# Choctawhatchee River canoe trip



## marktaylor99 (Apr 27, 2009)

This past weekend 4 friends and I canoed on the Choctawhatchee River in south Alabama. We covered 40 miles over 3 days. I am SORE! This was the best camping trip I've ever done.
The Choctawhatchee was near record flood stage a few weeks ago. The water is almost back to normal now, but signs of flooding were everywhere- debris, uprooted trees, washed out boat ramps, ect.
We traveled fairly light, and only brought easy to prepare food. The menu consisted of hotdogs Friday, bacon & eggs Saturday morning, and hamburgers and chips Saturday evening. We did not bring  much camp furniture, or any elaborate cooking gear.
We put in on Hwy 84 near Bellwood, AL. There is a small boat ramp there just to the south of the bridge. We drove down to Pitman, FL to Curry's Ferry where there is a boat ramp and baseball fields and left one truck there.
We got on the water around 1pm Friday. We covered about 14 miles Friday. In this section of the river there are numerous switchbacks. At low water there are plenty of sandbars to camp on. We encountered several downed trees and a small gator in this section. It seemed as though this section of the river is not traveled very much- we didn't see anyone on the water or on the banks all day Friday. 7pm we stopped to camp in a cow pasture in a bend of the river.
Got started again early Saturday morning around 8am. about 4 miles into this section we saw an 8+ foot gator laying on the bank. This section of the river down to Geneva is fairly straight and starts to widen. By Geneva, AL, the river is much deeper and slower moving. There is a park on the west bank at Geneva where we stopped. Immediately after the park the Pea River joins the Choctawhatchee and the river becomes even more wide, and slow. We had to paddle pretty much constantly to keep moving. Saturday evening we stopped about 4pm on a huge sandbar almost directly on the FL/AL line. Total mileage was around 17 miles. We met some locals who camp there often and said the land owner is friendly toward campers.
Sunday morning we got started around 9am. The wind was gusting to 10-15 mph on the water into our faces which made us travel much slower. The river is very straight all the way to Pitman where we took out around 11am. We covered about 7 miles.
Overall it was an awesome trip. Perfect weather, friendly folks, and no gator attacks. This was my first overnight canoeing trip but definitely not the last. The river is not challenging but for beginners such as ourselves it was a good start.


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## RiverRunner (Apr 28, 2009)

Awesome write up!  I wanna do that one day......except I want be paddling, just my little river boat with a 25.


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## marktaylor99 (Apr 28, 2009)

The paddling wasn't too bad. We had the idea of taking a john boat w/ motor... I am glad we didn't as I don't think we could have made it though a couple of spots due to downed trees. 
Our next canoeing trip will probably be Mulberry Creek. I hear there are some minor rapids on it. I'll post an After Action Report on it as well.


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## tylerhortman (May 13, 2009)

Mulberry Creek is fun, what point would yall be starting at?


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## marktaylor99 (May 13, 2009)

Not too sure where to put in on Mulberry... have you done it before?


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## bluebronco93 (May 19, 2009)

That trip seemed like a lot of fun...it's something I have been wanting to do for a long time now. I want to kayak Big Lazer Creek and camp on the WMA. I have a friend though that has done the later part of Mulberry Creek a couple times. He sets in off River Road and paddles to the falls(half a mile), carries around them and paddles down to the river but there are a few rapids spots and falls to watch out for. It would be fun though, I want to do it one day.


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## greene_dawg (May 19, 2009)

Sweet! I've done part of that river on a day trip. Very nice. See any gators?


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## sisbak1999 (Jun 9, 2009)

I did  Mulberry Creek last week,  put in off of Hudson Rd. and got out on Hamilton Mulberry Creek Rd.   3.8 miles, had a blast.  A friend told me about getting in off of River Rd. probably going to try that next week.


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## Randy (Jun 9, 2009)

bluebronco93 said:


> I want to kayak Big Lazer Creek and camp on the WMA.



Just say when!


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## sisbak1999 (Jun 19, 2009)

Doing Mulberry Creek again this Sunday, putting in somewhere off Goat Rock Rd.


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## sisbak1999 (Jun 25, 2009)

Wow what a trip,  we put in at Goat Rock Marina and went up stream and then hiked to the water falls.  I had a great time.  I need to figure out how to post pics. and I know more people will want to do this.   It took about 2 hrs. to get to the site and I almost turned around, but I was told I needed to see the falls.  
if anyone can let me know how to post pics I will post them   thanks,  Dan
I could not imagine falls in GA. like these. I was told from someone that has been there that the water was high.


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