In short: This is our first time camping a tiny island on the Altamaha River, right where the Oconee and the Ocmulgee come together to form one of the wildest rivers in Georgia. The water swirls in every direction at the meeting point. We paddled under an old train trestle near Highway 132, tucked onto a little island just past the bridge, and met a lifelong local named Frank who put us on an Appaloosa catfish. A beautiful, unfamiliar river we are still learning to read.
So this is the start of the Altamaha. I do not know if y'all can see it, but the water is swirling in all different directions because of the rivers coming together, just swirling everywhere, and it is pretty neat. We had come off the Ocmulgee, and it is the Oconee that meets it to form the Altamaha. We made our way under the old train trestle right before Highway 132, an awesome sight with all its years in place. Just past the bridge we found a small island, and I looked at Tina and said it, island camping on the Altamaha, it do not get no better than this.
It was not a big enough spot to spread out, but it was ours. We had a quick afternoon snack, fresh plums, summer sausage, Ritz crackers, Colby Jack cheese, and grapes, a pretty good little riverbank meal. I cut some limbs down to reach the still water against the bank and caught one hand-sized shad, a few more bites and that was it for the evening. Our little dog River wandered wherever she heard somebody, then came right back home to the island. Supper was Uncle Ben's roasted chicken and pasta with some canned chicken, and I will be honest, that Mediterranean mac and cheese, we do not recommend it. The canned chicken was good though.
The next day we met a man named Frank tied up in the channel, catching what he called an Appaloosa catfish on worms. He had lived here all his life and told us where the slow water holds the big ones. It is our first time fishing this river, we told him, and we are not doing so hot. He set us straight, and it paid off. Daddy got one, then a big one, and I got him, a good Appaloosa catfish we let go. Frank told us to look up Blackwater Outdoor Journeys, and I told him he would be on it if he was okay with it. That is how the river works, strangers become friends.
Right quick out there I wanted to say happy birthday to our oldest son Lance, who left us about five and a half years ago. We miss him every day, and I know he visits, because he sends me little reminders all the time that he is still around and still loves us. Happy birthday, Bubba. We watched the sun go down on the Altamaha near Towns Bluff Landing, ate breakfast of grits, eggs, and hash browns in the old cast iron come morning, and paddled the last miles to Gray's Landing. A long day on a big, beautiful river we are still figuring out.
Island camping in tight space, reading a new river, learning from locals, and packing simple riverbank meals. It is all in the Canoe Camping Playbook.
Read the Canoe Camping PlaybookIt begins where the Oconee River meets the Ocmulgee River in south central Georgia. The water swirls in every direction at the meeting point, and from there it runs southeast toward the Atlantic as one of the wildest, biggest rivers in Georgia.
Yes. There are small sandbar and river islands you can camp on, though space can be tight. We found a little island just past the Highway 132 bridge, our first time island camping on the Altamaha.
Appaloosa is a local name for a spotted catfish. A lifelong local named Frank told us where the slow water holds the big ones and to fish with worms, and it paid off with a good Appaloosa catfish.
Trip plans, gear systems, and a community of people who actually go. Free to join.
Join THE CAMPFIRE, free