Johnnies Creek "Pick Up and Throw Down" a success!

Anyone who has paddled Johnnies Creek(or any AL creek) knows how trashed the put-in has been in the past. This has always been a real shame because Johnnies is a fun and beautiful run that has been tainted by the thoughtless acts of a few locals. In fact, the situation was so bad that last winter one boater slipped near the put in and was badly cut by a broken beer bottle. However, the run itself is certainly the inspiration for the clean up, so here is a picture of Dustin Bunch enjoying the falls at the put in. After an extremely dry summer the falls looked quite different on this day.
On a warm Friday evening in mid September a boaters and non boaters alike met at the put-in. Unfortunately I didn't realize that I had picked one of the worst possible days for the event. It was the same evening as a HCC cookout, during Gauley release season, and the same weekend as a big freestyle event at Rock Island. These combination of factors ruled out many would be participants, but we decided to go ahead none-the-less.

The small, but cheerful group meet at 5:00 pm Friday afternoon and spent the next couple of hours bagging trash from the parking area and both sides of the falls at the put-in. The turn out was light, but so was the mood and a good time was had by all.

Once we finished combing the area for trash we headed back to Mentone to grill some burgers, relax around the campfire, and tip back a few (too many) beers. A big thanks to Alabama Small Boats (http://www.alabamasmallboats.com) and everyone involved! I promise to pick a better weekend next year so more folks can attend.

Until Next Time...

-adam