Oleno State Park & Ichetucknee Springs

We left Ocean Pond on Sunday morning about 9 AM for a short 35 drive to Oleno State Park. Over the years we have camped here at least 4 times.

When we were younger we did some long bike rides but today with the soft sand and roots on the trail Peggy decided 3 miles was enough and took a short cut back over this narrow walking bridge which was build by the CCC in 1935.

The trail along the Santa Fe River goes around the end of the river where it disappears into the ground for 3 miles  before reappearing downstream at River Rise.

This sign explains it. The river stops here.

Our favorite place to canoe is at the nearby Ichetucknee Springs State Park. It’s about 15 miles away but you don’t want to go there in the summer when the 3 mile long river is full of swimmers floating on inner tubes. It’s best to stay away on warm weekends also, so we paddled on Monday. We saw 5 kayakers and 2 canoes the entire day.

We drove our RV to the last take-out where they have a little parking lot and access to the river. It’s about 13 miles from Oleno. I noticed that there is now a 8’ wide paved bike trail that parallels the roads the entire way. It would be a long bike ride and too bad the trail isn’t away from the road. Bike Trail

We saw lots of Egrets, Herons and other birds plus more tame turtles than I had ever seen anywhere. A few jumped in but most just sat there and kept an eye on us.

It took us about 1-1/2 hrs. paddling against the current to get to the head of the spring and less than an hour to paddle back.

Temperature was in the mid-70’s and partly cloudy.

We are now at #9 on my planning map and tomorrow we move about 40 miles south to another Florida State Park, Paynes Prairie. It’s just south of Gainesville and is a nice park with several different choices of bike trails.

One note about Florida State Parks, there is no discount for being old unless you are a FL resident and don’t bother trying to get a site on the weekend without making reservations in advance. The parks south of Tampa are usually booked 11 months in advance. Those in the North maybe only a few weeks in advance.

Thanksgiving at Ocean Pond, FL

The Okefenokee is in GA only a few miles from the FL border. We loaded up our canoe and headed south for the Osceola National Forest about 40 miles due south. On our way we decided to do an 8 mile bike ride in Big Shoals State Park near White Springs.

The park has a nice paved bike trail, called the Woodpecker Trail, which goes from the south entrance up to the Suwannee river near the biggest rapid in FL called Big Shoals. A 1 mile trail along the river takes you to an overlook of the rapid below.

The rapid drops about 9’ in a quarter mile over three sharp limestone ledges. They say it’s a fun run when the river level is between 55-65’ on the USGS gauge. An interesting thing is that you can put-in right here in the park 1 mile above the rapid, then paddle down, run the rapid, walk back on the portage trail and try it again. Then when play time is over you can paddle the slow moving river back to the put-in. But today the water level was only 52’ and it looked too low for us to consider taking our canoe down.

We had some grocery shopping to do in the town of Lake City, FL and then we got to our next campground called Ocean Pond. The round lake is 2 miles in diameter and the campground has three different kind of sites.

We never had a problem in the past finding a site with electricity but we were here for the long Thanksgiving weekend and all those sites were already taken. We got a nice big site that only had water hook-ups, but at $6 a night it couldn’t be beat. 

Most popular FL State Parks are 100% reserved on the weekends but here they take no reservations, so it’s usually easy to get a campsite at any time.

We had our leftover turkey from our big family dinner before we left on the trip, Read Blog about Family Dinner, but we sure missed the family and also Gene at Tepetapan RV Park in Mexico where we have spent the last 6 Thanksgivings.

On Friday we did a 13 mile bike ride around the lake. There are no trails but if you have a good map you can find local roads, some are dirt and some are paved but they provide a good ride all the way around the lake. Several miles are on the highway leading to the park but we only saw one vehicle so Peggy didn’t mind the highway ride.

We are not sure what we plan for Saturday yet but we will leave Sunday morning and head about 35 miles southwest to OLeno State Park, near High Springs, on the disappearing Santa Fe River.

Okefenokee - Cool Nights

It ‘s only a 130 mile drive from Jekyll Island to Stephen Foster State Park in the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge.

The park is in GA but at one point we drove through about 20 miles of Florida.

They had forecast rain with a cold front passing through but it only drizzled a little on the drive over. So when the sun came out after lunch we decided to take our canoe out for a short paddle to Billy’s Island. About a 2 mile paddle each way and a nice hike around an abandoned town.

