Canoeing Hatchett Creek

Day One   The flow rate gauge at King’s Bridge was showing just less than 700 CFS on 29 March 2001. Rain was expected during the night and we hoped for an 800 to 900 CFS to begin our 2001 canoe camping trip. On Friday morning the flow rate was a perfect 800 CFS as we loaded our boats at the Cat Den. Steve and I were paddling the green Coleman canoes and Stephen was in his red kayak.   William road in the front of my canoe and was taking his first two-day trip down to the Coosa River.   I was carrying enough gear for three people in my boat. This amounted to about 80 pounds of stuff in addition to William’s 65 pounds.   The Coleman handled sluggish, but the creek was deep enough to provide an easy ride.   The sky was overcast, and the temperature was in the 50s. Meg made a few last-minute photos and handed me the camera as we pushed away from the bank and let the current take us down stream. We waved good-bye to George and Meg and rounded the bend be...

Day One Another year flies by and it's time to hit the creek again. The years are coming now as fast as weeks. Stephen will be making his third trip and this time I decided to let him go all the way to Kelly's Crossroads. I had been preoccupied before the trip by trying to rig some kind of fixture that would allow me to fly a confederate battle flag from the bow of my canoe. After several failed attempts of using springs and antenna mounts, I decided to just lay the mast across the stern, tie it down and let the flag just hang. This way it wouldn't interfere with fishing. We got started in traditional way with breakfast at George's house and an early morning drive to the put in place at Short's bridge. Stephen and I use Bob's green Coleman since he wasn't able to make it this year. Dick had a new red Coleman; George used his Mohawk and Steve had his green Coleman. Charlie Cornelius had messed up his back earlier this year and didn't want to chance a...

Day One After the February trip down Hatchett Creek, Bill decided that he would bring along some full-time help. Andrew is Bill's youngest of three sons. He would be paddling tandem with Bill for the duration of this trip. Stephen and I spent the night with George and were up early the next morning for coffee, sausage and biscuits. Meg and William drove down about 7:00 AM and helped ferry some of us and our gear to the Short's Bridge. This year the county was replacing the old bridge, so we put in on this side of the creek. It was actually a better put in place than the one on the other side of the creek. Stephen and I were in Bob Willis's green Coleman, George and Dick were in Dick's new red Coleman, Steve C. & Charlie C. were in their green Mohawk, Steve G. was in his green Coleman, and Bill and Andrew were in their Blue Hole. A few pictures were made, and we were all off on the first leg of our annual 3-day canoe camping trip. The weather was perfect. Crysta...

George had sausage, biscuits, eggs, and coffee fixed at 7:00 AM at his house where we all gathered to eat before hitting the creek. Uncle Bob Willis joined us for breakfast but since he was still recovering from by-pass surgery, he decided to sit this one out and be ready for the 3-day trip coming up in April. We planned to do some fishing but since the water was so muddy and receding we decided to just paddle and not worry with fishing gear. This trip was planned in advance by watching the weather forecast that called for a couple of days of rain then clearing skies by the week end, perfect conditions for a one-day trip. The creek was running just over full and stained like creamed coffee. The water level had gone down about 2 or 3 feet during the night as indicated by a stake that marked the water level the previous day. Four canoes were loaded onto the canoe trailer at George's house. Since Charlie's (Charlie Cornelius) boat was already fixed on his truck to his new can...

Day One This year was special because I was taking my son Stephen with me for the first time. We would paddle the usual stretch from Short’s bridge to Uncle Joe’s Cat Den and spend the night. The fact that Stephen was going added an extra element of excitement. I remember when my Daddy would take me on camping or hunting trips and how excited I was. I remember anticipating the trip days before we started and thinking that the day would never get here when we would leave. Well, the day was here, and Stephen was ready. He was about to turn 6 years old and was a fair swimmer. We ate the traditional breakfast feast at "Pa Pa’s" house and drove to the put in. Stephen and I were in my old red Coleman, George was in his new blue 119 Old Town, Bob was in his green Coleman, Steve was in his green Coleman, Bill was in his new Blue Hole, Charlie was in his brand new green Mohawk, and Dick was in George's red Mohawk. Charlie and Bill were childhood friends. They used to spend ...