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. (more…)