Columbus duo attempt a 500-mile kayak journey down the hooch. Here’s how and why
On an unusually warm 77-degree day in early March, kayakers Jarod Horne and Stephen Burden approached Tidwell Park on Lake Lanier in Georgia, their first stop after paddling 7 hours straight for 23 miles.
“We didn’t stop for lunch, just munched on a few snacks,” Burden, the interim program director of the Chattahoochee River Conservancy in Columbus, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Burden and Horne are attempting a 30-day paddle from the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River in Helen to the Gulf of Mexico, all in an effort to showcase the river — the good and the bad — and raise $50,000 for the river conservation group.
They call their fundraising adventure ”Rediscover the Chattahoochee.” As of Friday at 1 p.m., they had raised $12,171 from 17 donors with 19 days left in the fundraiser, according to the website.
Chattahoochee River Conservancy’s impact
The CRC has improved habitat restoration from the legacy dams that once utilized water for the mills in Columbus, which have impacted the river’s health, planting native shoal lilies every season. The group tests water during the summer to show where human activity like sewage or harmful bacteria might be present if Phenix City or Columbus sewage efforts fail. Last summer, their tests concluded seriously high levels of E. coli from the Phenix City tributary Mill Creek.
Since becoming interim program director last October, Burden decided he can use his love of paddling and a 500-mile trip to bring awareness to the river, its beauty and challenges, while helping the organization thrive from the spring fundraiser.
Burden graduated in 2021 from the Columbus State University Schwob School of Music, and Horne is a Phenix City native. The Ledger-Enquirer joined them for the last 3 miles of their Lanier day adventure to get a sense of what this type of trek takes.
‘Lots of calories’
Their 200 pound boats are carrying everything they need to survive: sleeping bags, tents, gallon water jugs, pots and pans, fishing poles and freeze-dried food packs. After just five days, the paddling pair already have a lot of lessons to share.
“The main food is freeze-dried meals, which are really easy to make, especially when you’re cold, tired and hungry because they are hot and ready,” Horne said while paddling on the water. “The key for meals is lots of calories — so many calories all the time.”
Both men had the beginnings of a sunburned neck and tan lines around their eyes in the shape of sunglasses. When they weren’t enjoying the solace of nature or conversation, they each had their own music they played on their speakers. Horne was playing The Gorillaz and The Strokes.
Burden opted for other tunes. He was a trumpet player at CSU, where he met his harp-playing girlfriend who became his wife.
Now, the trumpeter is deciding between $65 hotels near the river, campsites beside a bridge or outfitter shops like Wildwood in Cleveland.
As far as staying hydrated, these kayakers try to refill water “wherever we can”, Horne said. “It’s been easy.”
But, if there isn’t water on site where they camp, they have a water filter and can boil river water, Burden said.
The place they want to avoid having to drink Chattahoochee water is the Southern side of Atlanta, after the sewage outfall system pours back into the river.
“The filter I have doesn’t filter out heavy metals,” Burden said. “The water in (South Fulton) is polluted with mercury. Worst case scenario, we stop and hike to the nearest town with water.”
Burden has done this trip before, making it to only Lake Seminole and stopping because the water flow (which whitewater paddlers measure as CFS, cubic feet per second) was 100,000 CFS, which is very high.
“I was able to make it from South Fulton to West Point in two days and was just careful with water consumption,” Burden said.
Is the Chattahoochee River healthy?
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper executive director Jason Ulseth patrols the stretch near South Fulton weekly.
Ulseth said mercury rom coal-fired power plants is in all rivers across the Southeast, but it isn’t suspended in water; it shows up mostly in fish tissue. That finding comes from “legacy tests” conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003.
“Compared to other parts of the river, yes (South Fulton) is the most polluted blighted section of the Chattahoochee because of all the industrial activities and sewer plants in the City of Atlanta,” Ulseth said.
But the Riverkeeper’s work over the last 25 years, including settlement of a 2024 lawsuit against the City of Atlanta, has made it cleaner than it has been in decades, Ulseth said.
Ulseth said he would let his kids swim in the river anywhere along the Chattahoochee, except after a heavy rainstorm because that is when most of the combined sewer overflow can enter the river.
“We want to show parts that aren’t clean, like below Paces Mill,” Burden said. “The priority of this is to showcase the communities that call this river home and get people engaged and excited to be involved with a water source.”
Mason Jerett took over as the executive director at the Chattahoochee River Conservancy in Columbus a few years ago. He is thrilled about Burden’s fundraising.
“The less I have to worry about fundraising the more I can do what I need for this organization, which is raising awareness through classroom education, being on the river and having community relationships with people around the river,” Jerrett said. “Every dime we get helps me to be able to do that.”
Burden and Horne are happy to go on this adventure, despite the long, 23-mile Lake Lanier day, finding waterfalls not in guidebooks, feeling like explorers of untouched parts of the river and navigating around 13 dams that cross over the Chattahoochee.
On Sunday the kayaking duo is expected to be in Columbus. Around 4 p.m., they are scheduled to paddle with locals and partner with Whitewater Express. Here is a link to join them in support of their efforts.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 4:58 PM.
