Shoot the Hooch - Chattahoochee River Float (White County, Georgia)

 

For the third consecutive year, I've organized a float along the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River through the mountain town of Helen, GA for the Meetup group. The first year was a lot of fun, though it was chilly. Last year, I ended up getting COVID a couple of days before the event and not wanting to infect anyone else, asked another friend to take over the event. This year, I decided to plan the event a little earlier in the calendar. Previously, we had done it to coincide with Helen's famous Oktoberfest, but I thought doing it when it's a little warmer and a little less crowded might be more enjoyable.

After finishing our short hike complete with yellowjacket stings at the nearby Raven Cliff Falls, we headed over towards Cool River Tubing northwest of Helen and after paying our shuttle fees, started gathering on the deck. At the appointed time, our group (17 strong) headed down to the river to grab our tubes and begin our relaxing adventure. In years past, we've had to be shuttled further up the river and float a shorter route due to low water, but with all of the rain, we're able to do the longer float today, which is just fine with me. 

The waters of the Chattahoochee are nice and cool and feel great after sweating our butts off in the woods just before this event. I had explained to everyone that we're likely to get separated on the river and within no time at all, that's exactly what happened. Though a few of us tethered our tubes together for a while, most eventually had to release due to getting stuck on rocks jutting out of the water. 

My first time tubing was a few years ago while living in Reno and I found it to be a really relaxing way to spend a hot summer afternoon. My friends here seem to agree as we float through town. The water here is not too deep, but there are enough small waterfalls and rocks to make it an adventure. For all of the trouble they sometimes cause as we get stuck on them, they really make the activity more interesting and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

After about two hours, we reach the take out having completed about 2.5 miles on this sunny August afternoon. We collect ourselves on the shore and wait for everyone to arrive. After we've collected ourselves and taken the shuttle back to the put in, we agree to reconvene at the nearby Hofbrauhaus for some good German beer and a post hike/float meal. What a wonderful start to the weekend.