Comparing Notes

When we are preparing for a new trip to a relatively familiar location, I always dig through old photographs of past trips to get some ideas of what we will try to do. So, I went to see what images I had captured on our last vacation to Florida. It will have been pretty much exactly two years since we've been down there when we leave in a few weeks. May. You blink, and two years have vanished.

Carole and I both like Florida. It's not the greatest place we frequent, but it has so much to offer that we don't get tired of it. That's because it's a pretty darned big state and has a lot more variety than the average travel brochures would indicate. Sure...if all you do is lie around on a beach all day or pay a week's salary to gain admittance to a lousy amusement park it can get really stale very fast.

But that's not what we do when we visit the state. There's almost no limit to outdoor activities in Florida and we have more than enough to keep us busy from day to day. And that's what I was doing as I went over the old photos from our latest trip there...just taking a look at what we did and the kinds of things that we can accomplish in this new park which we've never visited.

Campsite on the Chassahowitzka River.

Florida must offer encounters with an alligator or 500.

Heron.

Carole and I kayak over one of Florida's biggest springs.

A duck!

What's the deep South without some live oaks and Spanish moss?

Warm weather.

A cold, lingering rain today while I sit inside and write. So...photos of warmth and sunshine.

Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons National Park.

Lunchtime on a float trip along the Yellowstone River.

Warm Spring day at the Dry Tortugas National Park.

 

Wakualla Springs State Park, Florida.

Egmont Key!

On the Chassahowtizka River.

De Leon Springs.

Andy and I, at a Hot Spring on the Yellowstone River.

Where to Go?

Next year will be the first year that I get five weeks of vacation. I'm trying to figure out what our big family trip will be. Carole wants to go to visit some first magnitude springs that we haven't seen in Florida. That would be about a week-long trip and would be tons of fun. We always have a blast snorkeling and kayaking the big freshwater springs in Florida.

But I was thinking more of hitting a National Park or two that we've never seen. We've long wanted to see Crater Lake National Park, and I dearly want to see the big redwoods and sequoias in California. The deal with a western trip is that they're really expensive, so we have to plan them carefully.

At any rate, I'll have a whole 'nother week to play around with in 2014.

I think this was taken at Manatee Springs State Park.

Blue Springs Run at Blue Springs State Park.

Big alligator at Wakulla Springs State Park.

A friendly osprey on the Chassahowitzka River.

Kayaking down the Ichetucknee River in Ichetucknee Springs State Park.

And then there's the allure of those big California peaks. I took this shot near Joshua Tree National Park in 2010.

Underwater

Since I finished THE NEW ECOLOGY OF DEATH I have been suffering from complete exhaustion. Frankly...I don't think I've ever been this tired in my life. When you work a regular job (as a laborer), writing is doubly difficult. I have, in essence, two jobs. It sucks the life out of me, sometimes.

Yesterday I slept for twelve hours straight. Today I fell asleep after coming home from work--conked out for three hours after my shower. My wife woke me up so that I could eat dinner. I'll go back to sleep soon.

That's okay. Another day or so of this and I'll be ready to tackle more writing.

Coming out of this exhaustion reminds me of being underwater. Thus, here are some underwater photos from our trip to snorkel and kayak some of the giant freshwater springs of Florida:

I took this one while swimming through the underwater tunnel at Seven Sisters Spring.

Lots of fish share the spring.

Some fish hang out at the outflow from the head spring.

Plenty of company!

The slope plummets down to the main spring outlet.

We Find "The Crack"!

Okay.

One of our goals at staying at the Chassahowitzka River Campground was to kayak to a spring called "The Crack". I'd seen photos of the spring and it got its name for obvious reasons. It looks like a giant crack in the limestone substrate. The guides I'd read said that it was a simple matter of leaving the boat ramp and paddling upstream for a while to the tributary on the left and then another paddle of about forty minutes or so to the spring.

As we headed out on the river, we saw that the weather was looking iffy with some ominous looking clouds gathering in the distance and drifting in off the Gulf of Mexico. But it didn't look all that bad and there was no lightning and thunder. It looked like a safe bet, so we headed downstream.

In quick order we found what appeared to be the tributary on the left and took off in that direction, away from the main channel. However, we soon realized that it was a dead end and was, in fact, a spot called "Grouper Hole" that has its own submerged spring and is just mainly a backwater. Okay to look at but nothing special. We tracked back out and headed into the main river again and continued on.

