Ichetucknee River

Heading upstream toward a beautiful rock outcropping.

Not far off of the bustling Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Florida, flows a spring-fed unspoiled pristine river called the Ichetucknee, an Indian word meaning, 'pond of the beaver.'  What makes it great?  Almost the entire six mile span of the river is 20 feet wide, five feet deep.  It is hard to fathom that in this day and time, the water can be so clean and pure.  As often happens, a friend needed picking up in Gainesville on a Sunday afternoon and immediately my, "How can I work a kayak trip into this," brain started planning.  For me, getting there is half the fun as we located County Road 238 on the map near the town of Fort White.  During the summer, the Ichetucknee Springs State Park offers put-in and pull-out points for inner-tubes.  But we were there in January, on a chamber of commerce day with blue skies, no wind and 65 degree temperatures.  We only encountered four other kayaks and canoes...it was perfect.

This little fella had a great vantage
point right in the middle of the river.

They grow the turtles big on the Ichetucknee and they are plentiful along the river sunning themselves on logs, often five and six crowding on.  As is our custom, we paddled upstream to our turnaround point.  It was a fairly effort and only one or two spots did we need to 'thread the needle' to get through a fallen tree that had not been cleared.  Once we turned around and paddle just a little, our kayaks moved quickly.  All too soon we made it back to starting point and pulled out.  My wife and I agreed that the Ichetucknee has made it near the top of our favorites list.