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A small, shallow-draft boat is necessary for the upper river.
The shallowness of the upper river allows only canoes, kayaks, or other shallow-draft boats to maneuver. Rumrunners during Prohibition may have used that part of the river, but today it is relatively quiet, especially on weekdays. The narrowness of the waterway in the upper third of its course can be reassuring to the beginning boater, but that narrowness can funnel the spring rains into a turbulent power rushing down to towns below. The overflowing of the swollen river onto its banks after heavy rains has caused much damage to houses along the way and led to stricter rules about how high new structures must be in order to meet code. My guide Cary Crutchfield and I saw poles along the way—for example in some of Florida’s state parks—that marked the different flood levels. Water fluctuations in much of the river depend a lot on the amount of rain, of course, and the watermarks on the cypresses along the banks can be as much as thirty or forty feet above those of the flow during droughts.
Those boating south from the park or even from Fargo may not see anyone for many miles, but that enables boaters to see wildlife, including deer and gators, seldom seen in more congested areas. The upper part of the river flows through some of Florida’s least-populated counties, which is very conducive to seeing wildlife. Because of the difficulty in determining where in the Okefenokee Refuge the Suwannee actually begins—that is, in separating the start of the river from the surrounding swamp—many boaters begin their trek to the Gulf of Mexico by starting in Fargo, which is over two hundred miles from the Gulf and over twenty miles south of the Okefenokee Refuge.
The railroad bridge near Fargo is the first of about a dozen bridges over the river.
My guide and I did this, putting in at Fargo and heading north, upstream, to the entrance of the Okefenokee Refuge, where rangers do not allow any boat with a motor above ten horsepower. Right at Fargo, a railroad bridge still operates. In fact, we heard a train using the bridge at the beginning of that day’s trip and at the end, although we never actually saw it. Hearing the train whistle conjured images of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when trains were so vital to remote areas like north Florida and south Georgia. It took five to six hours of steady travel for us to reach the entrance of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, where the information on the welcome sign in the river was for the most part expected: No firearms, no camping, no fires, fishing by poles and reels only, and all visitors must leave by sunset.
I learned from my guide that the many cypress trees we saw in that upper part, that section in Georgia, have to begin their growth on dry land and cannot be under water for long stretches of time without dying. He also pointed out that the air bubbles floating downstream, while usually coming from obstructions like fallen limbs farther up, can indicate a gator lying on the bottom, especially if the bubbles rise in relatively undisturbed parts of the river, such as near the banks.
Most of the land along each side is owned by timber companies, which cut the trees out when they are tall. The land would be very difficult to develop, i.e., to build houses on, because it is too wet and has very limited access by cars. The few houses on the high limestone bluffs are relatively safe from the periodic flooding. The steep banks and also the large sand banks in the upper part of the river surprised me. I realized how long the river has been flowing down from Georgia, if it has been able to erode such a deep channel, up to thirty feet, into the limestone formation.
We saw almost no trash in the water or along the banks in Georgia, despite boaters, fishermen, and swimmers, but we did encounter fallen trees across the river at different times. This prompted my guide to advise me (and others) to bring along a portable chainsaw to remove fallen branches and small trees that prevent easy movement up and down the waterway.
Small hills of white sand are present along the river.
We saw kayakers from time to time, boaters who were going to boat much if not all of the Suwannee. One boater, Charles Wilson, kayaked the whole river alone in 1975, making the 230-mile trip without any help from people along the way in a record fifty-seven hours. My guide told me that each year several intrepid boaters canoe the entire river, from the Okefenokee Swamp to the Gulf of Mexico, camping out along the way. If they average about ten miles a day, it will take them 23 to 24 days. Doing so when the river is not affected by a periodic drought makes it much easier, of course. Another account of a boat trip from Fargo to Suwannee is William Logan’s Canoeing and Camping the 213 Miles of the Beautiful Suwannee River.
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On our second cruise, we put in at Turner Bridge Road ramp just north of C.R. 6 in Florida and headed north to Fargo. Because we were boating on a weekday, we saw absolutely no one on that day’s trip. We did see an occasional weekend cottage and boat ramps for the launching of canoes, but the river was undisturbed. What pleased us the most was the almost total lack of trash in that part of the waterway. My guide, who lives on the river south of Branford, collected a few pieces (a raincoat, a deflated rubber raft, a torn piece of Styrofoam) and put them in his boat for later disposal, but in general we were very happy with the cleanliness of the river. The seventeen-mile trip took seven hours upstream and then only three hours downstream with the current. Despite the fact that we were not within sight of any towns, our cell phones could pick up signals much of the way.
The small sign at the Georgia border is easily missed.
The border between Georgia and Florida is marked by a green sign (“GA. STATE LINE”) on a tree on the west bank. Almost all the land on the west bank (and some on the east) in northeastern Hamilton County, from the Georgia line down to C.R. 6, is land managed by the Suwannee River Water Management District. Some maps will list the land tracts as Roline, Hopewell (on the east bank), Turner Bridge, Levings (on the east bank), and Cypress Creek South. Woodpecker Road/Route (C.R. 135 or N.E. 180th Boulevard) runs just to the west of the land tracts on the west bank. Two dirt roads (N.E. 25th Way and N.E. 38th Trail) cut off from Woodpecker Road/Route and lead to boat ramps on the river. The tracts of land contain different types of trees and ecosystems, such as mixed hardwood and bottomland, floodplain, basin, and swamps. The animals that can be seen include alligators, squirrels, gopher tortoises, raccoons, wading birds, and wild hogs. One can also encounter mosquitoes and horseflies, as well as black widow spiders and moccasins. Caution is the word, especially when sleeping in a tent or outside along the river.
The first section of the river, down for about one hundred miles, is relatively unknown to most people, as many seem to prefer the wider, faster current below Fanning Springs. In open stretches along the hundred-mile first section, the blazing sun, especially from around 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., can be difficult to handle. Keeping a radio in the boat can be very helpful, especially with a station tuned to weather reports.
The farms along the river, even if they cannot be seen, have an effect on its health since animal and human waste and fertilizers can creep into the groundwater, increase levels of nitrates in the water, and endanger the region’s drinking water. Large masses of algae in the river are a telltale sign of deteriorating conditions. For the past decade the State of Florida has used a voluntary partnership with farmers that encourages them to reduce groundwater pollution. In recent years, however, officials have taken a more direct approach, requiring large dairies to secure permits that regulate the use of manure on the land. Since 2004, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has required all dairies with more than seven hundred cows to have permits that regulate the use of cow manure on fields. The next step is to require even smaller farms to have similar permits.
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