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. With a rising river and rain around, an island can shrink or disappear overnight. I passed on the islands and camped on higher ground with road access in case I had to walk out.
About 17 miles from the Fargo put-in down to the Georgia-Florida line. With a trolling motor I was moving around four miles an hour, so it is a solid afternoon and then some.
Cover your gear first, keep paddling if it is just showers, and watch the sky and the river. I kept everything covered through the rain, dried out when the sun returned, and picked camp once the storms passed.
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