Click on the link below to view
our monthly video short

Peace and Suwannee River Slides

courtesy of our talented video producer, Tom McLaulin

Paddle Florida 2010/2011 schedule

As many of you may know, we have expanded our schedule to include 6 events from October, 2010 through April, 2011:

We begin with our third annual Fall Paddle Florida on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, October 14-21, 2010.  We will travel 123 miles and camp each night on the banks of the Suwannee River.  This is 'the Original", as we begin at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park and finish at beautiful Manatee Springs State Park. As always, we will be transporting everyone's luggage, providing lunch stops and feeding everyone breakfast each morning and dinner each evening . . .  and don't forget the campfire each night.
 
In December, we will take our group on the beautiful Wekiva and St. Johns Rivers.  The trip will be held between Christmas and New Years, December 27-30.  Join us as we say good bye to 2010 on these great rivers in Central Florida, while paddling 36 miles.  During this trip, one of our overnights will be at Blue Springs State Park, where last year at this time, there were over 250 West Indian Manatees wintering in the spring run.  We are sure to witness a similar occurrence on this trip.
 
In January, 2011, we will reprise our highly successful event from this past January on the Peace River.  The event will take place January 14-17, over MLK, Jr. weekend, with a theme of 'Peace'.  We begin in Ft. Meade and finish 42 miles later in Gardner.  The Peace River is known as a great place to dig or 'sift' for fossils.  Many of our paddlers came away with sharks teeth and other fossils.
 
On February 18-21, over President's Day weekend, we will challenge the Florida Keys, traveling 30 miles from Curry Hammock State Park to Bahia Honda State Park.  When we finish, we are 35 miles from Key West for those who wish to extend their holiday in the Florida Keys.  If you've never been, the Keys provides a remarkable spectacle, "where the green of the gulf meets the blue of the sea."  While scouting this trip a few months back, we were treated to sightings of sea turtles, eagle rays, porpoise and scads of birdlife.  Don't forget to bring your mask and snorkel.  The pirates who formerly sailed these waters have long since departed, but we may do some swashbuckling of our own . . . with any luck.  This one is limited to the first 100 experienced open-water paddlers, with the appropriate boats and gear, namely spray skirts and rudders/skegs.
 
In March, we will host two events.  The first will have us braving the very primitive Ochlockonee River, just west of Tallahassee near the Georgia border.  We will paddle 80 miles through the Apalachicola National Forest, March 12-18, 2011.  We are almost finished scouting this trip and details will be on the Paddle Florida website next month.
 
We take a week off before hosting our fourth annual Spring Paddle Florida event on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.  This time beginning at Madison Blue Spring State Park on the Withlacoochee River, before joining the Suwannee and camping overnight at Suwannee River State Park.  The first day is 12 miles and features many small rapids, before culminating with Class II Melvin Shoals (if the water levels are right).  This past March, the water was so high and fast, that we never saw the shoals.  We can't do anything about the water level, but either way, it's a great stretch of river to experience.  As in the fall, we finish at Manatee Springs State Park and travel 115 miles.  The event will be held March 26-April 2, 2011.
 
If you haven't signed up for our monthly e-Newsletter, The Happy Paddler, you can do so at the bottom of the homepage of our website, www.paddleflorida.org.  Each month we send out information on what is happening in the Florida paddling world.  Similarly, for those of you on Facebook, you can join the Paddle Florida Facebook group from our website or from your own Facebook account.  We hope to provide more updates through this social media.

paddling, camping, history, music, campfires and camaraderie

Entertainment Lineup finalized for Fall Paddle Florida

We have just booked our final act for our Fall Paddle Florida event. The lineup is as follows:

Friday, October 15-Suwannee River State Park Cheryl Watson & Watertown

Saturday, October 16-Lafayette Blue Springs State Park - Tom Shed

Sunday, October 17-Suwannee River Rendevous Resort & Campground - Patchwork

Tuesday, October 19-Gornto Springs
Big Cypress Bluegrass

Wednesday, October 20-Fanning Springs State Park - Bluesman Willie Green

Please visit www.paddleflorida.org for more details on the the trip and pictures and biographies on each of our entertainers!

New 'Media Links' section
on Paddle Florida website

Please visit our new 'media links' section on the homepage of our website at www.paddleflorida.org. Find out what others are saying about our trips. Increasingly, media outlets are discovering what we are doing with Paddle Florida. Check it out!