Suwannee River level

-- Last Updated: Sep-21-06 7:20 AM EST --

Has anyone paddled any parts of the Suwannee River from Fargo, Georgia to White Springs, Florida recently and can tell me if at it's current level if it would be suitable for a ultralight kevlar comp cruiser?
I have heard that below big shoals porage there are a lot of rocks and was wondering if it is doable in this knd of canoe?

Thanks,

JackL

OT but was just wondering…
I was in Fargo in 1970 trying to drive north out from under the cloud cover to see the total eclipse of the sun. Which was unsuccessful, I might add. I have a picture of the sign coming into the town reading “Fargo Unincroporated.” Just wondering if they ever changed the sign. Home of Uncle Remus’ Paper Mill if I recall correctly.

Will let you know on Monday
We are going to try for a quick over night trip on Saturday. We want to go from Griffs Fish Camp to Fargo but I don’t think that there will be enough water in that stretch of river. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv/?site_no=02314500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

If not, we will probably put in at the Hwy 6 Bridge and paddle to the Cone Bridge. At least low water on the Suwannee River means some great sandbar camping sites

What are you racing in?
A kayak or canoe?

I’m still trying to decide if I can paddle that far. Thinking of maybe renting a Perception Acadia and using that instead of my Penobscot

so, how did it go Kayak ken ?
I have been watching the level and it keeps droping.



Jack L

Not Ken
But I was up there this morning. Pretty low… I don’t think it is as rocky up above Rt. 6 but I’m still not sure I’d want to drag a “delicate” boat thru there. Looked better up at Roline and at Turner bridge but this is the view from the Rt 6 Bridge.

http://swampdrummer.phanfare.com/album/122187/145027/6758063

Thanks, much appreciated !
We will probably wait until next year unless there is some big time rain between now and the race.



Cheers,

JackL

Hiyaking on the Suwannee River
Sometimes you just got to paddle on a river no matter what common sense and river gauges tell you. This was one of those weekends. The bridge at US 441 at Fargo, Georgia had a gauge reading of 0.85 and a flow rate of 11 cubic feet per second. It looked like there might be enough channels thru the river bed so we decided to try the section of the Suwannee from Griff’s Fish Camp to Fargo (about 14 miles). This should have been an easy overnight trip. We should have known better when the guy at Griff’s told us that there “might” be enough water for us to paddle in. At first, everything was fine then we started running across some sandbars. After 2 miles, the river started to disappear for a short stretch then reappear again. Next thing you know these pull-over’s started getting longer and closer together. After about 6+ miles we found a real nice sandbar to camp on complete with bear tracks. As the campfire burned down after a good meal we were treated to a sky full of stars for a perfect evening. After a not so early start we started Hiyaking again. Hiyaking is a term we came up with to describe dragging your boat down the river over sandbars. Next time I do this stretch of river it will be with a river gauge reading of over 3 feet at US 441 Fargo, Georgia. See the trip reports for Georgia on the Suwannee in a couple of days for some pictures of this trip. I do not recommend bringing a boat that you do not want to drag across logs and sandbars and I would not paddle this stretch of river again unless the river gauge at US 441 Fargo, Georgia had a reading of at least 3 feet.

Thanks Ken
I guess that cancels me too.

Oh, nice photos swamprat.

Let me know next time either of you go if you want someone to tag along.



Thanks

Bobby G

Many thanks,
Hopefully a lot of folks who would be traveling from a long distance will read this and take heed.

There was one year that the Lumber River 40 mile race turned into what they jokingly now refer to as the “fifty miler” due to no water and all the walking everyone had to do.

I fortunately missed that one.



thanks again, and

Cheers,

JackL

Check out my trip report.
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?1548 If you have ever been to Fargo before you can see how low the water is. When I checked the water today it was at 5.1 cfps. In the picture I took of the bridge the water flow was at 10 cfps.

Suwannee Update
American Canoe Adventures considering shifting the Suwannee race course. Read more at http://www.luv2paddle.com/cgi-bin/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4959

Thanks Mo
Maybe there is hope yet !



JackL