By Reece Turrentine

Editor’s Note: Over the years I have canoed Southern Rivers with many different companions. I have assigned stories to and edited copy from many writers who were writing about Georgia and southern streams. Never have I known anyone who, deep down at their core, cared more about rivers than Reece Turrentine. If there ever was a person to whom the description “He has river water flowing through his veins,” applied, that person is Reece Turrentine. Not only does he truly have the spirit; Reece can describe his river experiences in a way that communicates his affection for rivers to everyone whether or not they have ever paddled a canoe. A Methodist minister by profession, Reece can hear more of God’s voice in an eddy current than most of us can find in the Old Testament.

My wife and I spent a couple of weeks canoeing, hiking and fishing around Yellowstone National Park. In the evening we were delighted to get back to the quaint elegance of the old Yellowstone Inn on the lake. Each evening meal was accompanied by a live string quartet and by “Bullwinkle,” a huge Bull Moose who made nightly rounds.

One evening we heard a little more commotion than unusual. Into the dining room strolled former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter and their entourage. They were ushered to the table next to ours. The temptation was too great. As he approached, I stood up and offered a “down-home” introduction. Read the rest of this entry »

By James Sullivan

The Soque River. Author and outdoorsman James Sullivan explores the headwaters of  the Soque River in Habersham Couny’s Tray Mountain Wilderness on rugged four-wheel-drive Forest Service roads, then returns to civilization to eat and shop at locations like the Mark of the Potter in Clarkesville, pictured here.

Sitting on the rock outcrop along the trail to the Tray Mountain Appalachian Trail shelter, a spectacular view of a steep, wild watershed unfolds to the east. This is the headwaters of the left fork of the Soque River, which is a 29-mile long major tributary of the Chattahoochee River in the headwaters area. Read the rest of this entry »

By Billy Winn

Billy Winn is the former editorial page editor of the Columbus Ledger Enquirer and is the author of The Old Beloved Path: Daily Life Among the Indians of the Chattahoochee River Valley. Illustration by Garry Pound.

The first mention that I know of in literature about the river occurs in Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins’s travel log of the Chattahoochee River and the Creek country in the year 1798, 1799. And basically, what Hawkins says in there is that Chattahoochee was a town north of us here at that time, which he says is the founding town on this part of the river. And he says that it got its name from the Creek ‘Chatto,’ a stone, and ‘hoche,’ marked or flowered. There’s no way to spell it exactly because the Creeks didn’t have a written language at the time, but basically it would be Chato oochee. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors note: When Sherri and I were researching and writing the Riverkeeper’s Guide to the Chattahoochee and the Flint River Guidebook, we took numerous trips up and down both rivers, often “locking through” at the Walter F. George Dam, the George W. Andrews Dam and the Jim Woodruff Dam. It’s a river experience we highly recommend to anyone really interested in experiencing and understanding Southern Rivers. Here is our account of our first experience locking through the Woodruff Dam. See the illlustration at the end of the locking through process for a visual image of what it’s like to make the transition from lake to river. The third person in the boat is Rio, our literary companion on our travels up and down the Flint River and an important character in the Flint Guidebook. FB. Illustrations by Roel Wielinga.

One of the most interesting and anticipated experiences traveling up or down the lower Chattahoochee is that of going through the locks. Three dams on the Chattahoochee River, Walter F. George, George W. Andrews and Jim Woodruff, have navigation locks that allow recreational as well as commercial boats to travel both upstream and downstream. The locks are necessary to transfer boats from one water level to another.  “Locking through” can cause anxiety the first time you do it, but it is relatively easy if you are prepared and follow the proper procedure. Read the rest of this entry »

Sixteen dams harness the power of the Chattahoochee as it rolls towards Apalachicola Bay–nine of those in the Columbus area alone. If you are navigating down the river, you must portage around the first thirteen dams and lock through the last three. Once through the last lock, the Chattahoochee turns into the Apalachicola and runs free for 107 miles to the Bay. To view all of the dams, along with a description of each one, on a Chattahoochee River corridor map, click here. Brief descriptions of each of the dams are included below and more detailed descriptions, along with photos of all of the dams, are included on the map. Illustration by Roel Wielinga. Read the rest of this entry »

By Claude Terry
Updated August, 2008

Could it be? Someone was making a strenuous effort to hand crank a model-T Ford, and in the process was causing an unholy row. I was sure of this as I came awake in my sleeping bag. When I finally opened my eyes, I remembered we were sleeping on the board dock of an overnight shelter in the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp. Model-Ts in the Okefenokee? I sat up and saw my “Model-Ts” come flying over. They were large birds with white bodies and wings, black wing tips and a naked head. As they banked and glided by, they once again emitted the ear-jarring cacophony, which had roused me from sleep. Such was my introduction to the wood ibis, the only American stork.

The Eastern United States has too few wilderness areas, places where you can forget that persons other than your party have passed. Okefenokee is not only such a wilderness, but also a unique biological and geological area, housing many unusual species like wood ibis.

