Preparing for the trip

Daniel and I started preparing yesterday for our trip at the end of the month.  We have many things to get ready, but the anticipation was present yesterday as we started marking things off our list of things to do.  I had given him this itinerary and saw the excitement in his eyes.  Hopefully this trip will be one that he will remember taking at the age of 11 with his mother.   :)  

June 25 —Day 1
17-mile tour of Buford Dam’s tailwaters, renowned as the southernmost trout waters in the U.S.—home to brooks, browns and rainbows. 50-degree water

June 26 —Day 2
14 miles through Atlanta’s backyard, the backyards of Atlanta’s upscale northern suburbs and country clubs where millionaires are almost as common as kingfishers. Here, the river offers more peaceful paddling, interspersed with a few lively shoals at Jones Bridge and Island Ford.

June 27 —Day 3
16 miles from Roswell to Peachtree Creek piercing Atlanta’s infamous perimeter highway and flowing through what is arguably the most beautiful stretch of the Chattahoochee’s 436-mile course through Georgia. Here, the Palisades’ high granite cliffs overlook playful Class I shoals. Day 3 also includes the trip’s only portage (a short one around Morgan Falls Dam).

June 28 —Day 4
15 miles from Peachtree Creek to Campbellton Road southwest of Atlanta. Class II rapid near the mouth of Peachtree Creek.

June 29 —Day 5
15-mile tour of mostly rural landscape along the Douglas/Fulton county line

June 30 It’s —Day 6 is a 15-mile tour through geological time. The Brevard Fault is the primary geological feature of the Chattahoochee through middle Georgia.

July 1 —The trip’s final day is the longest, but perhaps its most rewarding. The 20-mile paddle to Franklin takes you past Bushhead Shoals Islands (the river’s largest island complex), Daniel Shoals (the largest natural rapid ) and waterfalls at Hilly Mill and Redbone creeks.