Happy St Patricks Day all! Time to catch up on our trip.
We had a very nice 5 day stay at Silver River State Park beside Ocala. First visit to this park and we will put this on the return list. The park is just outside Ocala where there is lots of stores available. We met a great group of folks here that invited us to join there campfires and took us to a nice local tavern for a Belly Buster Burger. We took their advise and only ordered on to share. That was plenty. A real nice locals place.
We paddled the Silver River, putting in at the headsprings, going downstream about 2 miles to the SP launch and then back upstream to the truck. We did not use the park launch as it was a 1/2 mile hike with the kayaks.
On the trip we saw the usual flora and fauna. Such clear water as there are numerous springs that pump 500 million gallons of fresh water every day! But the neatest thing about this park is the special wildlife they have in there forest along the river......
Yes, wild monkeys! A fellow brought some Rhesus monkeys and put them on an island in the 1930's for an attraction. Little did he know that these monkeys can swim and they escaped! They are doing quite well in the forest of Silver River. I was so glad we got to see one of the family groups that now populate the area.
Then, Saturday we moved on to Suwannee River State Park. This park is small and fairly isolated. It sits on the Suwannee River and has some hiking trails also. Sunday we paddled 7 miles of the river. This river is fairly big and has a good current so we knew we could not paddle upstream. We found a launch at a county park upstream, launched the kayaks and came to the park. Then Les hopped on his bike and rode back to the truck, 8.5 miles. The paddle was nice except a weather system was coming later that day and the wind picked up. The last hour of our 3.5 hour trip was stiff winds in our faces.
After we were back and the truck returned, the rain began. Last evening and today saw downpours and steady rains. With the rains we discovered a leak in the trailer. Luckily, it is on the back wall at the shower so the water is coming into the shower. But still not good. Les will be busy fixing it went it drys up but for now a tarp will have to due.
It is not raining now but very overcast. The sun is to return tomorrow. A few more days here and then we head to the beach again on the Panhandle, Grayton Beach SP.
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