JULY 19-20 – Where the Water Goes – The Confluence

Special Event Series – Trip 5

Saturday & Sunday

Cost: $125 includes canoe/kayak and Sat lunch with Janisse Ray

Location: Ocmulgee/Oconee/Altamaha Rivers

After traveling almost 300 miles (river miles) from Atlanta, our small Atlanta and Decatur creeks mature to participate in building the mighty Altamaha River, formed by the confluence of the Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers. The Altamaha is Georgia’s largest river, spanning nearly 1000 feet before it reaches the Atlantic coast in a rich  delta near Darien, GA.

Janisse Ray, author

In her highly influential book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Janisse Ray writes of the Altamaha, “The river seemed impossibly huge, deep and mysterious, as if it had a mind and thus a purpose.” In her new book, Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River, Janisse describes her journey by kayak down the Altamaha to the coastal town of Darien. Her prose flows with casual ease while offering piercing insights and touching descriptions of personal experiences and the natural & cultural history in times past and present on the Altamaha and it’s special home in South Georgia — both books will be great reading to prepare for our trip, and to help us better understand the specialness and history of this wonderful area through the passionate, thoughtful and beautifully articulate writings of one of our region’s best authors.

On this two-day outing, we’ll first visit the Moody Forest, preserved thanks to Janisse Ray’s tireless efforts, and now managed by The Nature Conservancy. We will experience endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise upland habitat as well as a riverine forest of Tupelo and Cypress.  Then, we’ll have the special opportunity to have lunch with Janisse who will share her stories, insights and experiences about her beloved Altamaha and the Nature of South Georgia.

In the afternoon we’ll launch our canoes for an afternoon paddle on the last stretches of the Ocmulgee River, then we’ll cook supper over a campfire and spend the night camping on a sandbar, listening to calls of owls, katydids and maybe a coyote. Next morning we’ll paddle through the Confluence where the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers meet to become the Altamaha, which flows on to the Atlantic Ocean just below Sapelo Island, where we’ll spend the weekend, Sept 19-21, for our final destination in Where the Water Goes 2014!

Van transportation from Atlanta available. Limit 16, van limit 12. Questions?  call – 404-862-0118

This special outing series is offered in partnership with Atlanta Keeping It Wild and the South River Watershed Alliance.

To RSVP click HERE  –  Details & Directions sent to Registered Participants.

Moody Tract Riverine Forest, photo by Kathryn Kolb