Since it was cool there were no alligators sunning themselves, they preferred the warm water of the swamp. But plenty of Egrets and Heron with an occasional Hawk and Vulture.

Since we got here on a Sunday the campground was almost empty. Peggy and I haven’t canoed since our Michigan trip 3 years ago, but she was as strong as ever and I had to paddle fast to keep up with her stroke rate.

We are able to get on the internet here tethering my smart phone to the computer but phone calls barely work.


Early Monday morning the temperatures were down to 39^oF, so we waited until after lunch to venture out. By then it had warmed to the low 50’s and very sunny.

We decided to do an 8 mile round trip paddle to Minnie’s Lake. We took our time and enjoyed the solitude and all the birds.

Today we spotted a couple of small alligators in the water. It was still too cold for them to come up on the shore or logs like the turtles.
The water trail going north is all big Cyprus trees and the reflections of the trees and knees in the water was very beautiful.

By the time we made our way to the platform that campers use in the swamp Peggy noticed that if we go as slow as we did getting here it would be dark before we got back. The sun sets about 5:15 PM and it gets dark instantly.

So we jumped back into the canoe and went into full racing mode. We made it back in half the time finishing up at 4 PM. Maybe a little sorer for the effort. But we sure weren’t cold although the high today had only reached 53^oF. So far there have been no mosquitoes.

Heading for the Swamp on Sunday

We woke up to a much cloudier day with some rain predicted this afternoon and tonight. After that a big cold front is forecast to come in and drop the low temperature to near freezing on Tuesday morning.

We decided to take another bike ride early before any rain arrives. We rode over to see the big fishing pier near the campground at Clam Creek.

We then headed back to the Historic District where you can read about how the Island was settled and visit their free museum which included a short movie.

The map below shows the original town. 
Peggy couldn’t find anything to buy in the little gift shops.

We decided to head to what looked like a new shopping area near the Convention Center on the windy eastern side of the island. Most of the stores looked closed for the season.

We decided to bike back the way we came rather than fight the wind, so today we biked 13 miles. Peggy is getting stronger on her bike.


If you recall, this summer, I posted our tentative itinerary. We have completed 2 to 5 and tomorrow we will do another short 130 mile drive to Stephen Foster State Park #6 in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. We have been here several times before. It a nice place to paddle your canoe in the large blackwater lakes filled with Cyprus trees.

You can do longer overnight trips here with a permit and put your tent on the platforms they build along the canoe trails, but we just like to do day trips and return to our nice RV.
Hopefully the cold spell will kill most of the mosquitos. All the other times we have been here have been in January or later and there has never been any.

I don’t know if we will make it to Ocean Pond #7 in Osceola NF  by Thanksgiving or not.

Jekyll Island Bike Ride

After a rainy night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Savannah we only had a short 90 mile drive to Jekyll Island, GA.. We got here at 9:15 AM and there were plenty of available campsites. It is the only campground on this 2 x 8 mile island but it not only has full hookups but it has good fast wireless internet and cable TV.

However the weather on Thursday was the worst of our trip so far. It was a warm 77oF but it rained all day. We got in a lot of rest. Finally on Friday morning, all the rain was gone and we had bright blue skies. 

There are over 25 miles of paved bike trails, several golf course and many hotels and homes on the island. The island was purchased by a group of multi-millionaires in 1900 before they discovered Palm Beach, FL. The club was abandoned during World War II when German submarines were spotted nearby.

The Historic District still has the big hotel and many of the huge cottages which have been restored to former grandeur. The island is still a quiet place without a lot of nightlife. There are lots of natural areas and beaches which are probably nice in the Summer. They were cool and windy today.

We saw a group playing croquet at the Island Club Hotel, I guess that’s what you do when you are all dressed in your whites.

Today I decided to try to take pictures with my new cell phone. I still not smart enough to have figured out how to do most things with this Smart Phone but they don’t look too bad.

The picture on the left is a small Villa, which has been restored, it is called the Cherokee Cottage. It is now rented for meetings or weddings. It is typical of the homes the early founders built to be near their club.

The last part of our 10 mile bike ride took us along the Eastern beaches where most of the hotels are.

It was a very windy day and Peggy didn’t like finishing up fighting the wind while riding along the Atlantic beach.

The sunny skies kept us warm even though the temperature was only 70^oF.

