue reading →