Dead Lakes To The Cut

By Clint Cox, alias “The Panhandle Paddler”
The journey through the Dead Lakes continues this week. I’ll begin this portion of the journey at the area known as West Arm Creek. This dark water creek enters the Lakes from the west and if you are traveling south on Highway 71 you will cross over this creek just before entering the town of Wewahitchka. The creek has many of the same features as the Lakes, with its dark waters and vast graveyard of cypress stumps. As you travel south through the lake you’ll approach West Arm Creek at a landmark known as 5 Stumps. These 5 stumps are found on the northern tip where the creek meets the lake. You’ll know it is West Arm Creek when you see one of these stumps with a black and white ribbon / banner tied around the stump. In fact, there are three or four stumps in and around the creek entrance that have these same black and white ribbons / banners. I paddled about a ½ mile up the creek and it looked to be a prime fishing location, as is much of the Dead Lakes.
In paddling through the Dead Lakes we have been primarily hugging the western shoreline. At West Arm Creek the journey moves toward the eastern shoreline to find a clear channel. This channel however will eventually come to a dead end. When it does, head due west until you catch sight of the Dead Lakes Bridge on Lake Grove Road. When you see the bridge, return to the eastern shoreline to find the main channel. This main channel will take you under the bridge and over the remnants of the old man made dam.
As I wrote last week the Dead Lakes were created naturally over the course of many years. The sediment-laden Apalachicola River deposited its silty sands over its banks, causing a slow-motion jam that eventually created a natural dam on the Chipola River. The ensuing high water from the Apalachicola in the floodplain killed thousands of trees, thus the name Dead Lakes. A man made dam was constructed in 1962 to help maintain a high water level however it was torn down around 1987 when it was realized that the man made dam was doing more harm than good. As I paddled under the bridge, with at least 8-10 feet of clearance, I recalled seeing a picture taken by Dick Hinson in 1986 of Sonny Anderson and his canoe as he went under the bridge with only about two inches of clearance. That was before the dam was removed.
About 200 yards south of the bridge is The Cut, which is where the Chipola River is joined by a segment of the Apalachicola River. The Big River splinters off from its self about a mile upriver and this splinter connects with the Chipola, overtaking The Little River and turning the waters to a muddy red coloration. From here the Chipola, with its new red look, flows 18 miles south to join up with the main channel of the Apalachicola River.

Rollin’ Down the River has been a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times which highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles. See Simply Put for more on the conclusion of this series.

Scott’s Ferry To The Dead Lakes

By Clint Cox, alias “The Panhandle Paddler”
Departing from Scott’s Ferry early on a beautiful Sunday morning, Chris Matthews and I began our journey toward the Dead Lakes. South of the Highway 71 bridge there are several sloughs, one of which includes a very large house boat that is rumored to house a full size pool table. On down the river there are numerous houses on the east side of the river and the eastern banks are high while there are almost no banks on the western side.
The river goes through several changes in this section, going back and forth from being a wide and slow moving river to being much more narrow and picking up speed. About an hour paddle below the bridge the river forks, with the left fork going around an island in a horseshoe fashion. Stay to the right if you want the quicker route and continue on as the river begins to narrow again, traversing through several willow runs. Coming out of the willow runs are more sloughs and many cypress stumps that give indication of logging in years past. This widening and narrowing of the river continues for several miles but we eventually come upon a bend with several nice houses and a pretty good size creek coming from the east. That creek would be Cypress Creek and that indicated we were now in the upper portion of the Dead Lakes.
The Dead Lakes were created naturally over the course of many years. The sediment-laden Apalachicola River deposited its silty sands over its banks, causing a slow-motion jam that eventually created a natural dam on the Chipola River. The ensuing high water from the Apalachicola in the floodplain killed thousands of trees, thus the name Dead Lakes. A man made dam was constructed in 1962 to help maintain a high water level however it was torn down around 1987 when it was realized that the man made dam was doing more harm than good.
With Chris leading the way, the paddling plan was simple. Hang right all the way down the lake. If there was ever a place that a person wanted to get lost, the Dead Lakes would be a prime location. But with a GPS and a map of the lake we made our way safely down the western shoreline. The lake begins to widen out significantly with more cypress stumps than you can imagine. There were several notable landmarks along the way that reassured us we were on the right path. Those landmarks included Brown’s Creek, a sunken barge, Cypress Lodge and an Eagle’s Nest. There were also a couple of unusal landmarks that included a twisted cypress tree that looked like an ice cream cone and a string of gordes up in the trees.
By midday we had reached our take out location, which was an old fishing camp that we were able to access thanks to Sam Mattraw. We had made it about two-thirds of the way down the Dead Lakes but our day was over. So tune in next week for the final leg of the journey through the remainder of the lake and the end of the Ole Chipola River.
Rollin’ Down the River is a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times that highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles.

