Last Monday, Memorial Day, Robert and I went kayaking on the Ocmulgee River. It was a special outing because he's been wanting to take me to Seven Islands ever since he made a presentation about it last summer to the Jasper County Historical Society. Robert's and my outing last Monday was only tangentially cycling related, but it definitely was an adventure!
Seven Islands Overview
Seven Islands is an ancient road that gets its name from a particular crossing on the Ocmulgee. Presumably, someone counted seven islands at the river crossing at one time. Islands form and disappear relatively quickly; I don't know exactly how many are there now. Seven Islands Road connected two larger Native American roads, Hightower Road to the north and Oakfuskee Road to the South. The southern connection with Oakfuskee Road was at the Seven Islands crossing on the Ocmulgee. This was a logical place to cross the river because the unique geology made it the easiest place to cross for many miles.
When prehistoric Native Americans first used the Seven Islands Road, it was just a footpath. Once Europeans arrived, people traveled the road on horseback. The Ocmulgee River was the western edge of the United States until about the 1830s. Therefore, a fairly significant settlement grew up around Seven Islands because it was the last place for Europeans to get supplies before they headed farther west into Indian territory.
Later in the 1800s, Seven Islands Road became a stagecoach route. It ceased being an important travel path when Sherman's troops burned the settlement at the river crossing during the Civil War.
Robert really did a fantastic job researching the history of the Seven Islands Road. To watch his entire presentation, visit The Seven Islands Road Through Jasper County Georgia.
Planning
Today, private land abuts both sides of Seven Islands on the Ocmulgee River. When Robert was preparing his Seven Islands Road presentation last year, he got permission from the property owner on the Jasper County side to access Seven Islands that way. Last Monday Robert and I went to Seven Islands the only other possible way: on the river itself.
One of the few places to access the Ocmulgee River from public property is at a boat launch managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. It's not too far from the boat launch to Seven Islands along the river, but you have to traverse some shoals. Robert didn't think we would have any problem paddling downstream through the shoals, but he was concerned that we might not be able to get back upstream very easily. Therefore, we planned to leave one of our cyclocross bikes at another publicly accessible downstream point, ride it back to our car at the boat launch, and then drive down to pick up the other one at the downstream point. I volunteered to be the cyclist.
When we got to the drop-off location for my cyclocross bike, the rear tire was flat! It must have gone flat during the drive because Robert said it was fine when he loaded my bike onto the trailer. I'm just glad it didn't go flat the previous day when I was riding it. We abandoned the bicycle shuttle idea and decided we would make it back upstream with our kayaks one way or another.
We couldn't believe how many people were at the boat launch - it was packed! If there were more access points to the Ocmulgee River, I bet more people would get out and enjoy it. Even with the dozen or so other people, we easily found a quiet, shady spot for lunch before we got out on the river.
Picnic!
I love picnics. We go on several every year. One of my favorite parts is planning and preparing the food. I tend to get kind of fancy, but that's part of the fun. This time I made a stuffed Italian sandwich, filled with salami, buffalo mozzarella, roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini, pesto, and arugula.
On the side we had fruit salad and pimento cheese wafers. Pimento cheese in any incarnation is one of my favorites, and these little wafers are addictive!
Picnics are one time that I indulge in making us dessert. For this one I made blond brownies: good eats.
Kayaking
At last it was time to get in the river. Most people were hanging out near the boat launch. We didn't have to go very far downstream before we had the river mostly to ourselves.
It was a hot day, particularly for May. We had already had more than a week of 90+ degree days. The water felt really good.
We came to a set of shoals. A narrow island split the river, and so we had to decide which side would be easier. We picked the east side. The shoals weren't difficult to go down. We determined that we would be able to go back up with no problem, even if we had to portage a little bit. (Note that you should only swim or boat on the river when the water level is safe like on this day; it can be too dangerous after heavy rain.)
Just a quarter mile farther, we approached a second set of shoals: Seven Islands! We saw a couple of other people. It turned out to be our friend Hal and his son Rhett. Hal was fishing, and Rhett was playing in the cool water.
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| Robert and Hal |
Eventually, it was time for us to head home, too. On the way back up the first set of shoals, we took Hal's advice to go up the west side. We did have to get out of our kayaks briefly to pull them over the rocks, but overall we agreed that the west side was the better way to go.
Being on the Ocmulgee River is one of the best experiences there is. Knowing a little of its history, thanks to Robert, makes it even more thrilling.
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