WATER & COAST
Holmes Creek
Washington County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast
A creek of fifty-six miles that rises in south Alabama and runs down through Washington County to the Choctawhatchee River.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
It enters Florida a few miles north of Graceville and crosses Holmes, Jackson and Washington counties before joining the Choctawhatchee west of Ebro. The upper water is brown and acid, carrying little mineral. Further down, springs feed in and the creek turns clear and mineralized, and that change is what makes the lower half worth paddling. Four second-magnitude springs sit on it, Burnt Out Spring, Becton Spring, Cypress Springs and Jack Paul Spring, with Bronson Landing Spring and Galloway Spring smaller. The bottom thirty-four miles are a designated state paddling trail running from Burnt Sock Landing down to Cedar Tree Landing, with landings spaced for day trips. Cypress, water tupelo, sweetbay and pawpaw line the banks, with pickerelweed and duck potato in the shallows. Channel catfish, flathead catfish and bream are the fishing. The creek holds twenty-two species of snail across eighteen genera, three of which are found in this water and nowhere else on earth
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