Various canoe trails twist through the park, exposing the paddler to an incredible variety of views. There are islands and hammocks templed by the columns of cypress, open prairies of low vegetation laced with water channels, and expanses of tea-colored water. The water is the home for sunfish, pickerel, bass and plenty of alligators. I’m not sure if it’s a result of efforts to stop poaching, or if we’ve just been lucky lately, but we’ve been seeing big gators on our last few trips into the swamp. I was still looking after the last of the wood ibis when a member of our party approached from the shelter. Seeing that he was looking past me attentively I asked, “Did some of the birds land opposite us?” “No,” he replied, “I’m just watching that gator under your feet.”

Sure enough, two wide apart bumps glided by, followed by faint twitches of the water, which revealed a 10-foot gator passing. This fellow was almost a nuisance at the Bigwater Shelter, apparently having been fed scraps by previous parties. I personally think this is akin to feeding park bears, and strongly recommend against it. Read the rest of this entry »

By Doug Purcell
Executive Director, Historic Chattahoochee Commission

Interestingly southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia share a water resource known, over time, by at least three names—Walter F. George Lake, Lake Eufaula and Lake Chattahoochee. This U. S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment was formed following the construction of the Walter F. George Lock and Dam at Fort Gaines, Georgia in 1963. Today the lake covers 45,192 acres, is 85 miles long and has a 640 mile shoreline. In 2007 almost 3.8 million visitors took advantage of this asset for fishing, boating, sailing, skiing and a variety of other uses.

To further complicate the situation, the sprawling impoundment has obscured the western Georgia boundary where the Chattahoochee River intersects with a portion of Alabama’s eastern boundary. That boundary was established by the Read the rest of this entry »

From Turners Corner to the Highway 52 Bridge

Born in the rock faces of Blood Mountain, the Chestatee cascades out of the Chattahoochee National forest as one of Georgia’s best trout streams. From Turner’s Corner to Georgia Highway 52 the river is one of the best canoeing streams in the state. Although the small watershed limits the rivers use to winter spring and rainy periods in the summer, the beauty makes it well worth the effort involved in planning a trip for “when it rains.” Individual preferences for water levels also come into play here, since some people may not mind dragging their boat over shallow ledges. The scenery is excellent, particularly in the spring and early summer. Azaleas and dogwoods in April, laurel in May and rhododendron in early June provide small splashes of color against the rich magnificence of the white pines and hemlocks.

The first six miles or so from Turner’s Corner is down a green-lined tunnel, with no real rapids of note, but plenty of beauty. The first really challenging rapid is a ledge with a “s” turn (1) There follows a series of moderate rapids, with abrupt turns in the river revealing steep banks covered with white pines. The next rapid is just above the lunch spot, and is preceded by an old white pine covered in “old man’s beard” lichen. This runs best on the left. Read the rest of this entry »

This river in the foothills of Northeast Georgia offers beautiful scenery as well as some challenging rapids for both the beginner who is looking for a good starting river and the expert who wants a tranquil day’s outing. This trip is from Georgia Highway 9 to Castleberry Bridge, about six miles.

The Etowah River is rich in the history of Georgia’s gold rush days. It witnessed the onslaught in 1828 as thousands of prospectors infiltrated the North Georgia hills starting the first major gold rush in this country.

The river is also an example of nature’s wonderful ability to heal herself if given time. As a result of the gold rush, the river was partially diverted, the bed mined, the banks cut over and stripped or mined and later cultivated. Today however, the river corridor must be one of the prettiest in the state. Also, the river itself is both attractive and exciting. The trip we will describe here covers about six miles of the most scenic area and the best whitewater.

The Etowah is a near perfect beginners’ canoeing stream. The flow of water is usually adequate for canoes in the spring and early summer months. Occasional high water levels following rains make the stream easier, except for possible increased danger from the waterfall near the middle of the trip.

The section of the river described here and shown on the accompanying map begins at Ga. Hwy 9 west of Dahlonega and ends at Castleberry Bridge near historic Auraria. The put-in is on the northeast corner near the bridge and is a rather steep bank, poorly suited to this use. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jimmy Carter

President Carter wrote this for the Preface to the Flint River Guidebook

As a boy growing up in Archery, I worked fields that drained into Choctahatchee (or as we called it, Chock-li-hatchet) Creek. Choctahatchee Creek joins Kinchafoonee Creek, which merges with Muckalee Creek and flows into the Flint River just above Albany. The Choctahatchee was where I fished. It was where I learned about the out-of-doors, where I learned to explore, and where I learned how not to get lost. It’s where my playmates and I, and occasionally my father, had many hours and days together. We had an immersion in the natural world that has marked my whole existence. The Choctahatchee drainage is really the origin of my life. I still feel more at home and more in a natural element and closer to God when I’m out in the woods by myself, or just with Rosalyn, than at any other time.

During those childhood years on the Choctahatchee, I developed an appreciation for the protection of at least part of the world the way God made it. It affected my life when, as a state senator, I had to deal with natural resources. It was a part of my attitude when I became governor. I was one of the founders of the Georgia Conservancy; I advocated the protection of the Chattahoochee River, particularly in the Atlanta area, and, as governor, I created the Georgia Heritage Trust, which had a budget of $11 million the first year. Read the rest of this entry »