Apalachicola River

Apalachicola River
Map of the Apalachicola River watershed showing the two main tributaries, the Chattahoochee River and the Flint River.
Country	United States
Basin
Main source	Confluence of Chattahoochee River and Flint River at Chattahoochee, Florida 77 feet (23 m)
River mouth	Gulf of Mexico at Apalachicola, Florida
Basin size	19,500 sq mi (50,505 km2)
Physical characteristics
Length	167 miles (269 km)
Discharge	Average rate: 16,600 cu ft/s (470 m3/s)

The Apalachicola River /æpəlætʃᵻˈkoʊlə/ is a river, approximately 112 mi (180 km) long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately 19,500 square miles (50,505 km²) into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500 miles (800 km). Its name comes from the Apalachicola tribe, which used to live along the river.

It is formed on the state line between Florida and Georgia, near the town of Chattahoochee, Florida, approximately 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Panama City, by the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. The actual confluence is submerged in the Lake Seminole reservoir formed by the Jim Woodruff Dam. It flows generally south through the forests of the Florida Panhandle, past Bristol. In northern Gulf County, it receives the Chipola River from the west. It flows into Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, at Apalachicola. The lower 30 mi (48 km) of the river is surrounded by extensive swamps and wetlands except at the coast.