This morning I put in from Hinson's Landing onto the Choctawhatchee River. A couple of old timers were complaining they had never seen the river this low and didn't know if they'd be able to launch there john boat. While preparing to shove off the Pentax Zoom 90-WR slipped out of the case into the water for the 5th or 6th time. So far it's held up well. I did some sounding for the fishermen to show them where a sandbar would make things a little difficult to get out to open water.
Paddling out into the middle of the 100+ foot wide river I saw a slight current moving downstream. A 5-10 knot wind was blowing from the south (from downstream) so I headed in that direction anyway, hoping it would hold to push me on the way back.
The Choctawhatchee River flows out of Alabama somewhere and continues all the way into Choctawhatchee Bay between Panama City and Pensacola. On this section the bottom and shores were sandy. On one side the bank was fairly steep and about 3-4 feet high. The other side sloped gently down to the water.
Pines and cypress and beech, sweet gum and hardwoods lined both banks. The predominant tree had very skinny, light green leaves with several trunks growing out of a single root system. Heavy growths of a small fine covered many of the trees. Some of these trees were really leaning towards the water. I dunno what will happen when the river finally floods again. I suspect a lot of those trees will be uprooted and swept away.
Sand flats were everywhere, extending as much as 100 feet from shore. The sand was a reddish, brownish color. The formations reminded me of pictures of the Arizona or Utah desert with their sandstone cliffs, ridges and mesas.
The many sandbars and sand flats quickly compressed the river down to 60 feet as I headed downstream. Paddling in the deeper channel I still scared up several 2-2.5 foot gar who seemed to be sunbathing in the shallows.
I went up several feeder streams and creeks but they all petered out pretty quickly, usually being choke off with sandbars extending across their width.
I thought I was passing sand banks 3-4 feet high. Closer inspection revealed them to be either a real thick heavy mud or clay.
The current increased to as much as 2 knots as I continued downstream. This made things a little difficult on the way back particularly when the temperature moved into the 90's. Fortunately a 5-10 knot wind was either blowing in my face or pushing me along. Without the wind things would have been pretty uncomfortable.
Wildlife on this day consisted of a couple of egrets, hawks, osprey and turtles.