Then we saw the actual tributary that held our goal. It's easy to spot because the channel is split in half by a very tiny island that sprouts a few trees and sits in the midst of the pure spring water emerging from that stream. We turned again and headed that direction.

This was a very fun paddle. The scenery is excellent and there is a tremendous amount of wildlife, including enormous schools of fish, both freshwater and saltwater. The Gulf is only about ten miles away at this point and some saltwater species will come this far up the rivers to congregate in big groups. Especially the striped mullet which you see darting about everywhere in gigantic shoals of fishflesh.

We also got a huge kick out of the trip because the channel narrows along one section to not much more than the width of your paddles! When you dip your paddle into the water on either side you tend to encounter at least some of the marsh grass that presses in on either side. It feels like living in the setting of a Johnny Weismuller TARZAN movie; which is fitting because some of those films were shot on Florida's big freshwater springs (and the spring runs produced by them).

After we'd pass through these narrow areas we would come to some vast, open pools. These were always packed with fish, so the fishing has to be great here. I'd like to come back next time and try my hand at angling.

We had been told to watch for a street sign that some mischievous paddler had erected. This would mark the final approach to the spring. From here on in, we were told, the tributary got very shallow and that the last 100 feet or so required you to leave your kayak on the bank and walk the rest of the way to the spring. In fact, the information was exactly correct and we did this, wading through shin-deep water to see our destination.

The Crack is what it looks like: a huge linear break in the limestone rock. Emerging from it are millions of gallons of clear water. The pool itself is not very deep--not much more than waist-high. That is until you reach the Crack itself. Then it plunges down very deep indeed. It might be a good cave diving site, but I'm not sure. I do know that even in the crystal clear water the depths fade to black.

All the while we were kayaking to this point, the clouds kept gathering in greater volume; thicker and darker. Not ten minutes after we arrived at our goal they opened up in a tremendous downpour. If it had just been some mild sprinkles or a light rain, we would have stayed. But this was a soaking, pounding gusher of a rain. So we packed up our stuff back into our kayaks and headed back out. And, of course, as soon as we got back to the main channel of the Chassahowitzka, the weather broke and the rain stopped.

Oh, well.

We plan to return to see The Crack again. We'll do as we did on that paddle, and visit it on a weekday when there are no crowds. Because we actually did have it all to ourselves.

See the tiny island in mid-stream? You're on the right track!

There were Spider lilies in bloom along the banks.

This was actually part of the wrong turn we made. Still beautiful.

One of the points where the creek begins to become very narrow, indeed. This was a lot of fun!

Emerging from one of the narrow sections.

When you get to this last, big pool, you're close to the goal. If you look in the center of the photo you will spy the street sign that some jokester nailed to a trunk.

Closeup of the sign.

The shallow stream leading to The Crack.

I love kayaking in these places! They are gorgeous.

We arrive at the aptly named "The Crack". Doesn't look terribly deep due to the amazing clarity of the water, but I assure you that the area at the headspring (top of the photo) is extremely deep.

Carole wading out in the pool. We were just about ready to go swimming when...

The clouds opened up! It was a gusher of a storm. All of our stuff that we'd brought with which to sit around the pool and have lunch was getting soaked, so we packed up and headed out.

Back at camp, Carole whips up a dinner of grilled potatoes/onions/peppers and barbecued chicken wings.

Journey to The Crack

Well...work on THE NEW ECOLOGY OF DEATH trumps talking about the kayak trip to find "The Crack". I'll write about it tomorrow. I promise.

Gorgeous scenery on the way to find "The Crack".

The terrain in getting there was like being in an old Tarzan movie.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow I hope to be able to post a more detailed blog. Today, though, I'm working like crazy on THE NEW ECOLOGY OF DEATH. Must finish that book...my last word on the zombie mythos.

What I hope to write about tomorrow was a great adventure Carole and I had on a kayak trip to find a spring known simply as "the Crack". When you actually see it, you'll understand how it got its name.

Ominous clouds begin to gather above us as we kayak down the Chassawhowitzka River toward the mysterious spring known as "The Crack". Would we find it? Did the Heavens spare us from bad weather? Stay tuned...