With temperatures finally on the cool side, we headed back to an old favorite, the Ichetucknee River and a portion of the Santa Fe River. This is a 10 mile paddle, launching in Ichetucknee Spring State Park, paddling down 6 miles to the Santa Fe River and four more miles to our take out at at Guy Lemmons Memorial Park, Hwy 129.
The water was just under 2 feet lower than our paddle in April of this year, exposing the numerous and intriguing network of interlaced tree roots and Cypress Knees. We were also fortunate to have almost no boat traffic at all. A few paddlers launched ahead of us at the head spring, were only seen a couple of times and except for a couple of boats where the Ichetucknee River meets the Santa Fe River, we encountered only one other boat for our final 4 miles!
It was a very relaxing paddle with a hint of Fall in the air. The water was clean on both rivers and the lack of Tannin in the Santa Fe River was quite noticeable. Herons, Egrets, several species of Limpkins, an Eagle and plenty of Turtles, were viewed, especially on the Ichetucknee. The fact that it is Fall, the tubing season being over and it being a weekday made for the peaceful solitude we were able to enjoy!…James
The Paddle Route…
Ichetucknee/Santa Fe Gallery:
Guides, Maps & Info…
- Ichetucknee Topo Map…
- Ichetucknee Springs State Park…
- Florida Springs – Ichetucknee Springs…
- Ichetucknee Springs Information…
- Ichetucknee River Paddling Guide…
For complete details and more on paddling the Ichetucknee River, see the original post on Florida Paddle Notes, here….