Charleston Walking Tour

I read all the reviews on what to do in Charleston, SC and a walking tour sounded like a good way to see the old houses and learn about the history of one of the first settlements in the USA.

We got there about 1-1/2 hrs. early because of the need to find a nearby parking lot that would accommodate our RV. We lucked out, we found a small lot near the city market and only a couple of blocks from where we were to meet Michael Troche, 7th generation native who calls his tours “Charleston Footprints”. So we toured the market and looked at other tour possibilities, like a carriage tour or boat tour to Fort Sumter.

But we like walking so  this two hour tour sounded like the best choice for us.

We met on Meeting Street, Michael limits his tours to 20 persons and you need to make reservations to be sure he can accommodate you on: http://www.charlestonfootprints.com/

We walked all round the old town and Michael regaled us with his stories both historical and humorous.

When we got back to the RV the lot was full, we thought we would have trouble getting out but we made it out in one big turn. We could have been trapped for a day if most people didn't drive small cars. So on to Jekyll Island tomorrow after spending the night at a Wal-Mart in Savannah.

South Carolina State Parks

From the Mountains to the Low Country was about a 225 mi drive. We headed to Givhans Ferry State Park. It is on the Endisto River and we had hoped to canoe there. With all the rain the blackwater river was very fast flowing. We were not sure how scenic it would be or if we could set up a shuttle so we decided to do a 6 mile bike ride in the area. It was Peggy’s first bike ride in a year.

The camp was full on the weekend but when we got there on Sunday afternoon, it was empty. We did a short hike and ran into lots of mosquitos, after we put on Off they all went away. We stayed for 2 nights and got a lot of rest. I found out we had a weak cell phone signal signal but boy it worked great tethered to the computer to get me the internet. 

On Tuesday we drove 30 miles into Charleston. We did a bike ride around the original colony of Charleston at Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site.

We really liked the nice park. They have a series of paved walking/biking paths. Animals native to Charleston in 1670 can be found in the Animal Forest. They have lots of signs with explanations of how this first settlement managed.

Peggy wasn’t a good girl so she got locked up.

The trails were probably only about 3 miles long but it was a lot more fun riding our bikes. There were lots of schools on field trips. The Adventure is a replica trading vessel docked at Charles Towne Landing.

Several stops had costumed rangers explaining how the colony made friends with the local Indians but introduced African slaves to help them till their farms.

It was beautiful warm day, but tomorrow there is a slight chance of rain and heavy rain is forecast for Thursday.

We decided to camp at a new Wal-Mart just 10 miles outside the historic downtown.  Tomorrow we will drive the RV into the city and hopefully find a parking lot near where we plan to take a walking tour of historic Charleston with 7th generation native Michael Trouche. We also hope to visit the historic Charleston city market which is over 210 years old.

If all goes as planned we should be staying near Savannah on Wednesday night and then drive to Jekyll Island on Thursday.

Last Two Days with Greg & Sandy

We spent the first 3 days of our trip with Greg & Sandy Lewis in SC. It was like staying in a 5 star resort.

We have known Greg since he was in high school in the 70’s. He is a great friend, kayaker & a fantastic host. He loves to cook and entertain and we truly enjoyed his Southern Hospitality.

Greg prepared gourmet meals each night while also entertaining us each day with local hikes and a boat ride where we could really see the million dollar homes all along the Lake.

His home is near the street and the path down to his boat dock is so steep he needs his high power transportation which is almost an amusement ride of it’s own.

When you drive around the Reserve you can barely see any homes but from his boat these mansions are very visible.

Lake Keowee was created by Duke Power company. They dammed up the main river and all the little tributaries that drop into the lake making for a very long, narrow lake with many fingers.

Occasionally you can see a small stream falling abruptly into the lake. The weather has been cool at night but warms into the high 60’s during the day, with bright blue skies.

On Friday we took a longer drive to Caesar’s Head State Park where we were 2000’ above the surrounding valleys with views to the Piedmont and Table Rock.

We drove into NC to view two very scenic waterfall areas with short hike to Triple Falls and High Falls.

The foothills of SC are a really nice area and both a vacation destination along with a beautiful place to live.

Greg & Sandy have been lucky to be able to retire early and afford a place like this. Sandy was an interior decorator and the home shows her artist touch. Hopefully we can get back another time in the near future. They are only 1 hours drive to the Chatooga River where we have spent many years paddling in the area.