Monday Chuck R. picked me up and drove up to Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. Suwannee River Canoe Outpost shuttled us up to Hwy 6 bridge. We paddled 5 miles and set up camp. There had been a lot of rain in south GA. so the river was up about eight feet from a month ago and was running. All of the sandbars were well under water. Tuesday when we got to Big Shoals we had thoughts of running them but after getting out of our boats at the portage and scouting we decided that we would portage. The signs warn that it is a class 3 rapid. Tuesday night we camped just past the Steven Foster State Park in a group site with a fire ring. Wednesday we found a camp on FL. hiking trail which runs along the river. This site was maybe a mile past the Suwannee River Canoe Outpost ramp. Both Tuesday and Wednesday night our camp sites were a bit of a steep climb The weather was perfect with days in 70s and nights in 50s-60s. A few mosquitoes at night but not enough to use much repellant. The wild life consisted of a couple of gators, beaver, a few wading birds, one red neck who explained to us that the country is becoming communist, but the strangest event was about 100 SandHill Cranes that were flying quite high above us and screaming loudly. The flight pattern consisted of several groups of 8-12 would fly off in a different direction then return to the main body. The main body would also continue to change the direction it was flying. You had to be there. With the high water levels moving down river we averaged 4.1 mph without exerting ourselves. We took out at Suwanee River State Park. About five miles before the State Park we stopped at Gibson County Park on 249/751, camping is free. Should I do this trip again I would take out at this park as the river widens substantially down to the State Park the locals call this section of the river the swamp.
