In short: We put in at the St. George boat ramp on the Georgia Florida line and paddled the St. Marys as a family, me, Tina, and the boys. The first mile below the bridge is tight, sketchy water full of switchbacks and dead falls that tested our skills. Then it opened up, we found a sandbar, gathered fat lighter, let Boo start the fire off a Vaseline cotton ball, and cooked foil packs of home cured bacon and fresh deer sausage over the coals.
Right off the boat ramp this stretch gets real difficult. Switchbacks, curves, dead falls all in the river, trees, stumps, roots, everything. You cannot take a johnboat down this. We are not seasoned canoers by any means, and it showed, we stuck on a stump, bumped a few logs, and had to push off one to swing to the other. But that is the thing about tight water, you pick your line early, use the paddle to push off, and take it one obstacle at a time. Mama did a good job getting us through it, and Boo was cruising up front like he had it figured out. If you come this way, watch that first mile past the bridge. After that it goes wide and easy.
We found our sandbar with trees to hang the hammocks, a point to fish off of, and a spot to swim. Then Brantley and me went hunting fat lighter. When a pine dies and the sap dries up in it over the years, the wood turns to fat lighter, and it is a highly flammable, excellent fire starter. You know it by the smell. Seven or eight pieces will keep a fire all night. We had soaked cotton balls in Vaseline back at the house, and Boo got the fire lit in about four or five strikes his first time ever, then fed it birch bark and small stuff till we had a good base.
Supper was worth the work. We fried up home cured bacon from a hog we raised and processed ourselves, and cooked our fresh deer sausage in one long link so it stayed sealed and cooked in its own juices before we cut it into chunks. Then we built foil packs, what we call full packs, with the sausage, rice, home canned tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper, seasoned with salt, pepper, and Lawry's. A drop of water in each one so it steamed instead of sticking, sealed tight, and set near the coals for about ten minutes. We could have boiled a freeze dried pouch in five minutes, but it would not be near this good. Real food over a real fire is the whole point.
Handling a canoe through tight, deadfall choked water, finding and using fat lighter, and cooking a real foil pack meal in camp. It is all in the Canoe Camping Playbook.
Read the Canoe Camping PlaybookSlow down and read the water. Pick your line early, aim for the widest gap, and push off stumps and logs with the paddle to steer the bow. Sometimes you hug one tree, kick off it, and swing to the far side. Take it one obstacle at a time.
Build the meat, rice, and vegetables in a sheet of foil, add seasoning and a drop of water so it steams, then seal the ends tight. Set it near the coals, not in the flames, turn it now and then, and give it about ten minutes.
The upper stretch below the St. George bridge is tight and tricky for about the first mile, full of switchbacks and dead falls. Below that it opens up wide and easy. Watch that first mile and enjoy the rest.
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