GA Park Paddlers Club Series - Paddle 2 Sweetwater Creek Park

Your TL's are experienced paddlers and enjoy planning and experiencing areas outside of metro Atlanta.  Both have kicked around the idea and 2017 is the year we get the shirt offered by GA State Parks.

Join us for our quest to earn the coveted Park Paddlers Club T Shirt!  The GA State Park system has identified 6 waterways, 22 miles total,  at various locations around  the state, that comprise the Park Paddler Club. These parks are Chattahoochee Bend, Crooked River, George L Smith, Reed Bingham, Stephen Foster, and Sweetwater Creek. If you’re familiar with the Canyon Climbers Club or Muddy Spokes Club, this is the same idea. We will be scheduling various paddles/camping events based on locations and weather throughout the year. The official number is 22 miles, we see this as a minimum and intend on doing much more dependent on parks and conditions.

How it works: You purchase a Park Paddlers Club card from a ranger station at any participating park or online at www.gastateparks.org  then visit each park and paddle the specified waterway and minimum length. The ranger will then stamp your card. Once all 6 stamps are collected, you send the card in and receive a Paddlers Club T-shirt by mail.

Our intentions are to offer camping opportunities at each event, these will be posted accordingly. At each event all paddlers will be expected to have their own boats and equipment and be able to paddle a strong D3 or D4. Our paddles will involve currents, wild animals, and many hours in a boat – it is not an advanced series of events, but the paddles also will not be beginners’ paddles in most cases. We hope to complete the series within 2017, but dates will be subject to locations and geographical considerations (i.e. we won’t paddle the swamp during yellow fly season, etc.). So join us for one, join us for all, just join us and paddle!

Our first paddle will be Chattahoochee Bend park, see separate event posting. This will be our second, on the same day. This paddle will be a 3-mile easy paddle which will not have a shuttle. The state website states that Sweetwater Creek State Park is a peaceful tract of wilderness only minutes from downtown Atlanta. A wooded trail follows the stream to the ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company, a textile mill burned during the Civil War. Beyond the mill, the trail climbs rocky bluffs to provide views of the beautiful rapids below.

Per Park Paddlers Club requirements, we will paddle the perimeter of this pretty reservoir, then loop out to and around the water control tower on a 3-mile trail.

We will meet at the boat ramp at Sweetwater Creek Park.

As this and Chatahoochee Bend are the first paddles of the series, participants in either/both paddles will have first priority in upcoming paddles. we want to be able to accommodate all who would like to earn the tshirt together. 

All members are welcome to register and participate in each event. However those who have registered to complete the Paddlers Club Series will have first priority. When registering all members will go to a wait list. Those in the Paddlers Club Series will be added to the event first. After those registrants have been added, other registrants will be added in the order they have registered. 

Those interested in camping are invited to stay for the night. we'll discuss those detais closer to the paddle.   

Sweetwater Creek State Park
1750 Mount Vernon Road
Lithia Springs, GA 30122 
Douglas County 

N 33.753783 | W -084.639000

Take I-20 west from Atlanta, exit #44 at Thornton Road, turn left and go ¼ mile. Turn right on Blairs Bridge Road. After 2 miles, turn left on Mount Vernon Road and proceed to the park.

May cancel event in cae of inclement weather

If bringing a dog, be sure your friend is well versed in your boat

Dogs must have PFDs also

Please realize other paddles in this series are not suitable for dogs, especially when we visit the Swamp areas which are inhabited by many predators.

We will meet at the boat ramp at the Park

Park Paddlers Club Cards may be purchased in advance online or at Ranger Stations http://www.georgiastatepark s.org/ParkPaddlers

Please feel free to set up your own carpool - plan on being 30 minutes early to the event.

Inclement weather may be a reason for this event to be cancelled.

This will be our second paddle for the day, we believe we have allowed sufficient time, but there is always the reality that we may be held up at the first and arrive late. We don't believe this will be the case, but should it happen, we will contact all with an ets as soon as possible.