By Clint Cox, alias “The Panhandle Paddler”
Our journey down the Chipola River, now well into Calhoun County, picks up at the area known as Big Look and Tremble. As I wrote last week this is a shoal area of the river that, when the water levels are low, makes for a Class I or sometimes even a Class II type rapid. The best way to make you way up or down the rapid is to run close to the eastern banks.
Just below Big Look and Tremble we came up on a large contingency of boats (about 10) that were anchored next to a house boat, aka party barge. They were all having a large time and not feeling much pain. The river widens out along this stretch and is fairly deep. That combination makes this very popular for motorized boating and on the weekends there is quite a bit of boat traffic on the river. I also learned that Spring Creek is not the only popular tubing run on the river. The stretch from Johnny Boy’s Landing to Lamb Eddy is also very popular with the tubers and we saw at least a 100 folks enjoying the river via tubes. They also share a common trait with the Spring Creek tubers in that it is a big party scene for most of them.
About an hour below Big Look and Tremble is an area known as Lamb Eddy. In river terms an eddy is a current of water moving contrary to the main current in a circular motion. Lamb Eddy is located at a big bend on the western bank of the river. When I inquired as to how this area was given it’s name, I was told that it had something to do with a former Judge in that area. I don’t know if that is factual or not, but with the lay of the land and the river, there is no doubt there is more than one eddy in the area. Lamb Eddy encompasses about 3 acres of land which is well kept and has plenty of shade. It includes a public boat ramp, a swing and large clear cut grassy area that provides for plenty of parking. We made camp at this site and I’m told that while camping is not officially allowed, nothing will be said as long as the campers don’t cause any problems. With the large contingency of boat traffic and tubers taking out at the landing, there was a lot of vehicular and pedestrian traffic going and coming. By evening though most of the party crowd had left and it was fairly quit. That is until about 2:00 am when the party crowd returned with loud trucks and music. They finally departed about 4:00 am and we were able to get back to sleep. If you are looking for a quite little spot to camp on the river during a summer weekend, Lamb Eddy ain’t it. But during the week or in the fall and winter, it would make for a right nice spot to pitch a tent and spend the night.
Join us next week, we’ll journey from Lamb Eddy to the Highway 20 Bridge.
Rollin’ Down the River is a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times that highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles.
Our journey down the Chipola River, now well into Calhoun County, picks up at the area known as Big Look and Tremble. As I wrote last week this is a shoal area of the river that, when the water levels are low, makes for a Class I or sometimes even a Class II type rapid. The best way to make you way up or down the rapid is to run close to the eastern banks.
Just below Big Look and Tremble we came up on a large contingency of boats (about 10) that were anchored next to a house boat, aka party barge. They were all having a large time and not feeling much pain. The river widens out along this stretch and is fairly deep. That combination makes this very popular for motorized boating and on the weekends there is quite a bit of boat traffic on the river. I also learned that Spring Creek is not the only popular tubing run on the river. The stretch from Johnny Boy’s Landing to Lamb Eddy is also very popular with the tubers and we saw at least a 100 folks enjoying the river via tubes. They also share a common trait with the Spring Creek tubers in that it is a big party scene for most of them.
About an hour below Big Look and Tremble is an area known as Lamb Eddy. In river terms an eddy is a current of water moving contrary to the main current in a circular motion. Lamb Eddy is located at a big bend on the western bank of the river. When I inquired as to how this area was given it’s name, I was told that it had something to do with a former Judge in that area. I don’t know if that is factual or not, but with the lay of the land and the river, there is no doubt there is more than one eddy in the area. Lamb Eddy encompasses about 3 acres of land which is well kept and has plenty of shade. It includes a public boat ramp, a swing and large clear cut grassy area that provides for plenty of parking. We made camp at this site and I’m told that while camping is not officially allowed, nothing will be said as long as the campers don’t cause any problems. With the large contingency of boat traffic and tubers taking out at the landing, there was a lot of vehicular and pedestrian traffic going and coming. By evening though most of the party crowd had left and it was fairly quit. That is until about 2:00 am when the party crowd returned with loud trucks and music. They finally departed about 4:00 am and we were able to get back to sleep. If you are looking for a quite little spot to camp on the river during a summer weekend, Lamb Eddy ain’t it. But during the week or in the fall and winter, it would make for a right nice spot to pitch a tent and spend the night.
Join us next week, we’ll journey from Lamb Eddy to the Highway 20 Bridge.
Rollin’ Down the River is a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times that highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles.
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