Rainbow Springs & Cypress Glen in the Withlacoochee State Forest

Rainbow Springs, like Silver Springs used to be a private park and zoo. But years ago FL State Park bought the spring and park in Dunnellon, FL It's been years since I have been here, I used to camp at the park right on the river but they reworked the campground and we never came back. I camped in a quiet spot at Walmart and got to the park at 8:30am. It is a long walk from the free large parking lot to the put-in ramp and swimming area. I have a nice canoe cart and had no trouble getting my kayak to the launch. There is a nominal $2 fee per person to walk into the park. I walked back and waited for Erin & Kathy to arrive. While they were running the shuttle, I dragged their kayaks down the trail with my cart as well. 

It is only a 5 mi paddle to the free take-out. Many paddlers put-in 1-1/2 mi downstream at KP Hole County Park and paddle up & back to the spring. This is a very popular place to paddle, scuba dive or swim in the 72^o spring water. However the right side of the river all the way to the take-out is loaded with houses, the left side is more wild and scenic.

There is a newer bike trail that connects to the 46 mi Withlacoochee State Trail and crosses the river near the take-out. They eventually plan to connect this bike trail to the Cross FL Greenway that I peddled yesterday.

It's only a 1-1/2 hr drive to my campground, Cypress Glen, one of 3 campgrounds at Silver Lake outside of Brooksville, FL. It is a really nice State Forest campground, with power & water hookups. They do take reservations but you only need one if you are here on a weekend. I planned to stay for two weeks and needed to make reservations. 

It is 1-1/2 mi through the camp on the paved camp roads to the Withlacoochee StateTrail. You have three nice options from here, you can bike 11mi to the southern terminus, bike 12-1/2 mi to Brooksville on the Good Neighbor trail or bike 37 miles North to near the Dunnellon. That's too far for me do I usually just do a roundtrip ride to Floral City and back.

The camp is right on Silver Lake, a wide spot on the Withlacoochee River. It is slow moving river and you can paddle upstream or downstream here for miles.

When I got to the park the road was blocked since the EMT's were waiting for a helicopter to land in the road and life flight someone who fell off a ladder, to Tampa. After they flew away I was allowed to enter the park.

I decided to have a rest day in my hammock on Saturday. The weather was sunny and a hot 87^oF.

It was hot again on Sunday morning with a forecast of late afternoon showers, so I did a 25 mi roundtrip bike ride in the morning to Brooksville & back. Peggy loved this trail. river and campground.

When I looked in the mirror I realized that I badly needed to get a haircut.

Peggy used to cut my hair but I may peddle south past the end of the trail tomorrow to near Dade City and go to a barbershop.