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…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)