Our Trip to the Ichtucknee River and Gainesville, Florida

February 20, 2010

http://www.floridastateparks.org/ichetuckneesprings/

This weekend my wife, Whitney, and I went to Ichtucknee Springs State Park in Branford, Florida to do a little kayaking. The Ichtucknee is a very popular, spring-fed river about 3o minutes northwest of Gainesville, Florida.

We'd seen pictures of crystal blue water at the Spring Head, and read a couple of posts online about other people's experiences kayaking, but didn't know exactly what to expect. We didn't have our own shuttle, and couldn't get in touch with any one at the Park on the way down, so, a few miles from the park we consulted a local tube renter about the river and were told that the water level was so high that the river hardly had a current and that we could paddle upstream and our shuttle problem would be solved. It turns out that the park, and many of the local tube renters, offer shuttle during the peak season, but not in mid-February.

As we approached the river, the water looked black and brackish, but the appearance couldn't have been more deceiving. Once we were in our boats, we could see that the water was absolutely transparent, with at least 12 ft visibility. The black color is due to all the vegetation that grow on the bottom of the river.

The most southerly take out point (our put in) is surrounded by what we were told were live oaks covered in Spanish moss. The tuber renters were right about the current, it was basically non-existent. There were turtles all over the place. We were there for about four hours and probably saw 200 of them. The water was also teeming with gar fish. These fish are huge and evidently, this is there mating season.

We were very lucky and planned our trip on a weekend with near perfect weather. It was right around 70 degrees while we were on the river. Since the river is spring-fed, the water temp was right around 70 degrees as well.

About an hour into our paddle, we met some paddlers come towards us. They informed us that there was a manatee just ahead and a lady was swimming with it! We picked our pace, and within a few hundred yards we found the lady and manatee the people told us about. After taking a quick look at the large sea mammal, I parked my boat and jumped in.

The manatee swam after his original swimming partner a first, but soon came to check me out. He was very gentle and curious. It would swim up to me, let me rub it's back and side and stick his nostrils out of the water to exhale and inhale air. After snapping a few picks of me, getting her nerve up, and chasing the manatee down stream a little, Whitney got the same amazing experience I did. As Whitney and a couple of other boaters who came upon us swam, another manatee came out from a slew. These animals were probably close to a thousand pounds and totally wild. It was exhilarating and touching at the same time. An animal like that showing curiosity and playfulness like that, IN THE WILD, is an experience that words just can't capture.

The river opened up just beyond the half way point, where we found the manatee. We had to make it to our campsite about an hour away and have time to set-up before dark, so we didn't get to see the first half of the river.

The Ichtucknee River was an awesome experience, to say the least. We can't wait to go back and see the first couple of miles of the river.

We camped that night at Paynes Prairie State Park, just minutes from Gainesville on Hwy 441. Our campsite was nice, even though it was by no means secluded. We shared a little conversation a food with a couple of other groups that were camping there, but mostly kept to ourselves.

The next day we checked out the visitor's center at the State Park and took a hike. While in the park we saw a white-tailed deer, a lot of curious squirrels, and many varieties of birds. We seemed to be surrounded by red-headed woodpeckers (the same was true at the Ichtucknee) and, as we were ending our hike, a fellow hikers pointed out a bald eagle. The picture below is not very good, but that's a bald eagle perched in the top of a dead tree, the first one I've ever seen in the wild.

After our hike, we ate, showered, and readied ourselves for a trip into Gainesville to see one of our favorite bands: AGAINST ME!

http://www.againstme.net/

I've probably seen AGAINST ME! live six times, counting this one. The venue was called Common Grounds, and definitely the smallest place I've seen them perform live. The show was awesome. They have a new album coming out soon called White Crosses. They played three or four tracks off of it, and they all sounded great. Hopefully they'll have some of the new stuff on their website to listen to soon.

We went back to Paynes Prairie to camp for one more night, and left late the next morning.

I think Whitney and I agree that this was one of the best trips we've ever taken. Hope you enjoyed hearing about it!