Paperback(4th Revised ed.)
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Overview
With your first trip, you'll find this book as indispensable as the paddle and life jacket. This authoritative guide now includes profiles of three streams in the western Panhandle's Eglin Air Force Base Reservation, including Boiling Creek, Titi Creek, and Turkey Creek. Wet your paddle and whet your taste for outdoor adventure with Canoeing & Kayaking Florida.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781634043625 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Menasha Ridge Press |
| Publication date: | 12/05/2023 |
| Series: | Canoe and Kayak Series |
| Edition description: | 4th Revised ed. |
| Pages: | 312 |
| Sales rank: | 511,161 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
It all started on a backpacking foray into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That first trip was a disaster; nevertheless, Johnny developed an appreciation of the outdoors that would lead him to canoe-camp and backpack throughout the United States and abroad over the next 30 years. To this day, he averages 150 nights per year camping out.
After graduating from Tennessee in 1987 with a degree in economics, Johnny spent an ever-increasing amount of time in the wild, becoming more skilled in the environment. Friends enjoyed his adventure stories; one even suggested he write a book. He pursued that idea and soon parlayed his love of the outdoors into an occupation.
The results of his efforts are more than 80 books. These include hiking, camping, paddling, and other comprehensive guidebooks, as well as true-adventure books. In addition to updating and rewriting Canoeing & Kayaking Florida, he has written several other Florida-focused outdoors guides, including A Paddler’s Guide to Everglades National Park; Backpacking Florida; Best Tent Camping: Florida; Beach & Coastal Camping in Florida; The Hiking Trails of Florida’s National Forests, Parks, and Preserves; Day Hiking Southwest Florida; Best Easy Day Hikes: Jacksonville; Best Easy Day Hikes: Tallahassee; Best Easy Day Hikes: Tampa Bay; and two true-adventure stories, From the Swamp to the Keys: A Paddle Through Florida History and Hiking the Florida Trail: 1,100 Miles, 78 Days, Two Pairs of Boots, and One Heck of an Adventure. His other books primarily cover the Southeast but range over 28 states.
Read an Excerpt
Silver River
Overview: Silver Spring, which feeds the Silver River, has long been a Central Florida tourist attraction. Located east of Ocala, the beautiful Silver River corridor below the springs is part of Silver Springs State Park. River access has been improved with the establishment of the park. Now you can follow the current downstream from the headspring to the Silver River’s confluence with the Ocklawaha, rather than beating your way upstream from the Ocklawaha all the way to the headspring. The Silver River is an Outstanding Florida Water.
Maps: Silver Springs State Park (Florida State Parks); USGS Ocala East, Lynne
Silver Springs State Park to Ray Wayside Access
- Class: I
- Length: 5 mi
- Time: Varies
- Gauge: Phone, online
- Level: Spring fed
- Gradient: 1 fpm
- Scenery: A
Description: The Silver River is where the first glass-bottomed boats were used. And they are still used today to see the array of aquatic life below the water’s surface. I can still remember touring Silver Springs as a kid, looking down on another world. Nowadays, the headspring area and downstream to the Ocklawaha River are a state park. There is a fee-based canoe-and-kayak launch at the park’s main entrance at the headspring, and a free second launch (still requiring a park entrance fee) at the park’s campground entrance that requires a half-mile carry to the put-in. I have done both—pay the launch fee, it is worth it. Canoes and kayaks can be rented at the headspring.
Once on the river, you can enjoy spring water measured at 550 million gallons flowing per day. It is 2.0 river miles from the headspring launch to the carry launch. It is 3.0 more miles downstream to the Ocklawaha River through junglelike banks with waterweeds bordering the steady current. The takeout is downstream on the west bank of the Silver River, at Ray Wayside Park, which is reached via a short canal.
Shuttle: To reach the takeout at Ray Wayside Park from Exit 352 off I-75 in Ocala, drive east on FL 40. After 11.9 miles, bear right on Northeast 28th Lane. In 0.5 mile, reach the takeout before you reach the bridge over the Ocklawaha River. GPS Coordinates: 29.214034, -81.992374
To reach the put-in at Silver Springs State Park, backtrack 3.9 miles west on FL 40 to the park’s main entrance, on your left. Head to the paddlecraft-rental and launch area. GPS Coordinates: 29.213189, -82.055377
Gauge: The spring-fed Silver River is paddleable year-round. Call Silver Springs State Park (352-236-7148) for the latest river conditions, and find real-time water levels and flow rates at waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/rt. The USGS gauge helpful in determining flow rates for any given day is Silver River near Ocala, Florida.
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
Using This Guide 3
Using River Gauges 4
Water-level Sites 5
Friendly Advice 5
Florida Rivers and Creeks 10
The Western Panhandle 16
Big Escambia Creek 16
Styx River 19
Perdido River 22
Coldwater Creek 27
Sweetwater Creek and Juniper Creek 29
Streams of the Eglin Air Force Base Reservation 33
Blackwater River 42
Yellow River 46
Shoal River 51
Choctawhatchee River 55
Holmes Creek 64
Econfina Creek of Washington and Bay Counties 67
Chipola River 72
The Central Panhandle 80
Ochlockonee River 80
Sopchoppy River 90
Little River 94
Graham Creek and East River 96
New River 98
Lost Creek 101
The Big Bend 104
Wakulla River 104
St. Marks River 107
Wacissa River 109
Aucilla River 112
Econfina River of Taylor County 115
Steinhatchee River 117
The Northern Peninsula 120
Withlacoochee River (North) 120
Suwannee River 124
Santa Fe River 137
Ichetucknee River 143
Middle Prong St. Marys River 144
St. Marys River 147
Black Creek 153
The Central Peninsula 158
Withlacoochee River (South) 158
Rainbow River 165
Silver River 167
Ocklawaha River 168
Alexander Springs and Alexander Springs Creek 172
Juniper Springs and Juniper Creek 176
Salt Springs and Salt Springs Run 178
The Central Highlands 180
Wekiva River and Rock Springs Run 180
Blackwater Creek and Lake Norris 185
Econlockhatchee River 188
Arbuckle Creek 191
Peace River 195
Fisheating Creek 200
The Atlantic Coast 204
Pellicer Creek 204
Bulow Creek 207
Tomoka River 210
Spruce Creek 213
Turkey Creek (Atlantic Coast) 215
South Prong of the St. Sebastian River 217
North Fork of the St. Lucie River 220
Loxahatchee River 223
The Southwest Gulf Coast 226
Weeki Wachee River 226
Hillsborough River 231
Alafia River 236
Little Manatee River 242
Manatee River 245
Myakka River 347
J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge (Commodore Creek Canoe Trail) 252
Estero River 253
The Everglades 258
Blackwater River at Collier-Seminole State Park 258
Everglades National Park and the Wilderness Waterway 262
Halfway Creek Canoe Trail 265
Turner River Canoe Trail 267
Nine-Mile Pond Canoe Trail 271
Noble Hammock Canoe Trail 273
Mud Lake Loop Trail 275
Appendixes 278
Outfitters 278
Paddling Clubs 283
Safety Code of American Whitewater 285
Glossary 295
About the Authors 299
Index 300