Three Days at Juniper Springs then over to Silver Springs

A cold front came on Tuesday, so we decided to stop in Silver Springs to do some grocery shopping. The Wal-Mart there had good Wi-Fi and cell service.  I spent a few hours catching up on my e-mail and website and blogging. We found a really quiet spot behind the store, so we had dinner and spent the night. We woke to 40oF clear skies. and we drove over to one of our favorite campgrounds, Juniper Springs. 


Juniper Springs is in the Ocala National Forest and of course has no Wi-Fi or even a phone signal. The campsites are on pavement but they don’t have electricity or water. They do have very nice hot showers. It is usually booked on most weekends but mid-week there are plenty of campsites available, some that, once occupied, you can stay for up to 14 days without reservations. 

I looked up when we had been here years before with our kids. We had camped and canoed here in 1969, 1973 & 1975. The spring does not look very different from 50 years ago. The whole place was built by the CCC in 1936 and has been well maintained. Over the years whenever we are in FL we try to canoe here. Last year they would not allow canoeing because of trouble they were having with a bear so we decided to go to Alexander Springs, but we did not paddle at all.

Juniper Springs is a constant 72oF, which is too cold for swimming except on hot days. It is the source of the river that we canoed on Thursday.   

We decided to get an start early on Thursday morning. They do a shuttle for private paddlers for only $12. I used to do a bike shuttle, it is only 8 miles but on very busy state highways with narrow bike lanes. Years ago unless you had a second car, this was your only option and early morning traffic was light. But now, we just drive our RV to the put-in, drop Peggy off with the canoe and I drive to the take-out parking lot where there is room for my RV, if you get there early. The park service then drives you back to the put-in.

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We launched at 9:15 AM when it was only 38oF and the 72oF water was a little foggy until the day warmed.  We saw about 6 deer standing next to the stream at several places along the way but only one alligator jumped in without us catching a glimpse. We saw four huge turtles and a few great herons. It got to 70oF under bright sunny skies at the take-out. The parking lot was full of paddler’s cars, we were glad we started early, we had the beautiful winding river to ourselves. They don’t allow anything disposable and they do a cooler check at the beginning, so the river is pristine. 

The river is not for beginners, it is very narrow and full of fallen trees that need to be avoided for the first 3 miles. They tell paddlers that this 7 mile run will take them 4 to 5 hours to complete and they close the put-in at 11:30 AM. We paddled slowly and only touched one submerged log. It took only 2-3/4 hours. In the past when we watched some rental boats launch and the lack of paddling skills exhibited by some of those paddlers, I believe that they wouldn’t even make it in 5 hours. This year I noticed that they put mileage markers every mile. The early part of the trip is slow and will take at least 45 minutes/mile. After that the river widens but still flows fast.

About 1-1/2 miles before the end of the run there is actually a little rapid that they say appeared there about 6 years ago caused by some fallen trees. You need to run on the right side through the biggest waves to avoid trouble.

After the run we drove about 4 miles east on SR40 where we could get cell service and get our e-mail. We decided to stay for a third night and leave early on Saturday morning to paddle the Silver River in Silver Springs State Park.

Since the State Park took over at Silver Springs they allow you to drop a canoe off right at the headwaters of the spring and paddle down the river as far as you care to and then paddle back or you could run a shuttle and paddle 5 miles down to the Ocklawaha River where there are docks and a boat launch at a roadside park on SR40, or do like we did for years, start at the roadside park and paddle up against the strong current to the spring and then float back.

In the 40’s movie makers brought in monkeys that still occupy both sides of the river and efforts to remove them have been unsuccessful. You will see more wildlife on this river then most FL rivers and the river is crystal clear.

We got to the launch in the park by 8:30 AM, there was only a small group that had just got there, the parking lot was empty and we could park very close to the put-in. We paddled down river with the current for 3 miles. 

There were dozens of Anhingas and Great Herons. No one was on the river at that time. It was cool to start but warmed nicely as we were on our way back.

We saw 3 small Manatees along the way. They must spend their entire life here since we are a hundred miles from the ocean.

On our way back to the put-in about 25 racing canoes and kayaks flew past us, they must have been doing a 5 mile up and back race.

We headed off for shopping and are on our way to Inverness to visit Paul & Helen for the night.

