Today I led my monthly Florida Trail Association Wednesday paddle on the Rainbow River. 17 people showed up, about evenly divided between my “regulars” and newbies.
We met up at K.P. Hole County park , unloaded the kayaks, then drove all the cars down to CR 484 to the Blue Run boat ramp and all the drivers rode back in two cars to K.P Hole County Park to launch. ($5 admission /launch fee). We paddled up to the heading spring in Rainbow Springs State Park then floated back down stream to the Blue Run ramp – a total of right at 7 miles.
It was a mixed group of paddlers – a few very experienced with their own boats, a few beginners with their own boats and some real newbies with rental boats from K.P. Hole. This trip thus had multiple purposes. Fun and relaxation, of course. But also to introduce some new folks to kayaking and to introduce most of them to what the Rainbow has to offer. It always amazes me a little that while seeing lots of houses along the banks of most rivers tends to lessen the experience for me, the houses along the Rainbow don’t bother me as much. Perhaps it’s because the vast majority of the land to the east is publicly owned and in its natural state. And perhaps it’s because the residents themselves are very protective of the river. At any rate, if you get tired of looking at houses and docks to the west, you can just look to the east for a while and rest your eyes on nature.
On our way up stream we passed many Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) and Double-cretsed Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) using the docks to dry their wings out from fishing. This female Anhinga – sporting breeding integument – politely posed for me and even seemed to be laughing at my clumsy attempts to capture her with my new camera.
A little further upstream we got a real treat when we spotted 3 North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis) fishing along the eastern river bank. We followed them from a distance and watched them work for about a 1/4 mile until they spooked and swam into the stream-side vegetation. I was so glad that I had my new camera with me so I had enough reach to capture them. We see otters fairly frequently on the Rainbow, but usually for only brief moments as they surface to breathe then duck down under the water again or streak away from us into the bushes.
Since it was a nice sunny day, we also saw a couple of smallish gators basking in the matted vegetation.
Just after entering Rainbow Springs State Park there is a little cove on the west side that I always like to visit. There are always turtles basking there and sometimes you can see gar and other fish swimming around.
We finally reached the head spring and took a little breather while enjoying the scenery and the few swimmers enjoying the spring area.
On the way back down we stopped at the entrance to Gissy Spring run for a snack/lunch. Some folks waded up Gissy Spring run while other just chatted and snacked. Either way, we all enjoyed our leg-stretch break and wade in the cool water – although not enough to go for a swim yet.
As we started on the water again after our break we passed a Southern Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus) high in a pine tree overlooking the water. Fortunately it held still long enough for some good pictures.
Downstream we spotted more turtles and another gator sunning as well as a Limpkin, a Tricolored Heron and a Little Blue Heron.
Before we knew it we could here the traffic sounds of CR 484 and we were at the ramp at Blue Run take-out. And here, please allow me a bit of a rant. The ramp that the Office of Greenways and Trails built at Blue Run for the river paddlers and bicycle trail is beautiful. However, even on week day you can see that it is clogged with teenagers hanging out (there is a rope swing about 200 feet downstream) and mothers with toddlers. And on the weekends it is 10 times as bad because there are thousands of tubers on the river who also get out at this ramp. As I pulled in to run my kayak up on the ramp a little boy, about 3 years old, pulled away from his mother’s hand and ran out right in front of me. I came within a couple of inches of knocking him down. And all this in spite of the fact that it is clearly signed as “No swimming”. But it is not enforced, of course. The reason for this clogging? – it is the only free access to the river in the area. All other access is either privately owned or you have to pay a $5-$6 admission fee. Unless something is done to relieve this unauthorized usage of the tuber/boat ramp it is just an accident waiting to happen. End rant.
After our loading up the kayaks and getting everyone back to their cars most of us met up at Swampy’s – the local eatery – for a good burger and about a gallon of sweet tea. The perfect way to end a laid beautiful day on the river.