On November 7th and 8th, the Alabama Scenic River Trail and the US Army Corps of Engineers partnered to sponsor a 20-mile paddle tour of the Alabama River between Haines Island and the ramp at the Highway 84 bridge near Claiborne. On the way down, the group locked through the Claiborne Dam.
Our paddle was billed as the Ghost Paddle because part of the registration evening was a search for Crazy Nancy, the legendary ghost of Haines Mountain near the start of the trip.
During our trip, the exquisite weather put everyone in a good mood and brought out a high level of energy among the group. We explored every creek and backwater available to us, and it seemed that each was more beautiful than the last. We saw lots of wildlife and one thing even weirder than the ghost we hunted—a seven-foot gurgling disruption in the water that bubbled and moved through our group upriver toward the dam on the second day. Since Claiborne is the last dam on the river, anything that cares to travel up from the gulf can do so until it hits the dam. We all witnessed "the monster," which locals informed us was probably a sturgeon that gets about eight feet long and feeds in the waters below the dam.
One of our group is writing a report of the trip that will appear here and in our Trip Reports section when it is done. For now, please take a look at the video and photo gallery that paddler Rob Nykvist of Mobile put together for us.
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Those who attended the 2009 paddle know what the others are invited to find out: gunkholing and paddling are good down here in the Fall.
Contact Jim F...
