Allatoona to Stamp Creek

On the days when it is cold, or rainy, or I am itching for a trip but am otherwise occupied with the "work week," it serves to scratch that itch a little to spend some time pouring over some map or other. Road maps are ok, but topo maps are where the real vicarious living is at. A few weeks back, I was doing just that - looking at a map of north Allatoona, and realized that it might be possible to put my canoe in at one of my favorite fishing spots and float south down the creek to a nearby lake, avoiding the private property/trespassing issue, and just to see if it is possible. Rather than attempt it from the upstream side and get halfway there and discover the creek was impassible, I decided to attack it from the downstream side and try to paddle up the creek. If it turned out to be impossible, that way I could turn around and just float back the way I'd come.

This afternoon was the first decent weather day we have had in a while - clear and upper 50's with a bit of wind. There is actually a boat ramp very close to where the lake ends and the creek begins - very close to where my red travel route above ends actually. But as it turned out, that ramp was closed for the season, and I had to go a bit further south to a day use area - where my red path begins at the bottom left. Because I had to go so much further away from the river mouth, I ran out of time today and had to turn back to beat the sunset before I was able to get very far up the river itself.

The Corps drains this lake every winter and flows the water southwest for a number of reasons, so during the winter months, much of Allatoona is more of an enormous mud pit than a lake. The water was noticeably down, but there was still plenty of water for paddling and there were a few others out on the lake, mostly fishermen.

This was also the first time out using the seat I made for the Old Town 119. The biggest change was how much higher the seat sits than previously. It felt much more canoe-ish and less kayak-ish, which was what I was going for. It did add a bit of instability to the canoe, but not so much as to make me change it. I have pretty good balance, and it should be fine.