Kayaking the Oklawaha River

 

Date: 10/23/2010

Location: Fort McCoy, Fl

GPS Coordinates: 29.289747, –81.926763

Julie and I put in at Gores Landing Campground. A nice little campground on the river. They change $5 for day use and $5 per night camping. Not a bad deal. We were a little hesitant at first as there were two high powered bass boats being launched as we were putting in our kayaks. We were hoping that was not going to be a sign of what we would see on the river. Luckily there was nothing to worry about. We only say 2 power boats once on the water and there is no way for boats to travel fast on this river. We did see many other canoe and kayaks on the water, with many of them being part of a boy scout group going on an overnight trip. We paddled up stream for a little over 3 miles and then floated/paddled back to the put in point. A very nice river to paddle. Water is on the clear side as I think this gets fed from the Silver River which is spring fed. Going upriver was relatively easy, there was a pretty good current heading against us, but not too bad and it made it a nice trip back. I would definitely recommend this river to paddle.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of this trip, but here is the GPS track of this paddle.

Oklawaha River at EveryTrail

Santa Fe River–Highway 41 bridge to the River Rise Park

 

Location: High Springs, Fl

Date: 10/2/2010

GPS Location: 29.852049, –82.612129

 

This is a favorite paddle of ours. We put in at the boat ramp just downstream of the Highway 41 bridge. You first paddle upstream to the "river rise". This is where the Santa Fe river re-emerges after traveling underground for a few miles (it goes underground in O’leno State park. There’s several reasons why this is such a good short trip. First, the majority of the time you are paddling through the River Rise State Park. So, there are no houses or development at all after the first ½ mile. Even then, you only pass about 2 – 3 homes. Also, this part of the Santa Fe river does not get much boat traffic. We usually see no else on the river or maybe only few other canoe/kayakers. So, it is a very quiet paddle.

The amount of effort to paddle up to the “river rise” varies greatly depending on the current. We’ve paddled this at times where it’s a good workout to the end. Other times (like today), the current is very gentle and it’s relatively easy to make the trip.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of this trip, but here is the GPS track for this paddle.

Santa Fe River - River Rise at EveryTrail