Georgia Wilderness Society
Adventures on the Oconee River
November 16 - 18, 2022
A small but stalwart band of GWS river rats paddled 39 miles over three days on the Oconee River Nov 16-18. Although a trip at the same time last year was full of fall colors and mild temps, this year “the witch of November came early.” Hurricane Nicole had knocked down all the orange cypress needles and much of the fall color. Daytime highs were in the low- and mid-fifties, with a light wind and overcast skies. It definitely felt like winter. We paddled south from Balls Ferry, covering 11 miles, 20 miles, and 8 miles on the three days. Saw nary a turtle or alligator, but did spot deer (on the banks and also skins wrapped on snags where they had drowned), racoon, osprey, mallards, wood ducks, anhingas, herons, grebes, and kingfishers, and thousands of cypress knees. The limestone ledges of Ringjaw Bluff (aka Tarbutton’s Bluff) were also interesting.
Eagle-eyed Grant Mangum
collected native American
flint hand blades and several types of pottery, and he climbed a fifteen-foot bank to cut, from a rotting hardwood log, a large Lion’s Mane mushroom, which he cooked for his family dinner after the trip.
Now can I go home?
We also saw an unusual spring bubbling up a good flow from the middle of a sandbar.
On the last morning the fog from the warmer river and temps in the high twenties resulted in us waking to ice covering our tents, boats, and the sandbar itself.
The low temps and dry air gave us total relief from the usual swarms of bugs, but needless to say, we started that morning with a big fire, which we used to thaw out some gear, including Shirley Williams’ neoprene boots.
Paddlers were Terry Ross, Shirley Williams, Grant Mangum, and trip leader Joe Mangum.
You know campers are tough when they put on barely thawed gear and start paddling. The two old guys with dorky ear flaps on their caps and three layers of clothes were maybe not so tough, and it was hard to keep up with Shirley’s speed in her Pack boat.
What do you mean you EAT these things???
(I know . . . with ketchup, you can eat anything. . . .)
