In short: This was supposed to be a peaceful few days on the Suwannee River, just me and my new puppy River Dog. The Blackwater had other plans. The river came up higher than I expected, rain rolled through, I lost a camera to a tree, and gator after gator slid off the banks all afternoon. I kept the pup on a short leash, passed on the islands, and found a careful camp near the Georgia line.
I put in at Fargo, Georgia under the 441 bridge about 1:15 on a Sunday, first time I had ever seen this river. It was running a little higher than I anticipated, which just meant it was moving good. I was floating along without even paddling or running the trolling motor. Rain showers came and went, and my buddy Rocky, who came to shuttle my truck, told me he had driven through some bad storms just south of me. I lost a camera reaching for a tree I knew I would not clear, one down and two left. That is solo travel. Nobody to hand you the camera, nobody to fix your mistake but you.
The Suwannee was flat full of gators. First an 8-foot one came off a bank and slid under. Then a 4 or 5 footer backed into a sloough. Then a 3 and a half footer, then a bigger one, sometimes one or two together where I could not tell how many. They were everywhere. With a puppy in the boat that changes how you run the river. A small, wiggling dog near a gator-heavy bank is exactly the kind of target you do not offer up. So I kept River Dog in the boat and on a short leash, close to me, especially anywhere near the water. Around gators the rule is simple: stay in the boat, keep your line, give them room, and let them slide off. Panic is the only thing out there that can really hurt you.
I saw plenty of pretty little islands I could have camped on, and I thought hard about it. But I remembered how the St. Marys came up on me and Tina after a rain, and with this river already up and more weather around, an island can shrink or vanish overnight. I would rather not wake up with no island under me. So I passed and kept looking for higher ground. I finally picked a spot a couple of bends from the Georgia-Florida line with road access straight out to 441, so if I had to walk out I could. That is the last thing you want with a boat, to turn over in gator water, so you set up somewhere you can get low and stay dry and safe. A solo trip means every one of those calls is yours alone, and getting them right is the whole skill.
Solo decision-making, keeping a dog safe around gators, and reading a rising river before you pick camp. It is all in the Canoe Camping Playbook.
Read the Canoe Camping PlaybookKeep the dog in the boat and on a short leash near the water, especially at camp. A puppy near a gator-heavy bank is exactly the kind of small, splashing target you have to manage. I kept River Dog leashed and close the whole trip.
Only when the water is low and stable, and even then I think twice. On this run I saw plenty of pretty little islands and thought hard about pitching camp on one, but I remembered how the St. Marys came up on me and Tina after a hard rain, and with the Suwannee already running higher than I expected and more weather moving through, an island can shrink or disappear overnight. I would rather not wake up with no island left under me. So I passed and kept looking for higher ground, finally picking a spot a couple of bends short of the Georgia-Florida line with road access straight out to 441, so I could walk out if I had to. That is the last thing you want with a boat, getting caught out in gator water, so you set up somewhere you can stay low, dry, and safe. On a solo trip every one of those calls is yours alone to make.
It runs about 17 miles from the put-in at Fargo, Georgia down to the Georgia-Florida line. I put in under the 441 bridge about 1:15 on a Sunday, the first time I had ever run this river, and with a trolling motor I was moving around four miles an hour, so that stretch works out to a solid afternoon and then some. The river was running a little higher than I expected that day, which just meant it was moving good, and there were stretches where I floated along without even paddling or running the motor. Rain showers came and went the whole way down, and I ended up making camp a couple of bends short of the state line rather than pushing all the way to it before dark. High water and gators everywhere kept the pace honest, so budget more time than the mileage alone suggests if the river is up like it was for me.
Cover your gear first, keep paddling if it is only showers, and keep an eye on the sky and the river the whole time. On this run rain showers came and went most of the afternoon, and my buddy Rocky, who came to shuttle my truck, told me he had driven through some bad storms just south of where I was headed, so I knew more weather could be coming. I kept everything covered in the canoe through the wet spells, let it dry out when the sun came back, and did not commit to a camp until the storms had actually passed. With a puppy in the boat and gators sliding off every bank, rain was one more thing to manage on top of everything else, so I stayed patient, kept moving, and picked a careful camp near the Georgia line once the weather finally settled and I could see what kind of ground I was working with.
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