To say that the Chattahoochee River is an important waterway is quite an understatement. It supplies more than 70 percent of the drinking water as well as water for other needs for millions of people in metro Atlanta -- an average of more than 450 million gallons per day. The Chattahoochee basin drains an area of 8,770 square miles and is the most heavily used water resource in Georgia. It’s also one of America’s best trout streams and the second southernmost trout habitat in the United States as well as one of only two trout streams in North America that flow through a major urban area. The Chattahoochee is heavily used for recreational purposes and recently was designated as our country’s first National Water Trail. It is used to provide hydropower, to provide a habitat for wildlife and endangered species, and to carry away treated waste water.
Millions of people living and working along this waterway want some of it, including fishermen, boaters, homeowners, businesses and environmentalists, making its water the subject of long-running legal battles -- dubbed “water wars” -- between the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.
If you drive along the highways in the Atlanta area and observe the Chattahoochee, you can’t help but be impressed by this very large and beautiful river. But where does it come from and where does it go?
It begins high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia, flowing southeasterly and then eventually flowing southwesterly along the Brevard Fault toward the Alabama state line. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida border. From where the river meets the Georgia/Alabama state line, it tumbles for 20 miles over the fall line, a region of transition between the foothills of the Piedmont and the lower and flatter Coastal Plain. Below the fall line in Columbus, Georgia, the river slows to ramble southward toward Florida, where it is known as the Apalachicola River. Although the same river, this portion was given a different name by separated settlers in different regions during colonial times. The Apalachicola River then empties into the Gulf of Mexico, where it historically has a mean daily discharge of 19,602 cubic feet per second.
The tiny spring that is the headwater of the mighty Chattahoochee River is in the Chattahoochee National Forest just below Brasstown Bald (Georgia’s highest point at 4,784 feet). Little more than a trickle of water at 3,200 feet elevation on Coon Den Ridge on the south slope of Jacks Knob, Chattahoochee Spring is only about 100 yards south of where the Jack’s Knob Trail meets the Appalachian Trail at fittingly-named Chattahoochee Gap. Downstream, the waters of many other springs and tributaries join those of Chattahoochee Spring quickly as they flow down the steep mountainside, and thus the Chattahoochee River is born.
By completing this Earthcache, you will visit the humble spring that is the headwater of this 430-mile watercourse AND you will get a lot of exercise! If you make your approach via the Jack's Knob Trail from the road crossing at Ga. 180, the round-trip distance is a little over 4.6 miles. If you come in via the Appalachian Trail from Unicoi Gap, your round trip will be a little over 9.4 miles. If you come in from Hogpen Gap on the Appalachian Trail, be prepared for a round-trip distance of 19.2 miles.
The coordinates for this cache will take you to the spot where the Appalachian Trail and the Jack’s Knob Trail intersect. There you will find a sign that points you to the “water trail,” which will take you to Chattahoochee Spring.
DO NOT BUSHWHACK to the spring! The slope is very steep, and the environment is fragile. Just follow the blue-blazed water trail. In wet weather, you may think you have come to the spring quite quickly, but the water you see off to the right is only a wet-weather seep, not the actual spring. Continue down the water trail to N34 49.323, W083 47.764. Thoughtfully observe the humble spring and think about the huge volume of water the Chattahoochee River delivers to the cities of Atlanta and Columbus, to the state of Florida, and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico. We all probably can draw a life lesson about cooperation and teamwork from this spring.
To log this cache:
A. Send me an email answering the following questions:
1) How many ounces, cups or gallons of water per minute would you estimate are being emitted by the spring?
2) Estimate the width of the stream as it emerges from the ground. Now look about 30-40 feet downstream and estimate the width of the stream there.
3) How many square miles is the Chattahoochee River drainage basin?
4) How many cubic feet of water per second are discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from the Chattahoochee/Apalachicola River?
5) How does the river gain so much volume between the spring and the Gulf of Mexico?
B. (optional) Post a photo of yourself with your GPSr standing across the mighty Chattahoochee River.
Information about the Chattahoochee River was drawn from:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/basin/apalachicola-basin.html
http://www.americanrivers.org/endangered-rivers/2012-report/chattahoochee/
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/geography/article/georgia-rivers/chattahoochee-river
http://www.chattahoochee.org/river-facts.php
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/chattahoochee-river
http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Chattahoochee_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattahoochee_River
http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/08/01/whats-next-in-the-water-war
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107962/Chattahoochee-River
http://www.northgeorgia.com/rivers/chattahoochee-river
Watershed map from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACF_River_Basin