April Ingle - Ga. River Network/Etowah River Project

April Ingle from the Georgia River Network gets us prepared for the summer paddling season and the economic and tourism dollars it brings to the state.

Cutting a unique path across North Georgia, the 163-mile long Etowah River Water Trail provides a path into one of the state's most historically significant and one of the nation's most biologically diverse rivers. It is also the first river to it's own book, in a series of waterproof Georgia River Trail Guides being produced by Georgia Univeristy Press. To purchase click here. http://ow.ly/lKR6W

Currently, seven developed public boat landings, numerous undeveloped public access points and several boat ramps on Lake Allatoona (the river's only impoundment) provide journeys of varying lengths along the river's course. A coalition of non-profit organizations, private landowners and local governments are working to establish additional developed boat landings to improve public access to what many call North Georgia's "best family paddling destination."

A project of the Coosa River Basin Initiative/Upper Coosa Riverkeeper, this website provides an online gateway to adventures on the Etowah as it winds its way out of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Lumpkin County, past Dawsonville, and through Forsyth and Cherokee counties before spreading into Lake Allatoona behind Allatoona Dam. Below the Dam, the river flows through Cartersville, past the Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site and then ends its 163-mile journey in downtown Rome at its confluence with the Oostanaula to form the Coosa River.