Big Shoals of the Suwanee River

We needed to do some grocery shopping and the nearest town is Lake City, FL about 20 miles away, so we thought we would make a day of it by driving a little further near White Springs to Big Shoals State Park. They have a nice paved 4 mile long bike trail called the  “Woodpecker Trail” and other mountain bike and hiking trails.

There is a one mile trail that follows the Suwanee River to the Big Shoals. This supposedly is the largest rapid in FL. We hiked here at High water once and at low water once. Neither of those times would I have attempted to run in our open canoe. They say it’s a fun run when the river level is between 55-65’ on the USGS gauge. Today the level was 52.8’ on the White Springs gauge and I’m sure Peggy & I could have run it OK..

It has 3, 2-3 foot. drops over very rocky limestone outcroppings but with plenty of room to eddy up between the drops at this water level.

It was a beautiful sunny, cool but a fun day. We plan to stay here at Ocean Pond to at least through Sunday or Monday before heading north into South Carolina.