Georgia Canoe - Kayak Paddlers - On the Etowah, Amicalola

On the Etowah, Amicalola

On the Etowah, Amicalola Improvements in Dawson County by Rick Bellows Two major projects have made access to the Etowah and Amicalola rivers in Dawson County much easier. On the Etowah, construction is winding up on the new put-in at Highway 9, the start of the Dawson Forest section of the river. The put-in, which will include ample parking and a short flight of steps to the water, replaces the steep, cramped, informal put-in under the Highway 9 bridge. Other improvements, including a visual gauge and informational billboards, are planned. An opening ceremony for the new put-in is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, April 26. As it happens, April 26 was also the date chosen for the last of this year's three Georgia River Explorer Series paddles on, coincidently, the Dawson Forest section of the Etowah. Rather than interfering with each other, these two events are being coordinated to complement each other. Details are still in the works, but the basic plan is for the GRES paddlers to be there for the ceremony, which will essentially end with the group launching on down the river.

The GRES paddlers will hopefully be joined by dignitaries and others paddling after the ceremony. The new put-in will be operated by Dawson County at no charge to users. The take-out at Kelly Bridge Road, however, remains private and still has a parking fee. Without a safe and handy take-out, the usefulness of the new put-in would be severely limited, so it's important that we pay the parking fee at Kelly Bridge and that we make sure to leave the place at least as clean as we find it. On the Amicalola, a handicapped-accessible "trail" (actually a boardwalk with a concrete section under the bridge) has been added to the state-operated put-in/take-out at Highway 53. The new trail runs from the paved parking area upstream of the bridge to about 200 yards downstream of the bridge, just upstream of the first significant rapid on the Lower Amicalola. Along with the foot path still running upstream from the parking lot and the footpath continuing downstream beyond the end of the boardwalk, the new trail allows an easy walk back upstream from about 300 yards below the bridge to 400-500 yards upstream of the bridge: a half-mile, Class 2 park-n-play. The new "trail" and the handicapped parking spaces are intended to allow handicapped access to the bridge and beyond, so we need to be extremely courteous and, or course, give right-of-way to handicapped persons using the trail. The trail is readily accessible and will often be used by able-bodied non-paddlers as well, so we need to be careful when carrying boats. And we need to remember to park up the hill and save the lower parking area for loading and unloading, especially on weekends. If there is a downside to the new trail, it is that allowing easy access back upstream encourages paddlers to go downstream of the bridge and closer to the dangers of the Lower Amicalola. We need to bear those dangers in mind, for ourselves anyone else we may see headed downstream into danger.