Hey y'all, Welcome to my Website
Courtesy of the University of North Florida
and Jack Woodward
On Saturday, 7/15/06, Dot and I went to the Suwannee River. Our 'plan' was to put-in at White Springs on Rte. 41. However after getting there, we discovered the water level to be very, very low. Looking upstream from the boat ramp, we could see limestone rocks and small waterfalls in the river. We decided to go up to Okeefenokee Swamp, another 45 minutes away. On the way to Okeefenokee we went by way of Rt. 135 which 'tee-ed' into Rt. 6. We headed east on Rt. 6 and soon crossed over the Suwannee River. We could see it was shallow heading upstream, but we decided we could walk past the shallows and hit some deeper water. I started out in bare feet while Dot was wearing sandals of sorts. It was no small chore to pull the tandem kayak against the current since the bottom of the river was covered in 'seaweed/algae' and it was VERY slippery going. After a hundred yards or so, we made it to deeper water and we were able to get into the kayak and paddle upstream.
After a relatively short distance, a half mile or so, two things happened at once. We came to some more shallows, shoals as they are called on this part of the river, and a small flock of ibises feeding in the shallow river. We both had to get out of the kayak to pull it through the shoals. Dot readily volunteered to help pull the kayak through, but I wouldn't let her, telling her it was whupping >my< butt. And it was .. truly. We ended up walking about a quarter of a mile, probably more, through the shoals. The Suwannee is very different from the St. Mary's River. The shoals on the Suwannee are limestone rock. How often in the state of Florida does one get to walk on rock? Real rock! The problem was, the limestone was pocked with holes. We really had to watch where we were stepping to avoid a broken ankle or leg. So besides being treacherous from the algae/seaweed, we also had to watch for holes in the limestone. For these shoals, I put on my shoes. Good thing! Barefoot, I would have gotten cut on the rocks or simply could not gain enough traction to move forward. We were both surprised as to how far we had to walk to get to deep water. But the scenery was awesome! Very, very different from the St. Mary's.
We were both extremely happy that we had decided to 'do' the Suwannee River instead of the Okeefenokee Swamp. We saw a part of Florida few have seen. Yes, the shallow water took its' toll on us, both on us and on the kayak. But it was well worth it. Tupelo limes and cypress trees are abundant on this part of the river. So between the tupelo lime tree roots and the cypress knees, the scenery was spectacular. And an added bonus, or the icing on the cake, was the limestone banks along the way. I didn't think we would have the limestone banks this far upstream. My main reason for wanting to go to the Suwannee River at White Springs was to see the limestone. As it turned out, we were not disappointed. It was a sort of short trip since we ended up walking so much, but the scenery was super exceptional. All told, we paddled/walked about 7 miles.
By itself, the tandem weighs in at about 70 pounds. With the anchor and rope, cooler with drinks and ice, camera bag and accessories, I'm sure it weighs in around 100 pounds. So pulling it over rocks was no small feat. The bottom of the boat took a beating to say the least. At one point Dot held up a sliver of red plastic and said 'Big Red' was shedding. Putting it mildly, the kayak has some pretty good gouges on its' bottom. Still it was worth it. But it's definitely a trip we won't make often. The toll on self and the kayak were pretty severe. And for some more 'icing' on the cake, at the end of the paddle, I had to drag/pull 'Big Red' up a 50 foot sloping bank. To put it mildly, my back took a real beating. On the way home, I was totally wiped out. Thankfully, Dot drove. Very thankfully!
Enough chit-chat, on with the adventure.
This is very near to where we put-in looking upstream.
Some of the many cypress knees we saw along the way.
The Suwannee is a very pretty river.
Some of the limestone exposed along the riverbank.
The left side of the river here has a lot of limestone in it.
As you can see, the tree roots are intermingled with the limestone.
How very different from the St. Mary's eh?
This is the major shoal where we had to get out and walk. We got out of the boat up on the right side where the green stuff is and dragged the boat through the shallow water. This is not a place where we would take beginners. If we ever took anybody up here with us, we would probably have them sign some kind of release form. The risk of injury is just too great. More than once Dot almost took a header slipping on rocks.
As we rounded the turn, we saw a flock of ibises feeding in the river.
This is looking back behind us. At this point we were still in the kayak. We had paddled up as far as we could go just to see how 'bad' it was. We ended up floating back downstream and got out of the boat on the left side of the picture.
In the distance you can see the spot where we took the previous picture. So this gives you an inkling of an idea of how far we had to walk through the shoals dragging the kayak behind us. It was some serious work to say the least.
Here you can see some of the seaweed like algae. There were huge mats of the stuff. It had every appearance of hair waving in the water. The bottom is solid rock, practically no sand at all.
Looking upstream. We walked well beyond the bend in the distance. What a workout!
Looking behind us again.
Getting closer to the ibises. Bear in mind this is using a telephoto lens, so they are not really as close as they would appear to be.
As we were watching the ibises, we could hear a hawk in the same area. We finally spotted him in a dead tree. He's a beauty.
We finally made it past the shoals and started paddling again. It sure felt good to be back in the kayak. As you can imagine, walking across the limestone was a very unique Florida experience. But like I said it was extremely treacherous. We were lucky neither of us got hurt. Some more of the cypress knees.
Beautiful! We took advantage of the shade every chance we got. Luckily, we had a nice breeze blowing for most of the day. On the way back the breeze did peter out though. But by then we were really taking it easy and mostly floating on the current.
Roots and limestone.
As you can see, we saw some strange looking rock formations.
At one point, we heard a motor ahead of us and assumed it was a small outboard. Then we saw what appeared to be a guy standing in the water with a bright light. We couldn't imagine why he would be using a flashlight on a day like this. It turned out there were two men diving. We talked to them and found out they were looking for sharks teeth and fossils in holes and pockets on the river bottom. Surprise, surprise. Later on we came across two other guys doing the same thing.
This is a tupelo lime tree. I'm pretty sure it is anyway, if it isn't I know Chuck Hubbuch will straighten me out. The trees are bearing fruit too.
A stand of cypress and lime trees.
This is where we stopped for our lunch. This is looking upstream.
This is looking straight across the river.
And this is looking downstream. It was a darned nice place for a lunch break. Until the flying teeth (yellow flies) found us anyway.
Some of the root systems were pretty impressive.
We saw a lot of dragonflies. Blue ones, red ones, and green ones like this guy.
Like I said, lots of cypress trees.
Heading downstream. We only did enough paddling to keep the boat going straight.
We tried to paddle through the shoals going downstream. I thought we might have enough forward speed and momentum to get through. Wrong! I ended up getting out of the boat and pulling it over the rocks with Dot in it. We were midstream with large holes all around us and it was risky enough for one person to be out of the boat. I felt it was safer with Dot staying in the kayak. Next time we will know to get out of the kayak and walk through the shoals . . in both directions.
It was a good day on the water. Even with the late start we had, it was a lot of fun. But a long and tiring day. All told, we ended up driving around 230 miles.
We both wish this part of the river was closer to home. We definitely want to come back here again. We did find another way onto the river past the shoals. We talked to a couple guys who were fishing at a boat ramp and found that to get to the ramp, they had to drive through the woods for about 6 miles. We thought they were exaggerating but after checking a map we found out they weren't.
Enjoy !!
P.S.
If you want me to ADD your name/email address to my emaillist when I add new photos to this website, email me at the address below and I will gladly add your name and address. If your name is already on the list, no problem.
Email to Jack Woodward mailto: jackwoodward66@hotmail.com
Link to HomePage Welcome to my website
Visitors to this page