At Silver Lake for next 10 days

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After a great big breakfast at our friends, Paul & Helen in Inverness,  we had a short 40 minute drive to our campsite #47 in the Cypress Glen Campground.  Silver Lake is a wide spot on the Withlacoochee River.  Last spring they re leveled all the campsites and put in new picnic tables. Some of the site pads used to be  sloping suitable only for tents, now they are level and larger. We like this site since it is only a short carry to the launch. We can paddle upstream or downstream from here in the slow current.

The other nice thing about the campground location is that it is right next to the 46 mile paved bike trail from Trilby to Dunnellon in the Withlacoochee State Forest.  There are 3 separate campgrounds, the first one is in the shadow of I-75 and the last is a rustic tent camp with no hookups. We prefer Cypress Glen, the middle site. They take reservations and in the winter months they are usually full on the weekends. Now only 5 sites are occupied.

You access the rail trail at milepost 9, so you can make a nice 20 mile round trip heading south. If you head  north you have the option to take the new Good Neighbor Trail which opened last year and goes to Brooksville. This makes a 25 mile round trip, or you can keep heading north up to Floral City another 25 mile round trip. Of course in all three directions just turn around whenever you want. The trail has a gentle slope in deep woods in all directions since it follows an old abandoned railroad.
On Monday we did a 16 mile round trip bike ride to Lake Townsen Regional Park in Nobelton. We saw one Gopher Turtle right next to the trail.


On Tuesday we canoed down the Withlacoochee River

We stopped for lunch at a scout camp but I think Peggy is shrinking, she barely can lean on the picnic table.

We continued down and around Hog Island which made it a 9 mile up  & back paddle from our campsite.

We saw lots of large birds and a couple of turtles and one huge gator.

The river doesn’t have much current but the wind was also against us coming back which gave us a good workout.  So I think Tuesday will be a rest day since a little rain is forecast for the morning.

Back in Florida

After spending 12 days back home with our family for the holidays we are now back in FL. The weather in Cleveland was 10 to 20o above normal and no snow. We flew back on New Years Eve and checked into one of our favorite campgrounds, Lithia Springs Park on the Alafia River. There is a put-in nine miles upstream and we can take-out at our campsite. The campground host offered to shuttle us with our canoe. There are 30 miles of bike paths in the Fish Hawk Ranch subdivision which is connected the the park.  FishHawk Bike Paths

The only campsite that was open is across the street from where we would like to camp and is not too level, so after waiting for the site 50 across from us to check-out on Thursday we switched sites. We plan to spend a full 2 weeks at the park before moving further south. See the map below which show all the places we will be for the next two months. The numbers are the order we will hit them. We have reservations for all the campgrounds except for Lithia Springs which is first come gets a site.

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Settled in at Lithia Springs

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After two days at our first campsite #39, we were able to move across the street, right on the river to site #40, it is larger and more level but is limited to 14 days like the other 5 riverside campsites, which are very popular at this non-reservation campground. We only planned on 14 days, so that was great.


We like the park because of the large shady campsites and easy river and bike trail access.  On Friday we took our Tandem Bike for a 14 mile ride on the west side of Fish Hawk Ranch. The weather so far has been above normal and an afternoon of rain on Sunday brought the river back up to a good level.

We met a woman, April, on site 43 who had just bought two kayaks. She had taken a paddle board down the river but was looking for someone to show her how to kayak down and offered to shuttle our canoe to the put-in. Her friend on campsite 37 agreed to drive her truck back to camp and help me load up. On Saturday, 1/4, the river was running at 200 cfs, a nice level.

Here is what the state says about the Alafia River Paddling Trail; 10 Miles, Beginner to Intermediate From Alderman Ford Park to Lithia Springs Campground. The Alafia River provides the paddler with occasional shoals to get the heart pounding. You will see many large birds along the way; Egrets, Ibis, Limpkin, Anhinga, Wood Storks, Ospreys, Red-shouldered Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Kingfishers, Blue Herons, and songbirds. A few alligators, and turtles can also be spotted. The best WaterLevel is about 180-400 CFS. If above that the current becomes swift and the river is not recommended for beginners. Most of the trail’s shorelines are undeveloped and in public ownership. Occasional snags or strainers may require portaging.

April was a fast learner and we all had a nice day with a lunch at Duck Landing rest stop. We saw lots of birds but no alligators. It took us about 3-1/2 hrs. to paddle the 9 miles back to camp.
Campsite 40 at Lithia Springs County Park
On Sunday we took another 11 mi. bike ride with a stop at the nice Publix Grocery store only 2-1/2 miles from our campsite. When we leave here I’ll post a map of all our bike rides.

