Kayaking the Chipola this weekend.

[Raven]

You want to put your boats in here next time! There's all sorts of freshwater springs you can paddle into. It's a good days paddle upstream of where you put in on this trip. You'd be taking boats out at the public parking under the bridge, by Bear Paw canoe rental. This will take you right by the "ovens" so you can spend the night in the caves, dry and out of reach of rain or any possible flooding

 

[Hank62]

We've had a lot of rain, the river will be high and it'll be hard to find a place to camp. Be careful. I prefer sit on top Kayaks. For me. They're more stable and easier to maneuver.
Stay safe

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Bamaboy19]

My son/grandsons did 15+ miles on Saturday, camped and met me Sunday morning. Weather showed a heavy thunder storm moving in, so we set up camp at a new county boat ramp, storm split and missed us. Deputy woke us up at 3am to tell us we weren't allowed to camp there, no signage?? Couldn't make us leave on kayaks in the dark. 12 year old grandson was surprised that this was my 1st kayak trip. My son, loaded down and with the 8 year old kinda lagged behind most of the trip baiting hooks, but Monday when he got ready to go went into beast mode and left us in his wake. We made it off the river and we're eating at waffle house by about noon. It was a great trip, I'm looking forward to the next one now!

 

[Bamaboy19]

Instead of starting a new thread I'll just add to this one!
Next trip is 30 miles of the Blackwater into Pensacola Bay on memorial day weekend! I'm doing a couple of mild upgrades; side handles with paddle bungees, a new carbon fiber 250cm paddle and Kydex keel guards. I added to my kit with a proper rain fly for the hammock, a new woobie and a compression bag to keep it all in. I'm thinking I might put a small cooler in an inner tube and tow it??

 

[PINELOG]

We used to float the Chipola in inner tubes when I was a kid , good memories

 

[850guns]

Instead of starting a new thread I'll just add to this one!
Next trip is 30 miles of the Blackwater into Pensacola Bay on memorial day weekend! I'm doing a couple of mild upgrades; side handles with paddle bungees, a new carbon fiber 250cm paddle and Kydex keel guards. I added to my kit with a proper rain fly for the hammock, a new woobie and a compression bag to keep it all in. I'm thinking I might put a small cooler in an inner tube and tow it??

Where are you putting in?

 

[Bamaboy19]

Where are you putting in?

My son plans these trips, he said close to Milton. My brother is a marine biologist that works out of PC. His specialty is sampling fresh water muscles monitoring water quality. My son gets lots of advice from him when he plans his trips.

 

[850guns]

My son plans these trips, he said close to Milton. My brother is a marine biologist that works out of PC. His specialty is sampling fresh water muscles monitoring water quality. My son gets lots of advice from him when he plans his trips.

Just making sure you weren't putting in at (edit) Deaton bridge. Did you say 30 miles?

 

[Bamaboy19]

Just making sure you weren't putting in a Bryant bridge. Did you say 30 miles?

Yes, I was a boy scout and raised him as one, he's an eagle scout, he turns 36 this year and he's never slowed down. Raised him on rock concerts, roller coasters and river trips!

 

[MarkS]

You might already know this and your son probably knows that Blackwater coming down from Deaton Bridge peters out to nothing leading to a long portage through the swamp above Milton
Had some friends learn that the hard way

 

[Bamaboy19]

You might already know this and your son probably knows that Blackwater coming down from Deaton Bridge peters out to nothing leading to a long portage through the swamp above Milton
Had some friends learn that the hard way

Great info, thank you! I'll make sure he's aware.

 

[Raven]

Great info, thank you! I'll make sure he's aware.

Consider putting in on Coldwater Creek at the Munson Highway bridge, by Bob's Canoe rental. This will be about a 1.5 river miles above the confluence of Coldwater Creek and Blackwater River, which is about a quarter mile (if that) downstream of the Blackwater River blockage that MarkS mentioned above. This way you guys get to paddle the entire navigable portion of the lower Blackwater River. This will put you on a 12 mile (+-) trip before reaching downtown Milton, with a good easy current the whole way. Below downtown Milton and before Bagdad is the confluence of Blackwater River and Pond Creek, on river right. It's definitely worth paddling up Pond Creek to Highway 90. There you'll find a Taco Bell, Sonic, Dollar General, Racetrack gas station, public restrooms, etc. A whole shopping center, with boat parking at Mayo Park right next to Taco Bell. Very handy if you're going to keep paddling out into the bay another 10-15 miles

 

[Raven]

I'm thinking I might put a small cooler in an inner tube and tow it?

This is a bad idea on open water. It's ok when a river current is moving you right along, but once you get to open water below downtown Milton that inner tube is going to act like a sea anchor. Maybe the solution is to bring a cheap inner tube and a cheap cooler that you can discard in downtown Milton?

 

[Bamaboy19]

I appreciate all the advice, I forwarded it to my son. He's gonna go this weekend and scope it all out in person. Adults are one thing, but both his sons, 9 & 13 kinda change logistics. Every since he was 13 or 14 he's had a dream of starting on the Choctahatchee river in Newton AL and paddling all the way down to Choctahatchee bay. More ambition than me, maybe he'll actually do it? He's a stud!

