Making a New Friend on a New River: Camping trip on the Altamaha River, Georgia

My adventure last weekend all started with a phone call I took at the Visitor Center in Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a lady wanting  information about paddling in the swamp on the west side.  She wanted to spend a night in the swamp, then go down the Suwanee River to Fargo. (The Suwanee drains ninety per cent of the swamp.) I didn't know a lot but was able to tell her which trails were open on that side.  I also told her I was a paddler and, in a few weeks, had friends coming to camp in the swamp and also do a overnight paddle on the St. Mary's River.  (This drains the other ten per cent of the swamp and then runs now along the east side of the swamp before turning east to carry its water to the Atlantic Ocean.)  She immediately said she wanted to come on the St. Mary's River trip.

We exchanged contact information and became Facebook friends.  After getting permission to let her join our group, I invited her to go with us.  Family obligations prevented her from joining us but she invited me to paddle with her. By last weekend, almost every river in Florida and south Georgia were flooded or very close to being flooded.  We gambled that on such as huge river as is the Altamaha, we would still be able to find some ground and no strainers. Her route from house to river came close to me so I had her pick me up at a friend's house in Folkston.  In a little over an hour, we were at the takeout, Jaycee's Landing, where we left our car and met a friend of her husband who loaded all our stuff into his pickup and hauled us upriver twenty-eight miles to Carter's Bight Landing.

First look at the river - this will be out take-out landing

Ready to leave from Carter's Bight Landing

We put in around 2:00PM into a WIDE river under cloudless skies.  With the extra water, the river was about 200 yards wide. It was quite beautiful, and only had a few batches of houses along our route.

Julie passing a house

River view

Coming in to an almost flooded out sandbar  for a rest stop

Rest stop sandbar

We drifted at around three miles per hour - with help both from the current and the wind at our backs -  and also paddled, so we had covered about seventeen miles when it got time to find a campsite. We found a huge sandbar, that was partially flooded out and started setting up camp.

The most beautiful - and ONLY sandbar we saw suitable for camping on the river

After we got our tents up and gathered firewood,we watched the sun set through the trees on the far bank while Julie cooked us a delicious supper of baked sweet potatoes, and chicken with mushrooms and cheese over the fire.

The wood was very rotten and it took a lot of it to make supper and then enjoy the fire.

Julie and  me at sunset

Last of the sunset

We stayed up late getting to know each other enjoying being together.  The night sky was beautiful.  We had few motorboats during the afternoon, but no one was on the river that night except us.  We heard feral hogs on the land behind the sandbar, but never saw them.

Morning view of another part of our sandbar

The next day dawned cool but bright and beautiful.  The area was full of birds, both the ones we knew and migrating ones.  I didn't have my binoculars with me and didn't know the songs of most of them.  An alligator spent a lot of time bellowing - a sound that sounds like the swamp snoring to me -  just up the river and out of our site.

We had breakfast and let our tents dry while we slowly packed our stuff back into our dry bags. We didn't leave until after 10:00 A.M.  The river was slightly lower but almost as fast.

We went from jackets to this in a couple of hours

We spent a lot of time just drifting to make the trip last longer.

The kind of heavy paddling we mostly did all morning

One of many houses in the water

 We also stopped a few minutes at a landing and visited with a father and his children.

Rest Stop

Little boat on a big, gentle river

A few alligators were out sunning and one challenged Julie.  It pushed her out away from a little cove. We think it was a moma protecting her babies. We took a break at another little landing but finally got down to Jaycee's Landing.

Just at the moment we pulled up to the boat launch, the couple that had hauled us to our put-in, arrived to see if we had made it back out.  Within minutes, with them helping load the kayaks, we were loaded and on our way home.

Both Julie and I hope that this will be the first of many more visits and paddle trips. I'm so grateful for getting to know her and for her generosity in taking an old lady paddling.

 This blog will come out while I'm visiting another new friend, this time in North Carolina. Then  I'll come back and work four more days, then will pack and leave. Hopefully I'll get to stop and spend two nights and a day with Julie and go on a day paddle with her on my way back to Galveston, TX. 

