Rivers

Guidebooks

Georgia River Network, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press and local watershed groups, is creating a series of recreational guides to Georgia’s rivers authored by Joe Cook. Released in Spring 2021, the Ocmulgee River User’s Guide, which includes guides to the South, Yellow and Alcovy rivers as well, is the newest addition to the series. Cook is currently at work on the next book in the series, the Altamaha River User’s Guide. These guide books facilitate recreational use of our rivers for boating, fishing and other water-based activities, and document the rich cultural and natural history associated with Georgia’s rivers. Each book is printed on waterproof paper and in a 5.5 x 8.5 format that is suitable for taking on the river. Each chapter includes a map of a specific section and a complete guide that will aid users in exploring and learning about the river.

All guide books can be purchased in our online store.

Broad River User’s Guide

Broad River Users GuideThe Broad River is among the last free-flowing rivers in Georgia and perhaps the state’s most wild. The Broad River User’s Guide traces the unique characteristics of the full 60 miles of the river and the 110 miles of its three forks (South, Middle, and North) before the main river’s convergence with the Savannah River.

In doing so, the guide outlines the river’s cultural and natural history, telling the story of humans’ relationship to the river from precolonial days to the present. Though the mainstem of the Broad is one of the few Georgia rivers to escape dams, it was one of Georgia’s first inland river valleys to be explored and settled. Along its course are rare species like shoals spider lilies and the Bartram’s bass, not to mention some of the most popular whitewater paddling in North Georgia.

With this handbook, river explorers will find all the information needed to embark on a Broad River journey, including detailed maps, put in/take out suggestions, fishing and camping locations, mile-by-mile points of interest, and an illustrated natural history guide to help identify animals and plants commonly seen in and around the river.

This guide includes:

  • an introduction and overview of the river
  • chapters describing each river section with detailed maps and notes on river access and points of interest
  • a compact natural history guide featuring species of interest found along Georgia’s rivers
  • notes on safety and boating etiquette
  • a fishing primer
  • notes on organizations working to protect the river

If you purchase your copy directly from GRN, a portion of the proceeds benefit our river conservation work. To order online, visit our store.  Price: $23 including tax and shipping. 

 

Chattahoochee River User’s Guide

Chattahoochee River Users GuideThe Chattahoochee River is one of the premier waterways of Georgia and the Southeast. It is a mecca for summer recreation, a priceless natural resource that provides water and power for a great number of Georgia’s citizens, and an essential component to the region’s ecosystem. As public interest in both exploring and protecting Georgia’s rivers such as the Chattahoochee grows, so too has the demand for clear and elegant guides to our rivers. The Chattahoochee River User’s Guide—the latest in a series of river guides from Georgia River Network and the University of Georgia Press—aims to meet that demand.

The Chattahoochee River User’s Guide traces the 430-mile course of the Hooch from its headwaters at a spring on Coon Den Ridge near Jacks Knob in northeastern Georgia to its confluence with the Flint River, where they form the Apalachicola River. The Georgia River Network guides provide many little-known facts about Georgia’s rivers, bring to life these rivers’ cultural and natural history, and present river issues in an immersive and engaging manner that will inspire users to help protect their local waterways.  Features:

  • 200 color photographs
  • 32 user-friendly maps that reveal the towns, roads, entry points, bridges, public lands, parks, and other landmarks along the river’s course from the southern Blue Ridge Mountains to the Georgia-Florida border
  • Detailed practical information about public access points, potential hazards, camping facilities, and GPS coordinates for points of interest
  • A primer on fishing
  • An introduction and safety overview, as well as a concise natural history guide to common flora and fauna of the river corridor

If you purchase your copy directly from GRN, a portion of the proceeds benefit our river conservation work.

To order online, visit our store.  Price: $26 including tax and shipping. 

 

Etowah River User’s Guide

Etowah River Users GuideThe first in a series of Georgia River Network Guidebooks, the “Etowah River User’s Guide,” authored by Joe Cook and published in cooperation with Coosa River Basin Initiative, is an appealing and handy look at the biologically diverse and beautiful Etowah River in North Georgia. Printed on waterproof paper by the University of Georgia Press, the book offers a fascinating history of the area and information valuable for novice or experienced paddlers as well as fishermen. It also will help explorers understand the threats facing the river and what steps can be taken to protect it for future generations.  

If you purchase your copy directly from GRN, a portion of the proceeds benefit our river conservation work. To order online, visit our store.  Price: $24 including tax and shipping. 

 

Flint River User’s Guide

Flint River Users GuideThe Flint River is arguably Georgia’s most beautiful river, and in terms of the terrain through which it flows on its 344-mile journey, there is not another Georgia river that exposes the river traveler to more diverse vistas. From the bottomland swamps in its headwaters, through soaring views of Pine Mountain and rapids in the Piedmont, to breathtakingly clear springs in the Coastal Plain, the Flint is filled with surprises at virtually every bend.

The Flint River User’s Guide, the fourth in a series of Georgia River Network recreational guidebooks, is a portal to adventure on this spectacular river. The book brings to life the river’s cultural and natural heritage while providing all the details needed to get out on the river and enjoy it via canoe, kayak, paddleboard, or motorized vessel.
Whether in your canoe, on the river, or on your couch at home, the Flint River User’s Guide will immerse you in the story of the river, which also happens to be the story of those communities along its course—from the headwaters in the suburbs of metro Atlanta to the backwaters of Lake Seminole near the Florida state line.

This guide includes:
An introduction and overview of the river
Chapters describing each river section with detailed maps and notes on river access and points of interest
A compact natural history guide featuring species of interest found along Georgia’s rivers
Notes on safety and boating etiquette
A fishing primer
Notes on organizations working to protect the river
Printed on waterproof paper

To order online, visit our store. If you purchase your copy directly from GRN, a portion of the proceeds benefit our river conservation work. Price: $28 including tax and shipping. 

 

Oconee River User’s Guide

This guide includes:

  • an introduction and overview of the river
  • chapters describing each river section with detailed maps and notes on river access and points of interest
  • a compact natural history guide featuring species of interest found along Georgia’s rivers
  • notes on safety and boating etiquette
  • a fishing primer
  • notes on organizations working to protect the river

 Purchase for $24.95 plus shipping in our store. When you buy from GRN, we receive a portion of the proceeds.

Also available: Etowah River User’s Guide, Chattahoochee River User’s Guide, and Flint River User’s Guide

Ocmulgee River User’s Guide

Published April 2021

This guide includes:

  • an introduction and overview of the river
  • chapters describing each river section with detailed maps and notes on river access and points of interest
  • a compact natural history guide featuring species of interest found along Georgia’s rivers
  • notes on safety and boating etiquette
  • a fishing primer
  • notes on organizations working to protect the river

 Purchase for $25 plus shipping in our store. When you buy from GRN, we receive a portion of the proceeds.

Also available: Etowah River User’s Guide, Chattahoochee River User’s Guide, Flint River User’s Guide , Oconee River User’s Guide.

Georgia River Network

126 South Milledge Avenue, Suite E3, Athens, Georgia 30605 | (706) 549-4508 (phone) | info@garivers.org

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