Now back to Silver Lake-Cypress Glen

 

Our second week at EG Simmons Park the temperature had cooled somewhat but then went above normal for our 12 days at Lithia Springs.

However the rainfall was also above normal, this resulted in the river rising high enough that they closed the launch access at Alderman Ford. The river has a lot of trees that have fallen almost all the way across the river and any novices would be swept into them and could become entrapped in the branches. If there were no trees it would be a nice fast run since it was well within the high banks.

So each day I would check the water level and finally on Sunday before we were ready to leave the flow dropped below 500 CFS. Of course Chris our campground host who help shuttle our canoe to the put-in was gone that day so we never got a second run down the river.

We did take a few long bike rides through the Fish Hawk Ranch on their beautiful concrete bike trails. Occasionally we come across families on Sand Hill Cranes.

We tried to ride further west of the Fish Hawk Ranch area into the Bell Creek Nature Preserve & Trails but couldn’t find a nice circular trip through the area, maybe next time.

So on Sunday morning we left headed off to shop and fill our propane tank in Brandon along the way to Weeki Wachee Springs. We took a short stretch of I-75 and lots of traffic clogged roads, it was not a fun drive.

We decided to overnight at a Walmart next to a Sam’s club. We has one of their great Roasted Chickens for dinner.

We have been wanting to try this beautiful crystal clear 6 mile long river for years but it never seemed to fit into the schedule.

I read that you could save a shuttle and start early in the morning from Rogers Park and paddle upstream to the State Park. It was clear water even starting here and got clearer as we paddled upstream against the swift current. About 1/2 mile from the start there is an area called Deep Hole where they say you will see Manatees, and we did. There is a lot of housing developments for the first mile or so but gets more forested as we made our way upstream. The white sandy bottom and clear water made it easy to see hundreds of fish along the way.

At about 2-3/4 mi. upstream you enter into the state park land. This is where the kayaks that were rented in the park now have to take out. We were getting  a little tired from the upstream paddling and a little further after taking our break we decided to paddle back downstream to the takeout. I’m sure if we would have kept going further upstream we would have run into the crowds of kayakers coming downstream.

I’m glad we left early when it was cooler since it was  now getting into the high 70’s. We passed dozens of kayakers heading upstream. There seem to dozens of places you can rent kayaks in the lower part of the river.I can’t imagine what this river is like on a weekend. It is pretty but has too many people to really fully enjoy the beautiful stream. I’m not sure if we will come back, there are other FL rivers that are just as pretty with less development and fewer boaters.

So we headed off to our destination for the next 9 days, Cypress Glen Campground on the Withlacoochee River in the Silver Lake complex. We hope to bike and canoe here as well.