Blessed by the St. Mary

(Warning ---- Long Post)

This is continuing report of five days of paddling.  These report is of the two days we were on the St. Mary's river, which drains 10% of  Okefenokee swamp.

Pat and I got up early, ate a huge breakfast and finished loading everything to go pick up our shuttle driver. Before he joined us, we had plenty of time to put in a waypoint for out take-out and look it over. It was going to be impossible to pass it up, so one worry was behind us as we prepared to go down a river that was out of its banks in places and for which we could find little information.

View at put-in near Hwy 94 Bridge. St. George, GA

Russell, out driver, was able to give us more information.  But later we found that even he wasn't able to tell us all we would have liked to have known about the river and the places to camp that would keep us away from civilization.

Almost ready to leave

But soon we were at our put in - almost under the  Hwy. 94  bridge in St. George, GA. The day was getting more and more beautiful and I wished I could have started the trip at dawn.

First view - after bridge and before we wove through trees for two miles

Both Pat and I were somewhat worried about big current and strainers, since we knew we might have them in the first two miles. The river was MUCH wider  and  the current was much slower than we had expected, and then we  found out why - the river was out of its banks and filling up side swamps. We never had a scary place, but once we went into the swamp to avoid a fallen tree. Another time we accidentally went into a swamp and had to spend some time figuring how to get back out. A third time, we followed strong current  back into a shallow channel that again went into a swamp. We had to get out and drag out canoe back into the river, because the current was strong and the water too shallow to be able to dig in with our paddles.

Spring on the river

We also had lots more places to dodge trees than in the first two miles.  This may be due to the water height, and the trees may have been on sandbars.  Certainly we could see drowned sandbars by the half submerged river birches. ( I didn't take pictures  of these stretches - too busy making sure we didn't crash)

No worries here

We found lots of private camps and even stopped at one that had a porta potty WITH paper. We stopped again for lunch but were soon working our way down a now open river into a north head wind.  (We really had a lovely weather mix over our five days - warm, clear, cloudy, rainy, cold, windy, frosty.  Our highest temperatures were about 80 degrees while our morning on the river was close to freezing and we had frost on our canoe.) Fortunately for us, the river winds east and west as it heads north so we got some respite from the winds and managed to paddle about 3.8 mph.

Flooded camp we used for a paddling break

We  started hearing sounds of civilization about 3:30 P.M. and Pat looked at his GPS map and saw lots of  roads nearby.  We had just found a bit of sandbar still above water, but with easy access. And it was on the Georgia side, which we knew was the better side to camp if we had to camp on private land. We knew the river was falling, or this might have been a really bad place to camp, since we were only about a foot above the river.

Campsite, cook, and photographer

The first thing we did was to push a stick into the sand at  the river's edge so we could see how far it fell during the night.  Then we proceeded to set up our tents.  While I was deciding where to set up, I found a really beautiful bower of Carolina jasmine that was scenting the surrounding air, so I set up on flat ground just past it.  We soon had our tents  and  our cooking area set up. This night's menu was lentil sausage stew and crackers. We also had a bottle of Merlot.  The day had been chilly to just warm and we both had on long underwear.  At first we were too hot and had to partially unzip our pants legs to ventilate.  We were soon adding our hats and jackets. We had to close up our pants again.

But we had no mosquitoes since, I expect, the flood had washed them all downstream. And the pile driver, and car sounds faded away, leaving only a barking dog to tell us that civilization was close by. We were too tired to wait for all the stars to come out before going to bed.  There was a little water music made by the river running past the drowned birches and I was lulled into the best and longest sleep of the trip.

End of a wonderful day

We woke to a beautiful  day, with mist rising off the river and frost on our canoe. We made coffee and had Girl Scout thin mints, breakfast bars, and nuts - with a bagel for Pat - before packing up our soaking wet gear and heading out to do the last almost ten miles.