 

Another Warm Week

On Thursday 1/9, our new friend from Wisconsin, Glenn, gave us another ride to the Alafia River Alderman Ford Put-In.  We got a little rain on Saturday but by Thursday the level had dropped back down to 190 CFS. This is a good level for beginners but there is less room to navigate the little limestone shoals without touching a rock.

Downstream from the Put-in
Typical River Deadfall

Most of the river has a lot of deadfall from previous storms. They seem to keep a path clear but I’ll bet inexperienced paddlers will have a hard time weaving through the branches. Peggy always picks a good path for us without touching a branch.

Following the Great Heron down the river

We didn’t see as many birds today and no alligators. There was a great Heron leading us down the river (Ahead on the right shore). With a short stop for  a quick lunch we made it in exactly 3 hours. It’s faster when the water level is higher.

Sandhill Cranes along the bike path

We took 3 more bike rides on the Fish Hawk Ranch ranch trails. We saw several pair of Sandhill Cranes near the path. They are not frightened by people. The map below shows the 4 rides we took since we got here. This year they wouldn’t let us through the gated neighborhood at Fish Hawk Trails, the Yellow Trail on right side of the map. We couldn’t talk our way in. It is a very nice trail that circles the entire neighborhood.

Map of all 4 of our bike rides at Fishhawk Ranch

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Last last two weeks set high temperature records and we only had one day with rain.

We leave here on Tuesday, 1/14 and drive down to WP Franklin Corps-of-Engineers Campground at a lock on the Caloosahatchee River near Ft Myers, FL It is a really nice campground but doesn’t have all the nice shade and trails like here at Lithia Springs. But several of our Phoenix Cruiser friends should be there again this year.

Birthday at WP Franklin

We got to our next camp, W.P. Franklin Corp-of-Engineers campground on the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers by noon after doing our weekly grocery trip along the way. We like this camp because it is a small island by a river lock and has nice big campsites.

Campsite 11 on the Caloosahatchee Waterway
View from Camp

 We have been in four different campsites in other years, most had nice shade. The temperatures have been sunny and in the high 80’s, so it is very hot with our south facing site. 

River Dinosaur

So on Wednesday we took our canoe out for a 6 mile paddle up and back on Telegraph Creek. We like to think this old fallen tree is a dinosaur.

Gator along Telegraph Creek

We didn’t see many birds but we saw at least 5 alligators, most were small. 

Birthday Dessert

Our Phoenix Cruiser friends, Barry & Sue are here, we have seen them here the past 3 years. When they found out it was my birthday they picked up a couple of great chocolate cake slices for Peggy & me. We really enjoyed them for dessert.

I photo-shopped the picture so I could show both of us enjoying our cake.

On Thursday, we took a short 8 mile bike ride through the three developments next to the campground. It was getting hot again so we spent the rest of the day at camp.

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Our Last Day at WP Franklin Campground

Sunset

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Our campsite here had good sunrise and sunset views. We faced due south on the Caloosahatchee River at Franklin Lock. 

Our Two Weeks at WP Franklin

 On hot days we had no shade but on our second week the temperatures came back down to normal so it was very pleasant.



There are a few small neighborhoods nearby where we could ride our bike for about 8 miles up and down the winding streets, but the main road has no bike lanes and we needed to sprint between the developments to avoid the fast cars. We only biked 4 times, about 32 miles. 

There are two nice scenic creeks to explore with our canoe. Telegraph Creek is about 1/2 mi downstream from camp and Hickey Creek is about 1 mile upstream from camp. The Caloosahatchee River has a lot of boat traffic on weekends but it is very quite on weekdays. We did two 7 mile paddles on Telegraph and one 8 mile paddle on Hickey. Both creeks were a little scummy but we saw turtles and small gators on both.

So far this winter there has been almost no rain wherever we were. We woke to a little drizzle this morning but before noon everything was dry. We had two cold and windy days so we headed into town for shopping and for an early dinner at Carrabbas Grill using our Christmas gift certificate from Jeff & Marcie.

So tomorrow 1/28 we will be heading about 70 miles to Myakka State Park for two days. It has been 12 years since we were able to get a campsite here, it is a very popular park. We hope to paddle down river to Deep Hole and see all the gators.

Myakka River State Park

It has been 12 years since we last stayed here. It is a popular park and the reservations fill up moths in advance. They have three campgrounds. We were able to get a small site #39 in Old Prairie Campground for just two days. So we planned to get here before 10 AM even though check-in time is not until after 1 PM. We were able to get a permit to canoe to Deep Hole from the launch right at the campground entrance. The large picnic ground had a 500’ sidewalk to the river so we could easily wheel our canoe cart to put-in from the large parking lot.

