
I think the world might be ending soon. I embarked on a paddling trip for the second time in almost as many weeks. Yesterday, my cuñado and myself went canoeing down the world famous Chattahoochee River outside of Atlanta. This marks the fourth such trip I've taken this year, which would be the most time I've spent on the water since I was a camp counselor in the mid-'90's. Needless to say, it's been a pretty cool year for me...
We started our day bright and early by dropping our canoe off near Morgan Falls Dam in Roswell, then dropping a car at the takeout at US 41 in Smyrna. At the takeout, we saw none other than kayaker Richard Grove, who's been in the news lately for taking a couple of marathon trips down the Chattahoochee and Etowah/Coosa Rivers. Then we headed back up to Morgan Falls to begin our trip. It was pretty cold when we set out, but it warmed up quickly and turned into a beautiful day.
After about 30 minutes, we passed Johnson Ferry, which used to be a hub for summertime activity in Atlanta. The Chattahoochee Outdoor Center would rent rafts here, and literally hundreds of these rafts would be seen on the river on a weekend afternoon. Then they discovered ultra-high levels of e coli bacteria in the river, and well, that was that. The old Chattahoochee Outdoor Center was left in disrepair since it closed in '02, and now it looks like they're doing some kind of renovations to the park and boat ramp there.
Canoeist Joe Cook has likened the Chattahoochee experience to "simultaneously paddling through a national park and an industrial park.". The section of river we were on is quite interesting, as it's kind of the last gasp before the "industrial" hits you head on. You're just at the point where you're starting to see a lot of development, but it doesn't quite feel industrial. High bluffs line either side of the river, and many a nice home can be seen hanging off these bluffs.
After about two hours of steady paddling, we stopped for lunch at Powers Island and had quite an interesting experience. A young Indian man came up and asked us if we worked there. After we responded "no", he explained that he had some ashes from a temple ceremony that he had to pray over and send down the river. He wondered if we thought it would be OK. We said "sure", so he proceeded to begin his prayer. We started to quietly slip off so as not to disturb him, when he looked up, and without skipping a beat asked us, "You guys got any beer in that canoe?" Only in Atlanta...
We then crossed under I-285. At this point, you would think that it would get really congested and polluted. But that's the funny thing about the Chattahoochee. Even though you are only a few miles from downtown, this next stretch of river is virtually unspoiled. At one point we got out and walked around. I leaned against a tree for a while, and with the exception of a plane passing overhead, you would have no idea I was in the middle of a metropolitan area. Crazy.
We passed the famous "jumping rock" and then proceeded through the "devil's racecourse", which are some surprisingly swift and exciting rapids. Right past this point we pulled off again and went on a quest for a cave which we had heard was somewhere in the vicinity. After about an hour, we were successful. To call it a "cave" would be a bit of a stretch, but it was pretty cool.
Over the last mile or two of our journey, we passed a bunch of fishermen. Apparently, there's some pretty decent trout fishing on the 'Hooch. On my next trip I'm going to have to figure out a way to bring a pole and try my luck.
All in all, it was a great way to spend a surprisingly warm and sunny day in late November.
I really could get on my conservation soapbox right now, but I think I'll save that for next time...
Also, I hope to get some pictures (of this and the Ogeechee trip) uploaded in the near future.