A new day has begun

The frost on Pat's canoe seat was all we could find

Had to spend many minutes taking pictures

While the responsible one made our coffee

Another show-stopper beyond my tent

The river was noticeably faster - in some places running up to more than four miles per hour. And there was no wind, so we easily paddled the last miles in about two and a half hours, including one break on a sandbar on the Florida side.The views only got prettier in the undeveloped areas and I took lots more pictures.

Another curve, another view

Even the turkey vultures were prettier here

View downstream from the Florida sandbar

We found a sandbar on the Florida side that demanded a stop to explore it for a few minutes.

The best of two wild azalea bushes we saw 

All too soon we were seeing private camps on the Georgia side, and then the boat launch at Trader's Hill. We got our gear unloaded, then packed into the car,  washed the canoe and loaded it, then headed back to return the canoe and a paddles before going home.  We dumped out our wet stuff and started drying it, then I made a curried egg salad for lunch.  The rest of the day was spent cleaning up resting, and editing pictures.

The end  :(

A wonderful trip.  But I'd love to see the St. Mary when it is displaying its purportedly beautiful sandbars which gleam white against the tannic waters.

Trip Statistics:
Water level at  Mcclenny guage  - March 13 - 1300 cubic feet per second
Water level at Mcclenny guage - March 14 - 1200 cubic feet per second
Miles paddled: 29.5 total
   March 13 - about 20 miles

March 14 - about 10 miles
Waypoints:
Put-in -  .N 30" 31.425'
Take-out - Trader's Hill (has camp sites also)- N 30" 46.965' W 082" 01.450'
Camp spot:  N 30"  41.776' W 082" 02.531'
(Note:  Stay above this spot to have a totally wilderness experience without even the sounds of civilization) Also the Georgia side has fewer homesites and most of the land is owned by timber companies who probably won't bother you if you have to camp above the flood line. But usually there are plenty of sandbars.)

The detailed story is on Flickr with titles and captions.  

Wilderness Camping Trip in Okefenokee Swamp - Day One

Two of my friends and I were supposed to spend three days and two nights camping at the reservable shelters in Okefenokee Wilderness Area which is most of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.  Only Pat made it.  He got in early enough for us to eat a late lunch, pack, then eat supper.

We put in right in the boat basin near where I live and work.  I was able to borrow a tandem canoe, since I  mine needs repairing. Pat and I did a good job of getting along in the boat, while pushing it as hard as it would go - about 3.8 mph.

We had fantastic weather - highs in the 70's or higher, lows in the 50's and clear to cloudy days and rain only on the last night after midnight. The last of the showers spit on us as we were eating breakfast and packing up.

The best part of the first day was the part of the trip we did on the Day Use trail which parallels the Suwannee River Canal. Birds were active and lots of alligators were out.  We even found a large alligator family with maybe twenty babies.

Ready to leave

Kingfisher 

Perfect Day

Some of the baby alligators

Closeup of baby alligator

Good eating is down here somewhere

Field of Golden Club

Golden Club up close

After we merged into the Suwannee Canal, we saw people a few times, including when we stopped at Coffee Bay shelter to eat lunch and take a restroom break.  After that, we saw two more groups, one in an motor boat, and one in two kayaks.  They turned off  the trail to Roundtop.  We continued on to our shelter, Canal Run.

Canal Run  - out destination

Pat is famous in our paddling circles for his guacamole. As soon as we landed and unloaded the canoe, he found all the fixings and had our snack underway. 

Pat catching rays and making guacamole

Then we had to decide how to set up our tents.  We knew we would not have any rain so decided to keep them out in the open to be able to enjoy the stars after the half-moon set. 

Pat's camp - no need for tent flies. 

My camp, complete with  hammock and camp chair

After the camp was set up, we had lots of time to enjoy the view, including the slow current which carried colorful leaves by us, the birds, and a late-visiting alligator who snuck closer and closer, before hiding behind our canoe.

Chillin'

Camp visitor

To be continued............

We got back early this afternoon and now are in the midst of repacking for a colder night tomorrow night on the St. Mary's river.  We also need to research our trip more and set some way points. The river is near or at flood stage so we'll also need to know where the camps on high banks are. 