Highway 20 Bridge To Scott’s Ferry

By Clint Cox, alias “The Panhandle Paddler”
This week’s paddle adventures began at the Highway 20 Bridge with Greg Lambe serving as our chauffeur (on land) and Chris Matthews once again serving as my traveling companion, and more importantly on this run, as my guide. The river was somewhat muddy due to recent rains but early traveling weather was enjoyable. This portion of the river is much wider with numerous sloughs, especially on the eastern side. Numerous house boats were observed along the way as well as some screened houses or pavilions.
Several creeks were noted along the way and like the sloughs most enter from the eastern banks as the western banks were usually much higher. But then the high banks switch sides and we came up on a bend that had extremely steep banks on the east side. These banks, at least 75 feet in height, were covered in various forms of vegetation (ferns, wild honeysuckle and mountain laurel) but you could hear spring waters trickling through the lime rock as it made its’ way down to the river. Just across from these banks was a nice little sandbar that we stopped at for a snack and to rest our bodies. A closer inspection of the banks revealed the clear waters trickling into the river and the lime rock displayed shelled fossils from it’s’ days of being under ocean waters.
About 10 minutes down from this area is a small tea colored creek entering from the east. There is a swing, complete with a launching stand and just up creek is a beaver dam, which made for a nice little water fall. We then began to encounter “Willow Way”, a long stretch of the river in which Willow trees border both the east and west banks. It was along in here that we had our first gator sighting and we trailed this 7 or 8 footer down the river for at five or six bend before he had enough of us and submerged into the murky waters.
The river begins to change as it becomes narrower and splinters off into numerous sloughs with little to no banking. This last for about a mile and then the river reforms with more of a channel and banking. This occurred just as we approached Jehu Landing, a dirt boat landing on the east bank. A little further down we went back through another narrow stretch with more sloughs splintering off. We came out of this stretch to find numerous RV campers on the east bank and Beck’s Lake, a large slough, on the west bank.
About five hours paddle below Highway 20 we came to the area known as Ward Lake. This is a stretch where the river splinter’s into a series of sloughs and narrow runs. When you encounter a sign that says Ward Lake pointed to the left, go right. All the locals will tell you to enter Ward Lake only if you positively know your way around. Going right will led you to a run that will take about an hour and will get narrower the further south you travel. Some parts are so narrow and shallow that only a canoe or kayak could make it through. We encounter two log jams, one of which we had to disembark and pull under a fallen tree. Chris assured me that we were on the right stretch and that a wider river would reappear soon.
And just when I thought the river might completely disappear, we came out from this narrow passage back into open waters. And around the next bend was the Highway 71 Bridge and Scott’s Ferry. We spent the night at Scott’s Ferry in one of their river cabins. They have 5 cabins built up on stilts and have varying levels of accommodations. Our cabin had a double bed, sleeper sofa, microwave, small refrigerator and a bathroom with a shower stall. After spending the day on the river, in a kayak and in the rain, the hot shower and air conditioning usually would have been the most valuable players. But the MVP turned out to be of a different sort. (See Simply Put)
Join us next week, we’ll journey from Scott’s Ferry to the Dead Lakes.
Rollin’ Down the River is a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times that highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles.

Lamb Eddy To Highway 20 Bridge

By Clint Cox, alias “The Panhandle Paddler”
Our summertime stroll down the Chipola River continues this week with the run from Lamb Eddy to the Highway 20 Bridge. My traveling companion, Chris Matthews, and I made this trip on a June Sunday morning after camping the night before at Lamb Eddy. In last week’s feature I commented that I did not know the origins of the name Lamb Eddy. One of our readers, Nadine Standland called to provide the information. Lamb Eddy was named after John Lamb, who lived on the west banks of the eddy. His brother lived on the east banks of the eddy. John Lamb’s father-in-law was William Peacock, the great great grandfather of Standland. We started out with a beautiful blue sky over our heads and the Ole Chipola beckoning us to spend the day in her company.
Just below Lamb Eddy there is quite a bit of development on the west bank but the east bank remains mostly undeveloped. Just over a mile below Lamb Eddy is a concrete boat landing, known as New Landing on the east side. From that point southward the housing build up switches sides as the east bank is developed while the west bank is undeveloped. The river also begins to widen out some here and slow down. About an hour paddle below Lamb Eddy we observe Ten Mile Creek meeting up with the river from the west bank side. This tea colored creek has some very interesting lime rock formations that guard its’ bank for almost a ¼ mile up creek. This creek, which I suspect is about 10 miles long, runs all the way back up to Highway 73. Just south of Ten Mile Creek several smaller creeks were seen, one on the west bank and one on the east bank. It was along in here that we noticed an unusual lime rock formation on the east bank that appeared as if it had a shelf running parallel with the river for about 75 feet.
We stopped for lunch at a small creek entering from the east called Farley Creek. It had a nice little sandy beach area but it was most easily noted by a concrete bridge over the creek just a few feet from the river. We had a nice visit there with a nice young couple whose family owned the property. They had brought their new Labrador puppy down to the river for a dip. There’s nothing like a puppy and the river to coax total strangers into an enjoyable chat. On down a ways the river widened out even more and we noticed a lot of bamboo on the west bank. Right after the bamboo forest we came upon Four Mile Creek. This creek, which is tea colored like Ten Mile, enters from the west about four miles below Lamb Eddy. The river was clear and shallow here and it made for a great cooling off dip.
Past Four Mile Creek there are some really high banks on the east side, some at least several hundred feet high. It had a feel almost like we were paddling through a gorge in the mountains of North Carolina. After departing the high banks area, the river returned to its’ normal look and as we neared the Highway 20 Bridge we spotted some nice sand bars. One particular sandbar was rather large and hugged the west bank a few bends above the bridge. Several smaller sandbars, and a slough called Gator Slough, were stationed just north of the bridge.

Join us next week, we’ll journey from the Highway 20 Bridge to Scott’s Ferry.

Rollin’ Down the River is a weekly summertime feature of the Jackson County Times that highlights the Chipola River through pictures, stories and articles.