Sumter Recreation Area

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 183 - September 30, 2017

We arrived at Waverly Recreation Area yesterday not knowing just how far we would need to go to find a decent anchorage today. We always figure out the next day each evening. Yesterday was a tough evening!  We try to go at least 40 miles a day and if we can help it not more than 50 miles. We had looked through Skipper Bob and traced the Tombigbee River mile by mile for Active Captain anchorages starting at Waverly at Mile 337. The dog friendly anchorages at Mile 309, 308 and 307 were all too close. The first one we found that seemed to have any shore access at all that was at least 40 miles away, as amazing as it may sound, it was the Sumter Recreation Area, another Corps of Engineers boat ramp and recreation area, 67 miles downstream at Mile 270. So we decided to suck it up and take a long run today! The things we do for the dog!

How do you spell trouble? B - A - X -T-  E - R! Just kidding, we cannot imagine cruising without our furry friends!

Equal time for Lucy, who it turns out is no trouble at all!

We got an early start to get to the Columbus (Stennis) Lock for its 8 a.m. opening - according to Skipper Bob this lock only opens every two hours on the even hours between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. We got there at 7:45 a.m. and the lock master called us right in! 

At Mile 313 we crossed into Alabama! We left Kentucky on the 21st, were in Tennessee on the 22nd, in Mississippi on the 25th, and in Alabama on the 30th. Mobile is Mile 0, so we are 313 miles from Mobile. We will be be in Alabama now until we cross into Florida on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. 

The next lock along the way was the Tom Bevill Lock at Mile 306, and as we approached once again the lock master called us right in. We were the only boat in each of the locks we transited today.

The 36 miles from Mile 306 to Mile 270 was easy cruising on a peaceful river. I think if we had been here a few weeks later, we would have been treated to some awesome fall colors, but the shoreline is very nicely wooded.

Tombigbee River shoreline

We got to the Sumter Recreation Area in just under nine hours, arriving before 4:00 p.m., which is still a long day, but we were able to maintain 7.5 mph almost the entire distance at our normal 2,200 RPMs, and we took alternating two hour shifts at the helm. The Sumter Recreation Area is on a small basin off the river, and there is a well marked channel into it. We found a good spot to drop the hook in about ten feet in the basin outside the entrance channel to the boat ramp. I neglected to get a screenshot of the anchorage, but it was well protected from the tows in the river.

As always, I got the kayak down and took Baxter to shore. The  Sumter Recreation Area was, to put it simply, not up to the standards of the Wilkins Lock or the Waverly recreation areas. Those both had nice concrete boat ramps and nicely kept grounds. At Sumter the ramp was a two lane asphalt ramp that was badly cracked, and the grounds did not appear to have had any maintenance for a long time. This did not really matter too much to us, since I only have to go ashore once today and once tomorrow morning, and Baxter is not all that fussy! There was a trash can but I did not see a restroom. 

The worst part was that Sumter's ramp, and indeed the entire basin, was severely clogged with water hyacinths. They extended in a thick mat maybe 50 feet out from the end of the boat ramp, and I had to paddle the kayak through them to land. No boats launched or retrieved while we were there. The water hyacinths at Waverly were similar but not 1/10th as bad!

Water hyacinths at Sumter Recreation Area basin next to boat.
 The approach to boat ramp was completely blocked with a thick mat of them.

It has typically been hot during the days but cool in the evenings, and this evening was no exception. No need for the air conditioner!  Tomorrow we may reach Demopolis, we may not. After today, we are not inclined to do another long run! 

We have started looking at the 216 miles from Demopolis to Mobile, a run with no towns and no marinas except Bobby's Fish Camp, which only marginally qualifies as a marina. It looks to be a challenge!