Georgia Wilderness Society
Way Down Upon the Suwannee River
Prior Years
Way Down Upon the Suwannee River
by Curt Cole
Six GWS members gathered at Griffis Fish Camp, near Fargo Georgia, to paddle the Suwannee River. Weather was good and there was a little fall color in the leaves. The camp was not bad, especially considering the cost of $5/person/night. Mr. Griffis proudly showed Irene & I his "museum" of artifacts. He's a really nice guy. We had a covered pavilion with electricity and water.
This was a trip that Jo Scott put a lot of work into planning, but she had to drop out at the last minute. Jeff was gracious enough to take over for her. I think this was Jeff's first, but maybe not last, time as trip leader. He did a great job. We still missed Jo's company though. Trish wasn't able to paddle, but she kept us company in camp. All but the Milners arrived Wednesday the 14th, 2021.
On Friday, Oct. 15, Jeff and the Coles put-in at Stephen Foster State Park. We paddled down Billy's Lake and got out to explore Mixon's Hammock. This is a designated dry-ground campsite, and a pretty decent one I though. I thought The Narrows might be hard to navigate in high water, but it turned out easy to distinguish the channel from the surrounding swamp. The Fargo/US 441 gauge averaged about 1,000 cfs/8.25' each day.
We got to the sill and ran through it easily as all the gates were open. We took a lunch break at the sill parking lot, which was under several inches of water. Total trip this day was 7.6 miles, with the take-out being at Griffis.
Chris and Ward had arrived by the time we got back to camp. They came to paddle tandem with us for two days. Bugs were minimal at camp, but they were there. We made use of bug dope.
Saturday morning, all but Trish put-in at Griffis and paddled to the US 441 parking lot and boat ramp. On each day we paddled, the nature of the river was different. The first day was generally narrow and clear, except for wide Billy's Lake. Day two was wider but also often filled with willows and other trees, sometimes making it hard to tell where the main channel was. But we never got lost. Jeff was often heading off to one side of the river, exploring the side channels, weaving in and out among the trees. We made about 14.4 miles, averaging 3.3 mph. One tree or shrub I'd not noticed on previous swamp or Suwannee trips was the Ogeechee Tupelo. The fruit was in many trees and even floating down the river in large amounts.
Sunday, we put-in at Turner Bridge Road ramp, and paddled 11.2 miles down to Cone Bridge ramp. The map I had, Upper Suwannee & Withlacoochee Rivers Boating, Canoeing & Recreation Guide, 2007 version, had wrong coordinates for Cone bridge, so on the shuttle run, Chris and I initially went to the wrong side of the river. Before beginning the shuttle, I had punched the coordinates into my GPS and noticed it didn't look right, but I hoped for the best. Poor choice. We got it figured out, and Jeff later bought a more recent version of this map, in which the error has been corrected.
The day's paddle was much more open than the first two days. With the high water, we still didn't see many good sandbars, although the banks were very sandy and often 10' high or more. Irene and I saw one gator on the trip, and I think that was in the swamp.
Chris, Ward and Trish didn't paddle with us Monday, heading home instead. In the end Jeff, Irene and I didn't paddle either, although not from lack of trying. Jeff locked his kayak and other gear in his trailer while we ran shuttle. Then we couldn't get it open. So we eventually gave up and headed to town to get the lock cut off. After that, we checked out Big Shoals on the Suwannee, which had some class II-III whitewater running.
Irene & I headed home. Jeff did as well, but after maybe 20 miles, the view in his left rearview mirror showed his trailer door swinging open. With dread, he stopped and walked back to find that the doors were open, and his kayak, paddle, and PFD were no longer in the trailer. He quickly drove back to where he'd last shut the doors, but never saw the gear again. Apparently, when he shut the door, the cams didn't fully engage, so the new lock he'd just bought did no good. He's still looking for a new boat, but Covid and overseas shipping backlogs have got the stock of new boats very low. So wish him well in his search for a new boat.
Participants were: Irene & Curt Cole, Chris & Ward Milner, Trish McMillan & trip leader Jeff Sorensen.
