
Ken Swift lifts off on a back flip from a high perch above the Withlacoochee.
Cheating death. As I watched our Paddle Georgia Navy venture down the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers for a week, swinging from rope swings, leaping from cliffs, running rapids and swimming beneath limestone bridges at Charles and Lafayette Blue springs, I ruminated on that phrase.
Sure, all of these endeavors were low risk-high reward activities for adrenalin junkies young and old. None of us were truly cheating death, but the adventures sure got our hearts thumping. That thrill of adventure is what drives us to wild rivers.
I also thought of Joe Kidd, a long-time Paddle Georgia participant who died June 13. At 77 on Paddle Georgia 2017, Joe was still jumping off cliffs and swinging from rope swings…much to my dismay. Try as I might, I could not talk the stubborn old cuss off a high cliff once he got there. A leap for him (and the endeavor to reach the high riverside plateau) was, in fact, high risk for the equilibrium-challenged senior.

Joe Kidd runs a rapid on the Etowah River during Paddle Georgia 2017.
He did not die the way he probably would have liked…paddling down a river. Dementia took him in a hospital bed.
Joe’s life paralleled the plight of Georgia’s rivers, and in his relationship to those rivers, we find a road map for us all.
A native of Newnan, he learned to swim at Hilly Mill Creek Falls near the banks of the Chattahoochee. He played in that creek and fished the river throughout his youth until upstream pollution drove him and his friends away.
During Paddle Georgia 2014, when we ventured on the Chattahoochee, he returned to the river of his youth and witnessed first hand its revival. A river that was once so fouled you couldn’t fish in it was once again an inviting destination. Between 1970 and 2014, citizens essentially demanded that the pollution be stopped, and by and large, it has been. Sure, there’s still work to be done, but now, Georgia River Network and others are working to establish a water trail on reaches of the Chattahoochee downstream from Atlanta that at one time was written off as a cesspool.

Maddox Swift leaps into the wind-rippled blackwater of the Suwannee.
Joe was a part of this change. During his later years as he got involved in paddling the state’s rivers, he was a frequent volunteer for local watershed groups and gave generously of his time and money. Upon his death, family members requested donations to Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in lieu of flowers.
Fresh on the heels of the news of Joe’s death, I came to the Withlacoochee with an intense sense of gratitude born from the realization that I was one of the lucky ones. In addition to Joe, we lost other Paddle Georgia veterans during the past year. Blue-shirted John Councilman from Columbus and the burly medic John Gugino from the Athens area will never paddle with us again. And each year, it seems one of our family misses the journey due to health issues. During this year’s trip we all sent well wishes to Mitt Connerly who is undergoing treatment for leukemia.
As we leapt from high places into the Withlacoochee and Suwannee’s blackwater, we might have felt invincible when we bobbed to the surface, but we know that life is fleeting.
We will pass on, but the rivers will ceaselessly flow. And, there lies our responsibility.
Our rivers can flow full and healthy or they can flow depleted and polluted. We determine their future. To insure that our children and our children’s children have access to the same “life-cheating” experiences we enjoyed during Paddle Georgia 2019, we must commit not only to “suck all the marrow” out of life (as Joe Kidd did)—but also to protect those rivers until we can cheat death no more.
Joe Cook
June 26, 2019
P.S. A picture is worth a thousand words. Look below to see if it’s true!

Shay Ammons takes a dive in Madison Blue Spring. Shay was among eight youth who participated in Paddle Georgia through a partnership between Georgia River Network and Camp Horizon. Camp Horizon provides mentoring programs for Metro Atlanta at-risk youth in the state’s foster care system.

A young Suwannee bass eyes Paula Jeffers…or is it the other way around. Thanks to fish specialist Camm Swift, Paddle Georgia participants had the opportunity to seine for–and view–many of the river’s native fish species.

As always…the water battles were epic. Rule of Engagement No. 1: Never bring a squirt gun to a water cannon fight.

Lotem Kol shows off his rope swinging style on the Withlacoochee. Lotem, his brother Morry and father Roman, were selected as our Volunteers of the Week. Dozens of Paddle Georgia participants chipped in as volunteers during the week, helping make this year’s event one of our most successful ever! Thank you paddlers for participating and volunteering!