 

[MarkS]

I don’t know if there’s any logjams on Coldwater Creek but if you check out South Alabama River Enthusiasts on Facebook and someone there would probably know. While the name of the group might throw you they cover more than just Alabama

 

[Bamaboy19]

I don’t know if there’s any logjams on Coldwater Creek but if you check out South Alabama River Enthusiasts on Facebook and someone there would probably know. While the name of the group might throw you they cover more than just Alabama

Probably a good idea, he uses Facebook, me not so much. I think if you look up Alpha Pools you can see examples of his stellar work! I'll pass this on to him, thanks again!

 

[Bamaboy19]

I'm home and still alive! Wasn't sure I was going to fess up, but what the Hell?
As we passed the last stop, someone from shore yelled out "Hey! stop this is the end, where are you going?!" To which I cleverly replied; further, there's still water...
It was my son's idea not to believe the stories of the log jam. We went about a 1/2 mile and traversed over 1 small jam, only to find another 1/2 mile further down. My son walked through the woods and seen that this one went all the way around the bend, and saw "THE" fabled jam, he said it looked like the forest was growing across the river. This picture is after we paddled back upstream, the takeout sandbar was back around a few more bends. And we actually got to meet the guy, yay, who yelled out! He worked for Blackwater canoe rentals. I think we may have almost reached legendary status, as we could hear we were the hot topic amongst them as they loaded their last trailer of inner tubes, that and their boss striking up a conversation the next morning. He said the river stopped at that big jam and dispersed into a gator infested swampland, some as big as 14-15'! I did see tracks almost as big as my hand, but no actual gators. That's my son in the yellow tandem with the youngest grandson. My fingers were numb from that paddle. My neck, shoulders and elbows don't hurt today, but I my wrists are still a little sore this morning. We're thinking Peace river next year? I'm gonna step up and plan that trip, to include my brother and my other grandson with his best friend. I can't remember which river we did for my son's 50 miler, it was the other side of Tallahassee and it was crystal clear, maybe the Seminole?

 

[Raven]

I'm home and still alive! Wasn't sure I was going to fess up, but what the Hell?
As we passed the last stop, someone from shore yelled out "Hey! stop this is the end, where are you going?!" To which I cleverly replied; further, there's still water...
It was my son's idea not to believe the stories of the log jam. We went about a 1/2 mile and traversed over 1 small jam, only to find another 1/2 mile further down. My son walked through the woods and seen that this one went all the way around the bend, and saw "THE" fabled jam, he said it looked like the forest was growing across the river. This picture is after we paddled back upstream, the takeout sandbar was back around a few more bends. And we actually got to meet the guy who yelled out, he worked for Blackwater canoe rentals. I think we may have almost reached legendary status, as we could hear we were the hot topic amongst them as they loaded their last trailer of inner tubes, that and their boss striking up a conversation the next morning. He said the river stopped at that big jam and dispersed into a gator infested swampland after that. He said as big as 14-15', I did see tracks almost as big as my hand, but no actual gators. That's my son in the yellow tandem with the youngest grandson. My fingers were numb from that paddle. My neck, shoulders and elbows don't hurt today, but I my wrists are still a little sore this morning. We're thinking Peace river next year? I'm gonna step up and plan that trip, to include my brother and my other grandson with his best friend. I can't remember which river we did for my son's 50 miler, it was the other side of Tallahassee and it was crystal clear, maybe the Seminole?

If you didn't make it past the confluence of Blackwater River and Juniper Creek then you still have yet to see that fabled swamp and the real stoppage the river sand has been backing up against that swamp now for over 20 years... every second of every day... and it'll take dynamite for a good couple miles to blow it clear now when I spent the night there in 2012 and visited again in 2014 it was smooth sailing all the way past the Juniper Creek confluence, and according to GPS in 2014 I didn't get within a mile of where I paddled, got stuck, spent the night and walked out to Hwy90 in 2012... and the fact is soon enough in the next 5 or 10 years it'll be ankle deep swamp at Deatons Bridge too, and the canoe rentals will not go there anymore. The rental agencies and the canoe and kayak clubs can clear log jams but we can't so easily dredge a channel.

 

[5lima30ret]

I would definitely recommend going with a double ended paddle. I prefer sit-on top kayaks they are not as hot as the sit-in style. I have (2) sit-on Lifetime Tamaracks that are good all purpose. I have had Ocean Kayaks as well. They are good and very durable. This is on the Magnolia River very clear! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Bamaboy19]

If you didn't make it past the confluence of Blackwater River and Juniper Creek then you still have yet to see that fabled swamp and the real stoppage the river sand has been backing up against that swamp now for over 20 years... every second of every day... and it'll take dynamite for a good couple miles to blow it clear now when I spent the night there in 2012 and visited again in 2014 it was smooth sailing all the way past the Juniper Creek confluence... the fact is soon enough in the next 5 or 10 Years it'll be ankle deep swamp at Deatons Bridge too, and the canoe rentals will not go there anymore

We were told it's been that way for 15+ years, they will never clear it again, due to the park rangers, deputies and game wardens spending every night looking for last people.