River
Apalachicola River
180 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Gulf of Mexico
In numbers
Length
180km
Average flow
470m³/s
Basin
51,800km²
Drop
19m
from 21 m to 2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
180 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 21 m
- 2 kmLake Seminole84 km²
- 3 kmChattahoochee3,144 people
- 3 kmVictory Bridge
- 5 kmFlint Rivertributary
- 50 kmTrammell Bridge
- 53 kmBlountstown2,497 people
- 60 kmLake Mystic0.4 km²
- 132 kmChipola Rivertributary
- 173 kmAN Apalachicola River Bridge
- 179 kmApalachicola2,281 people
- 180 kmGulf of Mexicoat 2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
180 km (112mi) river in Florida, USA
At the mouth it carries 470 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.3 seconds. Its basin covers 51,800 km², about the size of BA. 3.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (25% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ChattahoocheeLargest city on its banks · 3,144 people
- Tallahassee International Airport (TLH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 58 km from the cityCar hire at TLH airport (Tallahassee)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water23 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From April to May and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit
Apalachicola River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Best months to visit: from April to May and from October to November.
From about 340 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Apalachicola River: the basin in numbers
50,745 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 77/km²people per km²
- 158maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,334mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 17.8°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
- 6.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 60% Forest
- 20% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
- 7% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Apalachicola River: what you find on the way
- 3LocksJim Woodruff Lock
- 19Boat rampsBoat Ramp, Henry Abercrombie, Jr Boat Landing and 17 more
- 4MarinasBattery Park Marina, Foot Hole Marina and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Apalachicola River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Seminolekm 2 · 9 m deep84km²
- Lake Mystickm 500.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Sand Beach11 km away29.3°C
- Horseshoe Cove16 km away · cove29.3°C
- Rattlesnake Cove19 km away · cove29.3°C
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Sixteenth Hill7.9 km away
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- St. George Island14 km away
- St. Vincent Island, Florida18 km away42km²
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Apalachicola River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
United States702 km290 m³/sjoins at km 4Flint RiverUnited States240 km640 m³/sjoins at km 4Also: Chipola River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United States702 km290 m³/s106 km awayFlint RiverUnited States240 km640 m³/s106 km awayAlabama RiverUnited States640 km950 m³/s323 km awayMobile RiverUnited States72 km1,900 m³/s311 km awayMississippi RiverUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/s420 km awaySt. Johns RiverUnited States499 km420 m³/s350 km awaySavannah RiverUnited States563 km360 m³/s463 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q617414) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, Islandyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit