By Doug Alderson
By all measures, RiverTrek 2025 was a grand adventure. Day one (day two for the seven South Carolina canoeists) began with strong headwinds and some rain and the group met the challenge with high spirits. It was a good test of our willingness to paddle the entire 107-mile river. After that, it was smooth sailing with cool temperatures, no bugs, warm campfires, numerous sandbar breaks, great dinners cooked by volunteers, and music. Lots of fun music led by Tommy Cooper, Chris Watkins, and Greg Krivonak. I added a spooky story or two starting on Halloween night and they elicited the usual question: “was that really true?”
This group was amazingly cohesive in their paddling speed and support of each other. The miles flew by as we engaged in conversations and watched bald eagles and an array of other birds. We joined up with the South Carolina group, led by former executive director Andy Smith, on the last night at Hickory Landing and paddled into Apalachicola together. As we neared the landing under the Gorrie Bridge, the welcoming party was bigger than ever and we felt as though we had been on a sea voyage for six months and just returning to our home port. A warm reception was held at the Apalachicola Yacht Club before we dispersed, ending another highly successful and memorable RiverTrek.
As I unpack and shake sand from my dry bags, I realize there are so many people to thank. This RiverTrek had more moving parts than usual and it couldn’t have happened without my co-coordinator Georgia Ackerman. She served as land support and meeting the needs of two groups on the water had her hopping around from landing to landing. Cameron Baxley, Chris Moran, and John Alber provided skilled boat support. Chris Watkins, Rebecca Means and Shirley Kasser Creech helped to coordinate our group on the water. Mike Mendez provided a delicious paella dinner at Estiffanulga for two groups on successive nights, Georgia provided scrumptious taco dinners near Wewa, and Roy Ogles and his volunteer team provided the low country boil feast at Hickory Landing. Pierson Hill, Dave Warneke and Dan Tonsmeire provided educational programs. Mary Balthrop organized the noise committee in Apalachicola and Susan Macken and her sister, Billie Macken, coordinated the food and reception at the Yacht Club afterwards. Dozens of volunteers were part of the mix. Thank you, thank you!
A big part of RiverTrek is the fundraising to keep Apalachicola Riverkeeper strong and viable. To date, this RiverTrek raised more than $90,000 and the donations keep coming in! I want to thank all of the RiverTrekkers for their many fundraising appeals, events, and creative ideas. They were amazing! And Riverkeeper board members, led by Mike Price, stepped up this year to solicit more business sponsors and this was highly successful. To all of you who donated, thank you! And if you haven’t donated, the opportunity is still there. We would like to break $100,000. Here’s the link: https://apalachicolariverkeeper.org/rivertrek/.
