First biking it, now kayaking it

Friday March 14, 2014
Rainbow Springs State Park
Dunnellon, Florida

 

EXTRA EXTRA: 

I must go on record as I congratulate my home town men’s college basketball team
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CAVALIERS
for their awesome double win in the ACC Basketball Conference. 
They are not only the winners of the Conference Season Title but today they beat the Duke Blue Devils 72-63 to also win the ACC Tournament Championship. 
We are completely bummed out that due to our location out in the boonies, we were unable to see any of this. 
But we’re excited for y’all just the same. 
Orange and Blue  Wahoowah!!
See you in the NCAA Tournament!

 

 

 

 

 

OK back to calmer fare at least for a while 

We arranged earlier in the week with Rainbow River Outfitters to ferry us up stream 9 miles on the Withlacoochee River so we could ride the river down.  Today is the day!

 

 

 

 

 

We are set to be there at 9:30 to go out at 10:00. When it is only 41 degrees at 9:00, we think better of it and call them  to push back an hour. No problem.  Thus it is that we actually get on the river shortly before noon. 10:30 at their place, leave for the river at 11, arrive at 11:30.

 

The put in is at a very small little county park on a lovely channel that leads to the river.

 

The river banks look a little like fall in their early spring colors.  The leaves are green and some are so light they look yellow.  The maple fruits are red and the trees look a bit rusty.  But the colors are just lovely.

 

 

 

Even though there are houses along the river.  Today, all is quiet and we paddle and float along in delicious solitude.

We float by a riverside pub or restaurant called Shipwreck with tables out back, boat slips for patrons and Dino gas. Haven’t seen that in years. Nobody is partying yet in the early afternoon of this Friday. My pictures suffer from my having been almost past it by the time I got set up. I not only need Nancy Mills’ camera, I also need her handless paddling technique learned from the famous Linda Payne.

 

 

 

 

 

The birds seem exceptionally wary and fly off as soon as they see us and when we are so far away yet that it is difficult to get pictures at such a zoom.

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful river we float leisurely along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I see one of those side trails.  It starts out wide enough.  But soon…….

 

 

 

 

 

It narrows down to just the size I find intriguing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting pretty shallow at this point.  I’m having to pull myself through on the cypress knees.  What fun!!

 

But then I come to a pile of debris just within viewing beyond this point and know that it is probably more trouble than I want to continue.

 

 

But now what.  This is way too narrow for turning around.  So I’m thinking that I’ll just get out and walk back and push the kayak along.  HA!   It isn’t that far.   It isn’t that deep.

 

But David has other plans.  He picks his up and turns it around.  Luckily he is only 12.5 feet long and has no heavy rudder.  Still I find that pretty slick.

 

 

He then helps me turn mine around – no one available to take that picture – and we head back out with him in the lead this time.

 

 

Brings a smile to my face remembering what fun that was.

 

 

 

Ok back out on the river, we are both drying off our shoes as the river pushes us along at a leisurely pace.

 

 

Even the turtles on the Withlacoochee are skittish but we do manage to get a few pictures of their interesting perches.  How do they do this?

 

 

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We spot the rare teal blue painted turtle as well. Nice balancing act he’s got going.

 

 

We have just had a lovely day so far on the river and figure we are nearly half way when we hear what sounds to me like a jet engine about to take off about 10 feet from us.   I don’t see anything but the noise gets loud and louder and then here they come.   It’s an airboat tour out of Dunnellon.   They are considerate enough to slow down so their huge blasts of water and wake don’t tip us over but the noise is clearly above the legal limit since everyone on the boat is wearing ear plugs.

How to scare the day lights out of me, the turtles, the birds, everything.

 

 

We can still hear the noise as we pass the halfway point of our paddle which is a sign marking DANGER ROCKS.  This sign is not for us or even for the airboat but for propeller boats who might sustain damage.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the airboat noise dies off and things go back to “normal”.

 

 

We spot what looks like a cypress swamp and paddle in for a look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re not sure where the picturesque bridge goes but there is nothing in the water beyond it.

 

 

At points, the water is too low and requires some effort to get back out.

 

 

 

We look down every twist and turn but find they don’t go anywhere.  It’s just a wonderful cypress grove to “be” in.

 

 

 

 

 

Back out on the river we pass the Dunnellon city limits sign in the middle of the river.  What a hoot!!

 

 

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We hear it again and barely have time to get over to the bank under some cypress before the airboat’s deafening roar and ridiculous speed fly by again.  I’ve really never heard anything sound so loud and ominous.

 

 

 

 

None of this is about the beauty of the river or its creatures.  It’s all about the thrill of noise and speed.  But it sure ruins the atmosphere for everyone any where around them.  I can’t even imagine living on this river with these things going up and down all day long on any nice day.

 

 

 

It takes a while for the river to return to its normal  placid languid state and for the the animals to return.

 

 

 

 

The last landmark on our paddle is the soon to be opened bicycle bridge over the Withlacoochee River.  We are less than a mile from our take out at this point.  The bridge will be a continuation of the Withlacoochee State Bike Trail.  The owner of Rainbow Springs Outfitters who brought us to the put in told us all about the 15 year effort he and other members of the Dunnellon city council put in to get the funds to put the trail through to Dunnellon.  It was finally the Recovery Act which brought the money to the city and the jobs to its people and the bike path to all of us.  Well done.  I find that an excellent use of my tax dollars.  We can hardly wait to try it out but it will have to be next time since we will be gone when it opens next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re rounding for the home stretch when I see these basking turtles and then AGAIN here comes the noise that actually is so loud it shakes the kayaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a sad picture to end on but as I told the person who was there to greet us at the Rainbow River Outfitters dock when he asked how was your day,   “the river was beautiful and the paddle was wonderful for nearly half the way down (4.5) miles but the constant return of the air boats both coming and going for a total of six runs had a very negative effect on the second half of the paddle and was enough to persuade me that I will never kayak the beautiful Withlacoochee from Dunnellon again and will be sure to check with any outfitters on the river further up about airboats before I book a shuttle.”  

The owner of Rainbow River Outfitters told us on the earlier drive that he really feels towns need to get in on the windfall that occurs when they attract the folks who engage in “the silent sports” – hiking, biking, kayaking.  I totally agree.   But in my opinion, that’s never going to happen at least on or near the river in this town if the air boats are allowed to continue this thrill seeking adventure stuff here.   Not sure where I think they should go to exercise their personal freedom.  But their freedom is sure impinging on mine and others like me. Additionally, it seems almost an insult to the beautiful river in my opinion.

Still, it was a lovely paddle, mostly, and I’m glad I did it.  But I probably would not have had I known about the air boats for 4.5+ miles.  Thank goodness we didn’t do a shorter paddle or they would have been around the entire way.   I definitely wouldn’t do it again.