Next stop is another favourite, Kelly Park and the Rock Spring Run. Rock Spring is an 8.5 mile river run which starts just outside of the County Park. An outfitter picks you up at the end of the ride and hauls you and your canoe back home. Surprisingly, Kelly Park was nearly empty. We had the showers to ourselves and it was great to have plug in power again as well. We launched the canoe early about 10:30 in order to make the 3:30 pick up with time to spare. After about three miles down the river, a newly fallen tree blocked our passage. Heavy rain increased the river flow and washed out the supporting soil around the roots. Luckily the branches at the water level were small enough that we could pull our way through without a portage.
We stopped about a mile after that for lunch on shore at one of two camp sites available on the river. Just as I was preparing to get out of the canoe, I spied a small water moccasin in the shallow water to our left. I took a couple of pics and we left him alone hoping he would do the same. (A good idea. These guys are venomous, bad tempered and aggressive.) We headed up the trail to the picnic tables for lunch and to stretch our legs. This camp is basically a horse camp on a trail several miles from civilization. The only facilities are tethers, non-potable water for the horses and tables. We had it to ourselves that day.
After lunch, Marty decided I should learn how to steer the canoe to give him a break. The snake had departed the area and we switched places getting into the canoe. It didn’t go well right from the beginning. The current took us straight into the reeds on the opposite shore. From this point the river widened with lots of reed beds but was still deep and fast. We went from side to side into the weeds and into the trees until finally we found a spot where we could change places again. I was killing myself laughing at my incompetence in steering from the back and poor Marty was exhausted after having to try to keep the canoe on track from the front and from picking leaves out of his teeth. Lesson #1: A fast flowing river with lots of hazards is not the place to learn to steer a canoe. Only about four miles left to go.
We had time before pick up to go a mile up the Wekiva River to its source in Wekiva Springs S.P. It looks like a beauty place to stay with both a swimming area in the spring and a boat launch onto the river. It looks like good hiking as well as it was one of their primitive sites where we had stopped for lunch. I think we will check out this park in future years.
Planning to go primitive again after Kelly Park, so had a day of picking up supplies, laundry and of course a game of tennis in Apopka while being serenaded by the roosters free ranging in the down town park around us. They roam freely all over the downtown.
We got back to the park in the late afternoon in time for a snorkel down the spring run within the park (the canoe run is outside the park). Wanted to try out the waterproof camera. The no-see-ums were really bad at the top of the spring run where it gushes out of a rock face. The flow is quite fast and it is impossible to stop on steady feet to take pics. Got lots of blurring reed shots as we whizzed by, saw a few turtles and small fish, but were only able to get off a couple of shots that were somewhat successful. In the pool area where the water back flowed and the current was less, the pics were better. After laying out our wet suits to dry, it rained again, all through the night.
We are slowly working our way north and homeward. The next stop is Big Bass Lake in the Ocala National Forest. This year there is some water in the lake, however, there is no bass or any fishing at all. The lake is mostly weeds. This is a quiet spot for rest and relaxation and we had lots of birds, a beautiful day and put our wet suits out to dry. We were able to collect fire wood and had a fire under an almost full moon—no bugs!!
Next day we went on a hike through the woods in the morning and took a dirt road back. Stopped at a hunt camp and saw bear tracks—no bear. Warning signs all over the place though.
Marty spent the afternoon making letters out of a plastic plate for a jury rig license plate for our camping neighbour, “Bare Foot Mike”, who lost his dirt bike plate on the road somewhere. Mike got his name from the other long term campers in this camp because he hasn’t worn shoes in three months, except to ride his dirt bike. He is on full disability after falling down a 50’ industrial chimney. He gets along well in spite of having a number of body parts redistributed into new locations. Mike was a specialist at re-bricking huge furnaces, kilns and chimneys and worked all over the world. He is a small man but, even in his senior years and disfigured by injuries, quite physically powerful.
He is jolly, extremely polite and always ready to help others. Marty seemed to enjoy the time spent with him.
