Georgia River Network’s latest guidebook authored NWGA resident Joe Cook

Northwest Georgia resident Joe Cook is the author of the latest Georgia River Network Guidebook, which features the Altamaha and Ohoopee Rivers.

Altamaha and Ohoopee River boaters and anglers, not to mention armchair river enthusiasts, now have a new tool at their disposal with the release of Georgia River Network's seventh river guidebook — the Altamaha River User's Guide.

The 215-page, full-color guidebook features 15 detailed maps of the Altamaha and Ohoopee rivers, covering all 137 miles of the Altamaha and some 115 mile of the Ohoopee, providing colorful descriptions of points of interest along the routes as well as critical information about public access locations, distances between them and what to expect once you get on the river.

The book also features a fishing guide along with an illustrated index of common plants and animals found along the river.

“It's more than just a guidebook,” Rome resident Cook said. “For sure, it tells you where you can get on the river and what to expect when you get out there, but beyond that, it tells the story of the river and the people along it. When you dig into the mud and sand and muck of a river in Georgia, you uncover our stories because our communities have almost always grown up around rivers.”

The Altamaha book marks the seventh in a series of guides produced by Georgia River Network in partnership with the University of Georgia Press. River User's Guides for the Etowah, Chattahoochee, Flint, Broad, Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers are also available.

The Altamaha River User's Guide retails for $24.95 and can be purchased at www.garivers.org, at most major bookstores, and local retail outlets.

One of the first Georgia rivers explored by Europeans, the Altamaha is rich in cultural and natural history and the book takes a deep dive into that history. Readers will hear tales of harrowing 19th century river journeys; comical yarns of the theft of a Confederate steamboat during the Civil War; horrifying stories of Jim Crow-era racial persecution that played out on the river's banks; and the modern-day saga of efforts to restore a polluted river.

With stories detailing the likes of legendary Jesup native, NFL pro Bowler and river lover Len Hauss who claimed to “catch more redbreasts than anyone” in the pro football league to Ohoopee River native and Georgia Southern University sociologist Roger Branch who once wrote that the river “bears in its bosom thousands of human stories, some glorious and some tragic,” the Altamaha River User's Guide weaves together the story of the Altamaha's communities in a narrative that's as engaging enjoyed from the sofa at home as it is from atop a river sandbar.

This summer Georgia River Network will host its annual week-long, group canoe/kayak journey Paddle Georgia on the Altamaha. The event, set for June 15-22, will cover 107 miles of the Oconee, Ohoopee and Altamaha rivers and is expected to attract more than 250 participants. The event is the largest of its kind in the country. More about Paddle Georgia and Georgia River Network's other on-river events and kayaking classes can be found at www.garivers.org/events.

Author Joe Cook is available for river talks and book signings and can be reached via e-mail at joe@ garivers.org.