Kinchafoonee
Motel town is Cordele, GA. Take I-75 south and exit at US 280 exit
in Cordele. Turn left and Days inn is on left just past under the bridge.
The number there is (229) 273-0448. The rates for a room for 4 adults
is $35.00 plus tax. It has a pool. Check in is 2:00pm, but chances are pretty
good we could get in as early as noon.
Link to Motel Web Site:
http://www.the.daysinn.com/cordele05934?sid=AAACEgAAWAAAhhxAAD
Suwannee River (alternate if heavy rains)
Will switch motel reservations at last moment to the one we stayed in
last trip. There are some, including myself, hoping we are not forced to
this alternate and prefer the challenge of a new stream having less traffic. There
are others though that would find this alternate attractive.
PLAN - Kinchafoonee Creek
Thursday - depart with overnight
in motel,
Friday - early breakfast, take canoes to put in. take all
drivers & vehicles to take out, return to put in with only enough vehicles to carry
drivers, shove off, campsite by late afternoon
If everyone has their fishing license, bait, beer and gas all we need to do Friday
morning is eat, get ice and go. If we get up at 4:30, eat and check out by 5:30 we
can be at put in by 6:00. A 15 mi. shuttle (30 round trip) eats another
hour. That means shove off down river at 7:00. Just joking. We probably
could sleep till 5:00. OK make it 6:00. In that case shove off would be around
8:30.
Lets guess 14 river mi. to camp site. At 2 mi./hr. that would be 7 hrs. and
would make arrival at 3:30 p.m. No, on second thought better add 1 hr for lunch, 1
for pee breaks and swimming, 1 for first aid treatment of snake or
alligator bites, and another 1 hr. for dragging around dead falls and we will get there at
7:30 p.m. Seriously, could be more like a 5:30 arrival - just barely enough time to
set camp and eat/drink supper.
Shuttle - Estimate 2 vehicles from Atlanta crowd and 4/5 from
Winder crowd. At 6/7 drivers we should be able to work out leaving only 1 vehicle at
put in (otherwise 2). Drop all canoes and gear at put in at Hwy.118 bridge out of
Smithfield. ALL vehicles & only their drivers would go to take out, Hwy 32
bridge near Leesburg, leaving others in crews to guard and load gear in canoes.
Leave all vehicles at take out except for 1 or 2 to get drivers back to put in. By
then all canoes would have been loaded or close to it and ready to shove off.
Leesburg police indicated that we can park near "Fred's Auto" in town
on US HWY. 19 and they have had no problems there. They did not know about the
bridge itself as it is not in their jurisdiction. If we did park in town it would
mean leaving all vehicles there except for two. One to leave at the bridge and one
to get drivers back up to the put in. These should be the older or less desirable
for vandalism of the vehicles. Leesburg
Police phone (912) 759-6464.
Saturday - fish,
explore river, tell lies, drink beverages and eat
Sunday - Break camp early, 7 or 8 mi. paddle to take out (3 to 4
hrs.), recover vehicles, depart for home
Shuttle - At end of trip 1 volunteer vehicle and it's crew,
with immediate help from all the others, loads their gear & canoes and takes one/two
driver(s) that left vehicles at put in to pick up that vehicle(s). From there
volunteer vehicle and it's crew heads for home. The put in driver(s) returns to take
out where his crew was guarding gear and canoe to load and leave for home. In the
meantime all the other drivers at the take out would have loaded their gear and canoes and
would have been headed home. Variation: If the driver recovering the vehicle
from the put in does not have crew left behind to guard his canoe and gear then 1
additional vehicle and crew would remain until his return to guard boat(s) and gear.
That would only delay 1driver and crew that left vehicle at put in and possibly 1
driver/crew remaining at take out guarding. If 1 did remain at take out for the put
in driver to return to take, he would already be packed, loaded and ready to depart for
home. So 1 driver and crew inconvenienced the most and possibly another driver and
crew somewhat less. All the others pretty much load and leave the take out site
right away. Two things regarding the volunteer vehicle/crew that takes driver(s) to
put in to pick up that vehicle: 1) everyone pitches in immediately to get the
volunteer vehicle packed and loaded so it can get going and 2) It is headed north to
put in so it looses little time.
Variation; If we leave vehicles at Fred's Auto in Leesburg we will need
take vehicle at take out and run drivers over there to pick up vehicles to bring back to
take out - about 1 mi. distance.
ALTERNATE PLAN - Suwanee River
Only if Kinchafoonee Creek is up so high as to present
a camping or safety problem.
Plan would be much the same as described for the Kinchafoonee. Put in is a
commercial outfitter site and has a launch and parking fee. Maybe only one vehicle
would be left there. Take out is at a State Park where most vehicles would be
parked. Think there is a parking fee there too. Good vehicle security.
Easy launch and take out. Fishing was poor on this river last trip.
Interesting Springs and rock formations. Traffic on river more than desired.
Few camp sites - one about 5/8 and another about 7/8. If already captured by others
could present a camping problem. Checked upper section and there is one stretch
called "Big Shoals" that would require a 3/4 to 1 mile portage (that is a long
drag) and could be faced with water too low in other stretches. Info came from
outfitter at White Springs. Other descriptions on the web indicated good camping and
more solitude but all noted the portage at Big Shoals as an obstacle.
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