That night we visited with Brenda (met her two years ago) who is now 86 and is thinking about retiring her solo camping excursions. It might take her a couple of years to come to a decision. She has been a hiker and mountain climber for all of her adult life and has the stories to prove it.
We are trying to find new locations so we spent a night at Lake Dorr, still in the Forrest. After a brief walkabout we were again confined to the vehicle due to…you guessed it…heavy rain and tornado warnings. Woke the next day with the van sitting in a pond. Lake Dorr is a fishing lake close to the road. Heavy winds prevented us from getting onto the lake and proximity to the road did not lend its location to hiking or biking. But we had a reservation for the next day at Juniper Springs, another favourite. A bald eagle greeted us at the entrance gate.
Last year we missed Juniper Springs due to a forest fire. We only have one night here and were debating whether to do the run on our day in or our day out. The organization at the run in the park is really good. We were able to leave the vehicle at the haul out point and get a ride back to the launch site, meaning we didn’t have to be back to the haul out at a specific time. This is a 7.5 mile run requiring almost four hours to complete. This time of year sunset is not until almost 7:00 p.m. So we still had plenty of light to do the run the first day. That way we would not have to worry about leaving late the next day and trying to find a spot for the night.
This run was much more treacherous than two years ago. Plus this time we were paddling our own canoe, not one of the park’s aluminium, tank canoes that can handle banging into the many trees, rocks and dead heads in the river. What we really needed were bike helmets and chain saws. With high water some limbs of the trees were so low we had to slide off the canoe seats and sit on the floor and still lower our heads. More than once I laid flat out and still couldn’t get under some limbs. It took us four hours. We came back with a scared face (Marty) and I hit my back, again, like I did 2 years ago.
However, we didn’t flip the canoe. After the run, we learned that three canoes did that day. One poor guy ducked a limb but got his life jacket hung up on the way under. It pulled him right out of the canoe and sent him and his partner into the drink. Definitely our most challenging run of the winter. All we can say we saw were two gators, lots of turtles and a few birds. The pace of the river and paddling kept me from taking too many pictures. The channel is mostly quite narrow with a current from 2 to 6 mph. Lots of “S” turns, one after another and full of all sorts of obstacles. Good thing I didn’t try to steer again. Some of the logs are already decorated with patches of our skin.
After all that we should have been exhausted but we both had a difficult time getting to sleep that night. Woke late and got a late start on the road to Salt Springs. Got there just before noon and had a quick round of tennis when a large group of teenagers piled out of a van together with two hockey nets, sticks and balls. They proceeded to try to play on the basketball courts but had been eyeing the fenced tennis courts as they emerged from the van. I don’t know how twelve good sized kids, two nets and a dozen sticks fit in that van but they all got out of it. I don’t know whether it was all the aches and pains from the canoe ride the day before, but we gladly handed the courts over to the kids as we were definitely not playing to the best of our ability. Two sand hill cranes were beside the fence when we got there and I was able to take a couple of shots before they took off.
Had lunch and left for Gainsville for the “Quilt Natural Florida” show at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What a talent some people have. Took away a few new ideas and pictures. Gainsville is a pretty university town. A lot of the university towns we have seen are very picturesque. The museum was my treat. Marty went for a walk through the adjacent university campus.
We have been watching the weather and the forecast was for a few clear days ahead all the way up north. It is now time for the mad dash for home and trying to get back before the long weekend to avoid heavy traffic.
Left Gainsville about three and drove straight through till about eight all the way into South Carolina. Found a Wal-mart at Walterboro right off the I95 south of Columbia. Marty slept like a log. A bit of air conditioner noise kept me restless and a leaf blower woke me early, but we had a nice full moon and a pond behind us. The front lot was packed with RV’s heading north. Never have I seen so many at a Wal-mart.
Two more days of driving and we are home at last 4:30 p.m. on Good Thursday, April 1st. There are no Swiss Chalet’s in USA so our first night home we had a much missed Swiss Chalet dinner and then went to sleep in a full size bed (a double treat), exhausted after five months of relaxing on our winter vacation.
