After a weeklong river float, participants in Paddle Georgia ended their trip in Rome on Friday. And they were hungry.

Volunteers from the Coosa River Basin Initiative fed the crowd at Heritage Park, where they camped Friday night, serving up fried catfish, hushpuppies, coleslaw, cheese grits and fries.

The paddle is the largest organized, long-distance paddle trip in the country. The fifth installment ended with a “River’s End Celebration.”

Paddle Georgia organizer and

CRBI Executive Director Joe Cook said the water levels made the trip flow smoothly.

“The last two years the rivers had been running on low supply, and there was a lot of dragging on sandbars,” he recalled. “This year we had a lot of water and the levels made it less strenuous over the sandbars and things like that.”

Paddlers encountered all types of wildlife that wouldn’t be visible from land.

“People saw bears, otters, all sorts of turtles and fish,” he said. “We found a lot of mussel shells and caught a lot of fish.”

For some it was a vacation, but for local participant Alan Crawford the trip meant overcoming challenges and reaching goals.

Crawford was the first para-kayaker to complete Paddle Georgia and hopes to inspire others with disabilities.

“I did it,” said Crawford emphatically.

It was the first thing he said to his mom, Miriam Cush­ard, who greeted him at Heritage Park on Friday afternoon.

“It seems like the river turns adults into kids, and kids become more kids,” he said.

Georgia River Network Executive Director April Ingle said Crawford’s presence had a positive impact.

“He inspired others and so many people have loved being around him during the trip,” he said. “He’s been an incredible inspiration and has done great on the trip.”

Crawford, of Silver Creek, has been a paraplegic since 2005 when a disease called sarcoidosis in his lungs worsened and attacked his nervous system.

Crawford’s desire to get on the water led him to design a special kayak trailer that allows wheelchair users to easily transfer from chair to kayak and launch into rivers. The apparatus can also be used to pull paddlers from the water.

Dubbed the “Crawford Crawler” by friends, the trailer is a four-wheeled platform that holds a kayak and works like trailers used to launch powerboats.

The annual Paddle Georgia is a fundraiser for the Georgia River Network, and funds are generated through event registration fees and Canoe-a-thon donations.

“We raised over $20,000 for Georgia River Network and local watershed network,” said Cook.