03-08-2019 Kayaking the Silver River Once Again

Current Location: Jacksonville Naval Air Station Florida

Clear and 55 degrees F at 7AM

I didn’t plan it this way, but somehow it was perfect.  Our last day kayaking in Florida was on the Silver River.  For me it was just a tiny bit bittersweet.  I fell in love with this river during my first trip to Florida in March of 2000.  Florida was entirely new to me and a complete surprise. 

Paddling against the current, trying to keep from running backwards into this guy as I juggle the camera

I had never imagined the beautiful forests or the clarity of the springs, and the feeling of soft velvet Florida air.  I hiked down to the river from the state park and daydreamed about someday owning my own kayak and being on this beautiful river.

Colors on the upper part of the Silver River are breathtaking

I visited the springs and the river several times over the years, riding the jungle cruise boats and the glass bottomed boats from the springs, but it wasn’t until 2007, when Mo and I made a cross country trip to Florida in the baby MoHo with our previous kayaks that I actually got on the river in my own boat.  (the story is here). It was mid December, and the trees had no leaves and it was a chilly day. Still, it was a beautiful day and we were surrounded by an incredible number of birds on that trip.

Juggling camera settings while paddling, got some kind of “art” thing!

Our trip to Florida this year was about making one last cross country journey all the way to Florida for the main purpose of kayaking the spring runs. As always, with Florida planning, I had a bit of trouble scheduling weeks in the proper order at the proper places.  When I scheduled our two weeks on the eastern edge of Northern Florida, I thought that we might have access to some nice boating areas around Jacksonville.

Lower portion of the Silver River is a bit darker, not quite as clear as the upper part

What we discovered, however, was that most of the kayaking in the Jacksonville area isn’t exactly what I imagined when I planned to drive so many thousands of miles to find clear spring runs.  Instead, there is the huge St Johns River, which is more like a bay, and its many beautiful estuaries.  Salt marshes, low tides exposing sharp oyster beds, and thick brown water.  The more I researched, the more I decided that a 2 hour drive to return to the limestone backbone of the state where the best springs are located was OK.  After all, if we could drive 3500 miles to get here, we could drive 95 miles to kayak clear water.

There were some options, but none seemed as perfect as returning once again to the Silver River and Silver Springs.  We knew the launch point from our previous kayak, and we knew the paddling against the current upstream was doable.  We had done it.

Lobelia in bloom along the river’s edge

We left early in the morning, hoping to be at the launch by 10:30 or so.  What we didn't’ count on was my wrong turn that took us to the eastern edge of Orange Lake instead of the west side, adding another hour to the trip. I should know to turn on Miss Google’s voice when I am driving instead of getting all cocky and thinking I know where I am going.

We were launched and on the river at exactly noon, an easy, non slippery, and soft launch right into the canal that leads down to the Silver River.  It is important to mark the location of the canal so you don’t miss it on your return trip our you will end up in the big, brown Ocklawaha River.  We reached the Silver River in just a few minutes and turned west toward Silver Springs.

Hmmm.  I didn’t remember the current being this strong.  We had 5 miles to go to the spring upriver, and my shoulders definitely noticed the power of the current.  I think it must have been a bit more than the 5 mph listed in the kayak book.  Lucky for us, after a couple of miles, the current seemed to lessen a bit, or at least we got used to it.

During the first couple of miles, the river didn’t appear as clear as I had remembered, and I was a bit disappointed.  By the time we reached the 3 mile marker, however, the water began to clear more and more.  The river seemed big after the Rainbow and the Ichetucknee, and it was deep! There are numerous springs where the water boils on the surface, trying to turn the boats in circles. 

The bottom of the river shows turquoise and green where the springs boil up and you can see huge gar and bluefish in the depths.  I think some of those parts of the river must have been more than 40 feet deep.

Black crowned night heron

Limpkin, the only species in its family

This lonely baby wood duck was our favorite, especially when it found its mom

We didn’t have as many birds as we saw on our December trip, but we did have a LOT of fellow travelers.  It seems that floating downriver is the most popular way to do the river, and we were going upstream.  After awhile I got really tired of saying “hello, hi, good afternoon” so many times to so many people.  Another surprise to me was the presence of motorboats on the river.  Required to travel at idling speed, they still felt rather intrusive in such a place.  We never saw a boat on that river back on a chilly day in December of 2007.

We were entertained by several young rhesus monkeys playing in the trees

It was a beautiful paddle.  At about half a mile from the spring, as the afternoon light was lengthening, we asked each other if we really needed to go all the way to the spring.  Having done it before, we decided that paddling around with the glass bottomed boats, the river boats, and the tourists wasn’t something we cared about doing.

Turning back downriver, suddenly we realized that we were at last alone on the river.  For most of the gliding float downstream, we had the river to ourselves, with only a few hardy souls returning upriver to the Silver Springs launch site. It was gorgeous.  And it was bittersweet.  I knew that every dip of my paddle into that water would be among the last. I savored every moment in the way life should be savored all the time. 

It took us about 3 hours to paddle 4.5 miles upriver, taking time to photograph the birds, alligators, and monkeys.  We floated downriver in about an hour and a half, for 5 hours total in the boats doing 9 miles. 

I should mention the monkeys, since obviously they aren’t endemic to Florida.  The legend is that they were released when the Tarzan movies were filmed in the area in the 40’s, but research indicates the monkeys are actually escapees from the Jungle attraction that used to be at Silver Springs.  There has been talk of trying to remove them, and some feeble attempts were made, but since they are so popular with tourists, thus far they remain.

It is a bit difficult to explain how paddling on the water through all that green feels a bit like you are inside a green glass bottle with the sun coming through.  Somehow the vermillion light fills my heart as well as my eyes. I am so glad the Silver River was my first and my last Florida river.  A treasure I will remember always. Mo just reminded me again to mention that the day was absolutely perfect, the weather was perfect, the skies were gorgeous.