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.