Rood Creek Park lies 3 miles south of Florence Marina State Park on CR 39. A couple of different locals had told me about the 12-14 foot alligators in this area. How could I pass that up? I'm glad I didn't because this trip is a keeper.
I was gonna go hiking but the forecast was for temperatures in the 90's. I figured the water would be a better place for me today, especially since 10 knot winds were forecast too. That would cool things off without making too difficult to paddle against.
Rood Creek Park has free camping and is actually quite pretty and well maintained. There's no electric or water and there is a $2 boat ramp fee. It's less than a half a mile from the boat ramp to the Chattahoochee River. Rather than go that way, I turned right to see how far up Rood Creek I could go. It proved to be not too far.
Rounding the very first bend in the river, a 4 foot alligator calmly stood up and nonchalantly walked into the water. It then surfaced to eyeball me and seemed to determine if all that effort was really worth it.
A noisy pump was sucking water out of the creek, probably for irrigating a nearby field. Georgia is of course known for the 3 P's; peaches, pecans and peanuts. On the way to this area I had seen several signs advising a Jimmy Carter National Monument or site was nearby. I was going to stop by and say hi to Jimmy and bum a Billy Beer but figured he'd be off banging nails somewhere for Habitats For Humanity.
After mumbling about the noise from the water pump for a while, I turned my head to see a 7-8 footer giving me the eye from 20 feet away. I don't know where he came from. We sat and watched each other for 15-20 seconds or so. Just as I was beginning to wonder if this guy was being aggressive, it submerged.
The creek dead ended in less than a quarter mile in the usual mud flats. Paddling back out, the big guy and a couple of 4-5 foot gators were waiting for me. If I was suffering from paranoia I might have thought they were ready to gang up on me. As it was, I still had all my parts after I paddled past them.
A lot of blue herons and a fair number of great egrets make themselves at home in these waters too. I guess fishing must be pretty good. A large number of fishermen apparently think the same thing.
Rood Creek is a pretty creek. The extremely low water levels leave 6 foot tannish colored bluffs over looking the river. These bluffs are normally the creek banks. Spanish moss covered hardwoods sit on top of the bluffs.
I followed a couple of small creeks to their end (not very far). I then turned into a canal near where Rood Creek empties into the Chattahoochee River. Right at the entrance to the canal is a big mud bank that is now baked hard. It contains the imprint of a very large gator. The footprints are close to 2 feet across from each other and the distance between front and rear footprints was about the same.
This was very interesting because you could clearly see most of the body imprinted in the mud. A long tail widening into a wider body which tapered into the big neck and shoulder areas with deep holes for all 4 feet. I started looking around to see if this big bad boy was lurking in the wings somewhere looking for a quick meal.
I didn't, but the thought occurred to me to scratch my initials into the mud bank near the imprint. In a couple of million years someone would unearth this ancient fossil and wonder what those strange, primitive hieroglyphics meant.
A gator was drifting right around the bend from the imprint but it wasn't the big one. This guy had a head that seemed to belong to a 8-10 foot body. A 5-6 footer cruised by not too far away.
Another annoying water pump roared in a nearby channel. Paddling by it I was reminded of the joys of having a jet propelled airboat zooming close by.
While poking around back in one little dead end, a 3 footer plopped into the water stirring up a lot of mud. I was sitting at the entrance to the creek and watched as mud clouds rose up from the bottom and passed under the kayak as the gator moved towards deeper water. It can be a little spooky when something as primal as an alligator, even a small one, comes towards you and passes so closely under the boat.
As I turned back into the canal, I saw a 2.5 footer suspended in the water near shore not 15 feet from me. I passed within 6-8 feet of it before it deigned to act nervous and finally submerge.
Several smaller trees had fallen across the channel and I powered over them where I could. This was the end of the canal though. It ended in the usual mud bank. What wasn't usual was the very large trail that led up from the muddy shallows across the mud bank for 20-30 feet to a downed tree.
The track coming out of the water was more than 2 feet wide. It narrowed somewhat as it hit the mud but also sank down about 6 inches. I couldn't see past the tree trunk and had no desire at all to follow the trail to see what might be at the other end. Whatever it was, I think it was very, very big <shudder>.
Coming back out of the canal I turned out onto the Chattahoochee River. The river at this point is well over a hundred yards across and a stiff 10 knot wind was still blowing from the southwest. Since it was only 11:30, I thought I'd get a little exercise paddling into the wind for a while. I'd been told some neat creeks and channels could be found 3 miles or so downstream but I had no intention of trying for them on this day. The drone of the fishing boats was almost pleasant after the noise of those water pumps.
Even with the small chop being kicked up by the wind, I still spotted a couple of 6-7 footers cruising on the river. I stopped for lunch after 45 minutes or so and let the wind blow me back upstream. I thought I'd make it an early day.
When I got to the mouth of Rood Creek again I spotted a feeder creek on the left I had missed on the way out. Actually it was a small cove with two channels leading out of the far end. A couple of fishing boats sat near the channel on the right so I took the one on the left.
I immediately saw a 6 and a 8 footer drifting by. The 8 footer looked as if it had been ready to crawl up on a bank for a little sun but veered off at my approach. I hung around and watched it for a couple of minutes, hoping it would crawl out somewhere else. It did make it over to another shore but just hung out there without getting out so I left. Another 6-8 footer floated way from some branches it had been resting on a little farther on.
Soon I saw a big gray lump projecting out from shore. It looked kinda like an alligator head but was much too large. The wind was pushing me along so I just kinda drifted with it. I kept looking around, enjoying the scenery but kept watch on the gray thing out of the corner of my eye.
And then it started to move! Gawd! There must have 18 inches or more between the snout and the eyes. I don't know how big it was but it had to be in the 12-14 foot range folks had been telling me about.
It submerged and I quickly paddled away casting nervous glances behind me. I used to have a Walt Disney screen saver with a crocodile snapping at Captain Hook as he ran across the water. I didn't want anything remotely like that happening here.
Of course I hit a dead end and had to retrace my route past where I had seen this monster. On the way out I saw a gator patrolling the middle of the creek and 2 others hanging out nearby. I was wondering if they were going to demand a toll to let me past, like an arm or a leg, but as I drew near, they graciously moved aside. Whew!
Even though I'm sure that alligator was in the 12-14 foot range I can't apply it towards my record. They have to be out of the water in full view for them to count.