Lovely Tandem Day Paddle

Last Sunday, I had a beautiful paddle while getting to share Okefenokee Swamp with a visitor.  It all started when I was chatting with a guy who came to the refuge alone.  He told me he really wanted to paddle in the refuge but didn't want to paddle by himself.  Of course, I seize any excuse to paddle so I replied,  I'll take you paddling, IF I can get the use of a tandem canoe".  (One of the really nice perks here is that our concessionaire, Okefenokee Adventures, lets the volunteers and staff use their canoes/kayaks for free. That's in addition to treating all their clients to fantastic tours and good food as well as filling their needs for paddling and camping equipment. ) So, as soon as I convinced Skip that I meant it,  I went over  to Okefenokee Adventures and asked if I could borrow a tandem canoe, and if a guest would have to pay to go with me.  I got the right answers, yes and no, and ran back to tell Skip that we were on.  He choose to come at 9:00 Sunday so I was all ready to go meet him by 8:30 A. M.

Two of thousands of spider webs made visible by the fog

Starting out

The day was very foggy and  spider webs were "blooming" everywhere. I got a little distracted by them and almost was late for our date.  Then I found I had no food with me, so had to run back to my trailer to get my food. But we got all our stuff packed and were able to start off  before 9:30 A. M., just as the sun burned off the last of the fog.  The day was so warm, we paddled in short-sleeved shirts. After the first two miles, I suggested we visit the porta potty on a platform as this would be our last chance to use a bathroom and get out and stretch without having to stand in water.

Porta Platform located near the junction of three trails

Skip at rest stop

While there, we enjoyed the birds, including our only sighting of a white ibis. Then as soon, as we started back on the trail, I remembered I was supposed to take a picture of the rest room platform. (Georgia Rivers Network is building an interactive map of the Okefenokee and wants to use my pictures, and the GPS waypoints for them so people can click on little icons along the map and see what to expect there.)

One of last ibis in our part of the swamp

 So we quickly turned around. I think I was paddling a little harder than was Skip, so we ended up backing up into a patch of tall grass along the canal. This caused loud crashing just to the back of our boat.  Then I realized we had backed into an alligator's sunning spot. Skip, who was sitting almost on top of all this commotion but was not able to see what was happening, managed to keep his composure.  But later, he told me a pun, " If you spent a week in a cypress swamp, would you be weak in the knees?"  I'm pretty sure I got his knees weak with only a few seconds on top of an alligator.

Stay away from those grassy patches!

The rest of our trip was uneventful.  We paddled around the triangle that goes around an island, then went out on Chesser Prairie a ways. We came back to the canal and paddled to the entrance to the day trip trail and took it back.

More and more Golden Club is blooming

One of several alligators sunning in Chesser Prairie

Sweet dream?

In the day trail, we had to pass six canoes that made up two groups of novice paddlers, who were slowly bouncing from stream-side to stream-side. The warm day caused lots of turtles to be out. One of them was the size of a small washtub.  But he was also very wary, and dived into the water way before I could get close enough to catch a photograph.  Our trip took us through mostly tree-lined canal, then through scrub and prairie so we got to see the main habitats that occur on the east side of the swamp.

The smallest but least wary turtles we saw

View along the day-use trail that parallels the Canal - fire hit it heavily

We definitely feel on the cusp of spring here. We watched a red-shouldered hawk return to her nest, then listened and watched as her mate called before flying off, probably to find more food. Leaves are mostly tiny fuzz on many of the bushes. There are lots of fresh, new waterlily leaves, with more growing and unrolling underwater. The sound of robins has disappeared as they have left to deliver spring to Up North. The big flocks of ibis seem to be gone.  But the flock of little blue herons is still here.  Turkey vultures are passing through and we seemed to be in the midst of at least thirty vultures during one mile of our paddle. They were overhead, and resting in the trees.  We would often spook one to fly off with a roar of wings.

Grooming turkey vulture

Oh, no! This is the end of a beautiful day on the water. 

Trip Length: 9 miles - Average paddling speed: 2.8 mph - Total age of paddlers - 157 :)