Canoeing Hatchett Creek

Day One Word of a good thing travels fast. Bob and George talked with George’s brother Bill about last year’s trip and it wasn't long before Bill was hunting up a canoe. Mad Max, who grew up in Goodwater but is no relation to anyone in our group, called George one day out of the blue and asked if we had ever been down Hatchett Creek. George told him that we had and that we were planning to go again in a few weeks. Mad Max said he would be there and bring his son, Little John. We all assembled at George's house at 7:00 AM except for Bill, Mad Max and Little John who would meet up with us on day two at Cat Den and start from there. Mary took us to Shorts Bridge pulling our new canoe trailer that George and I built since last year's trip. The trailer would carry seven canoes and was light enough for one man to push around if needed. This addition to our gear sure made the job of hauling canoes easier. George and I loaded into my red Coleman and Steve and Bob went in Ste...

Day One Bob and Gwen Willis had just moved to Montgomery from San Antonio Texas where Bob had retired from a career in the military as a Colonel in the Army. Meg, Stephen and I were visiting Mary and George when Bob and Gwen stopped by on their way to Lineville. I hadn't seen them since I was about 5 years old. My most vivid memories of them came from an 8mm home movie of their wedding and some water-skiing footage taken of them on Lake Martin. I had with me a box full of men's French Shriner shoes of all sizes that sold for $5.00 a pair. Bob, George and I were trying on shoes and talking about no matter how ugly they were, you couldn't pass up a deal like that. The conversation drifted to camping and fishing and it wasn't long before I started telling about how much fun Steve and I had on our 3-day fishing/canoeing/camping trip year. After about two milliseconds of arm-twisting, we were making plans for a trip on the first full moon in April. April came around a...

It was September of 1988 when Meg, Stephen and I drove to Goodwater for the Labor Day weekend. Saturday came with some time to burn so Steve and I decided to take his Coleman down Socapatoy Creek. This was a spur-of-the moment decision, so we grabbed a cooler and some paddles, ferried Steve's Blazer to US-231 and got Steve Jr. to take us to the put in spot on US-280. It has been my experience that spur-of-the moment trips, for the most part, usually turn out surprisingly good. This was a half-day trip and since we had never gone down this creek before there would be new territory to explore. We put in at a place off of US-280 where Baker Creek, a tributary to Socapatoy Creek, was about 12 feet wide. Trees were lying across the water, stretching from one bank to the other, for as far as we could see. The sky was overcast but rain was not expected. We got wet right off the bat at the first tree crossing we came to. After what seemed like an hour of hauling the boat over blow dow...

Day One Lightning flashed as we tied our canoes on top of Steve's Blazer. The weather forecast called for rain all night with clearing skies by morning. The next day the water level was full and slightly stained, and the sky was clear and blue, a perfect day to begin our first three-day canoe/camping trip. George drove Steve and me to the upper bridge at Brownsville where we were attempting, for the first time, to go to Kelly's Crossroad below Rockford, Al. It should take us about three days to get there. We packed clothes and food into zip-lock bags and stuffed them into backpacks that were lashed into the front of our canoes. I was paddling my red Coleman canoe I had purchased used from John Burkhalter. (I had help peal this same canoe off a rock a few years ago after this fellow and his girlfriend pinned it broadside in the Hiawassee River.) Steve was paddling his brand-new green Coleman canoe he had purchased at EDCO in Alexander City, Al. Steve and I had wanted to m...

By John B. Scott Jr. The headwaters of Hatchett Creek rise in the Talladega mountains and the creek officially begins where its east and west forks come together near Bull’s Gap in Clay County. Steadily gaining strength from innumerable springs and branches, the creek then flows southwesterly for approximately forty miles through Clay and Coosa Counties before emptying into the backwaters of Lake Mitchell. During its course, Hatchett falls over 400 feet in elevation and is laced with numerous stretches of white water as it flows over rocky shoals and ledges of granite. For much of the way the creek is hemmed in with steep hills, heavily forested with second growth hardwood and pine. For long stretches, the roar of rapids and the unbroken walls of green, give to Hatchett a wilderness character unique among Alabama’s waterways. Hatchett has not always been so detached from man’s ordinary, workday endeavors. When the earliest settlers moved into the area in the 1830’s they i...