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Myakka River Gator

The narrow river flows two miles south to the large Lower Myakka Lake. Right at the start near the highway bridge were some of the biggest alligators we have see on the trip, we counted 2o before we got out of site of the highway. I think we even hit a large gator that swam under us.

The river was very low and we had to walk across a sandbar to get into the lake where we saw a flock of white pelicans.

White Pelicans

There were more large birds along the way than we have seen anywhere else.

It is about a mile to get across the lake and to find “Deep Hole”. The beach and water here of full of hundreds of large gators.

Even without a boat the permit allows you to hike 2-1/4 miles to a nearby beach that you can view the crowd of gators. They only hand out 30 permits/day to either paddle or hike. We were the only boat we saw on our early morning paddle.

Deep Hole Gators

When we saw all the gators in the water as well as on the beach we decided to turn around and head back. It was a harder paddle back against the wind and the current in the river. We made it back to the ranger station just after 1 PM and got our campsite permit. The only site that we were able to book was a 20’ site for our 27’ RV. However the lengths they publish must include a car since there was enough room.

Our our second day we decided to bike the rest of the park taking the park road to the north gate that is only open on weekends. We had a snack there and cars and campers were wondering how to get into or out of the park. There were no signs that told them how to get to the main entrance 28 miles away. These people were following their GPS which didn’t know that this is not the normal entrance. We tried to explain to these drivers that they needed to drive over 20 miles out of their way. The nice 7 mile long 25 mi/hr park road was full of bicycles that they rent at the Upper Myakka Lake. It was a pleasant shady bike ride and the cars were slow and careful of the bike and pedestrian traffic.

Last night we had a little rain but they are predicting another dry day. We leave latter this morning for a short 70 mi drive to Highland Hammock State Park near Sebring, FL. We will stay there for three nights, again that’s all that was available.

Highland Hammock State Park

I know we have visited this park but I’ll bet it was over 30 years ago. I couldn’t remember what we did, that’s why I like creating these blogs. At least it reminds me what we did and if we liked the park.

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The park first opened in 1931, it was developed by CCC in 1934 and became one of the first Florida state parks in 1935. The 140 site campground is crowded under a large canopy of trees, it feels like you are jammed in pretty tight but they do have 30 amp power & water at each site. Some large RV’s may have trouble finding a site they could fit in.

They have a bunch of short hiking trails, some raised on boardwalks that can be reached from the 4 mile paved bike trail that winds through a jungle like setting including a claimed 1000 year old oak tree.

There are some longer bike trails that are on old gravel roads. There is also a 3 mi asphalt trail that parallels the main road all the way to Sebring. We rode about 18 miles on our tandem bike on all the various trails.

We camped here for three days and enjoyed the small CCC museum visitor center that is run by the volunteers.


Saturday we had a light rain that curtailed our activities.

On Sunday we will head south to Lake Worth, FL near West Palm Beach and watch the Superbowl game at John Prince County Park.

John Prince County Park

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John Prince Park in Lake Worth, FL is a few miles south of West Palm Beach. 
This is a large county park with 300 tightly squeezed campsites. Many sites can be reserved for the entire winter season, those along the lake have a 14 day limit. 
Since we were only staying for 12 days that’s where we had hoped to get a campsite, but no luck they put us in a compact section with almost all French speaking Quebecers.

The campground has 300 sites all with electric and water and some with full sewer hookups. There were several reasons we came here. It is pretty far south so the temperatures are usually near 80oF.

The campground is part of a very large city park right off I-95 that has a beautiful 10 mile long paved bike trail that goes entirely around Lake Osborne.


You can also bike into a gated community around a golf course. It is close to grocery stores and shopping centers as well.

We stayed here for a week 4 years ago but we decided it is too unlike the “Real Florida”. We like wild nature and even though there are Wood Storks, Egrets and Herons along the bike path and lake, it is much too civilized for our taste.

There was even a big festival in the park this weekend, called the Garlic Festival, with carnival rides, entertainment and food like garlic ice cream and donuts. Luckily it was a mile away so we were not bothered by any noise. We did not attend.

We will be here until Valentine’s day this coming Thursday and we head back to the west coast to stay again at WP Franklin Corps of Engineers campground on the Okeechobee River which is a cross FL waterway from West Palm beach to Fort Myers.