Hi Eddie,
I believe in 1972 (nearly 40 years dims the memory banks), a pal and I hiked the north
Georgia mountains from a primary spring source for the Chattahoochee, then launched our canoes in thin
water and paddled our way to the
Gulf of Mexico; the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers converge near the Florida-Georgia border to flow into the Apalachicola River. It was an adventure and we did a tv documentary and newspaper articles about the river and the people we met along the way.
People were friendly, and because of the tv & newspaper coverage, many of them looked for us as we paddled south.
Lake Eufala (Walter George Reservoir) was like crossing an ocean for us, and I
recall overnighting at a
fish camp that hosted some big alligators where the river exited the southern end of the lake. The owners touted how their young grade
school daughters swam with the alligators and we watched them do it. A few years later we heard that one of the girls was killed by an alligator.
I also remember some locks that provided quite an "elevator" ride. And the big black flies in
Florida that ate us alive despite drowning ourselves in insect repellant.
Back then, the U.S. Corps of Engineers printed a book of aerial photographs that depicted the entire river
route from Atlanta to the Gulf. Is anything like that still available? We relied on that book and road maps for
navigation.
Have a great trip. I'll be sure to visit your site.
Roger