Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing is one of the most beautiful and
pristine stretches of the Perdido River Paddle Trail. The beauty of this
stretch stems from its remote location away from traffic and people noises.
Until you reach Staplefork, the only people you might encounter are other
paddlers. It's beautiful and AMAZING, but this post isn't about that. This post is about getting there.
If you want to see the river, check out the video I made on YouTube: Kayaking the Perdido River Canoe Trail: Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing.
Unless you're a local, finding this location can be tricky, mostly because
Google Maps is a liar liar pants on fire and will lead you to a farm out
in the middle of nowhere that is not even remotely close to where you actually
need to be. The directions on the Perdido River Paddle Trail website also seem
to be written for people who already have prior knowledge of the area.
In this post you will find directions and detailed information about the put-in, take-out location from my perspective.
If you are currently lost, with one bar of signal, on a red dirt road
or sitting on the side of the road at a farm house frantically searching the internet for help finding this put-in (bless you), I FEEL
you, I've been you, I wrote this for you!
DIRECTIONS TO THE GRAVEL LANDING/STAPLEFORK LANDING ENTRANCE:
If you are using Google Maps to get to this general area, go ahead and type
in "River Road East, Robertsdale, AL." That said, once you are on 112
Old Pensacola Road, stop using the GPS and use your brain. You will notice that
there are two entrances to River Road East. Scroll along your screen until you
find the entrance that is shown in the map below. Notice that River Road East
is between Ray Road and Tower Road. If you blink, you can miss the entrance as
you drive by, so slow down and keep your eyes peeled for a dirt road.
This is the sign at the entrance to River Road East. It is set off of the
road, along the treeline. I brightened the image for readability. Notice that
this is the entrance to both Gravel Landing and Staplefork Landing. Once on
River Road East, you will eventually come to a fork in the road where there is
a sign pointing toward either landing, and you are on your way!
ROAD QUALITY (YOUR CAR MIGHT NOT BE SUITED FOR THESE ROADS):
So you've made it to the Gravel Landing/Staplefork entrance. You'll notice that you're now on a dirt/gravel road. The quality of this road does not get better in either direction. The road is narrow, the gravel chunks are large and you can hear them popping up from your tires and hitting the underside of your vehicle. In either direction, you will drive through a small creek.
The Gravel Landing road will be much rougher on
your vehicle than the Staplefork Landing road. We took our Acura RDX down to
Gravel Landing and regret that it probably added several years of wear and tear to
the vehicle in one go, and the kayak trailer that our friends were hauling lost
a handful of nuts and bolts. My opinion is that Gravel Landing is
for heavy duty trucks, but that's just my opinion.
A NOTE ABOUT TIME:
If you are planning on paddling from Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing, definitely consider how much time it is going to take to drop vehicles off. It took us about 45 minutes, one way, from Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing. So consider that if you are driving two vehicles down to drop off kayaks and people, then driving two vehicles to SF to leave one for the take-out, and then one back to GL, you will have to drive back to GL to retrieve the other vehicle. That's roughly three hours of driving on gravel road, not including the time it took to get there.
I wrote this post to help make planning this trip as easy as possible for you. There's a lot to consider and a lot of driving involved, but the experience is definitely worth the time invested. Godspeed and may the force be with you!
Stay Tuned! I will be writing more posts about this paddle trail. We've also twice paddled from Staplefork Landing to Blue Lake Landing. I will write about that adventure soon!
Until next time.
Carpe diem, my friend!
Melissa Anne
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