Third Annual Fall Paddle Florida
October 14 – 21, 2010 — Trip Report

by Melissa Rigas

It was a perfect week for all who participated on Paddle Florida’s Fall Suwannee River adventure.  The sky never had more than a few wispy white clouds, the temperature ranged from mid-40’s at night to mid-80’s during the day, food was always delicious and the paddlers were a jovial group.

The 123 mile trip began at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park on Thursday, October 14th with the staggered arrival of staff and participants.  Walt and Sally Jetter (and a pirate Kid Rock) checked people in.  Dinner was served at the Spirit of the Suwannee Café & Music Hall.  Following the food was a karaoke show, the highlight of which was the voice of Teddy Mac.  As Elvis.  The night ended as many others to follow would, around a campfire.  This particular night, Tom McLaulin gifted those present with guitar music.

The next morning, most paddlers awoke at dawn to a very hot breakfast at the SOS Café (sadly, no Elvis this meal) to go along with the rather cool morning.  After packing personals up and loading the truck, excited paddlers were shuttled down to the river thanks to the Suwannee River Canoe Outpost.  After about 7.5 miles on the water, the first rest stop came at one of the six Suwannee River Wilderness Trail’s River Camps, the Holton Creek River Camp. Staff actually had to wait to enter Holton Creek due to a scheduled hunt that morning. 

Thankfully this is not a hiking trip.  After filling up on PB&J, bananas, apples, cookies and fruit snacks, paddlers continued the 12.5 miles left to Suwannee River State Park.  A delicious Mexican dinner was served by Cheryl Hollis & her crew.  After dinner, paddlers were entertained by Cheryl Watson & Watertown, doing renditions of many classics, such as “Over the Rainbow.”
Saturday morning brought a hot breakfast thanks to Cheryl Hollis & group.  After this, paddlers, who by this point are getting into a routine, again packed personals and loaded the truck, and then gleefully hit the water for the longest paddle of the trip.  Today brought a special treat, some young’ns for half the day.  

Mr. Dane Dyksterhouse 10, and his dad, Bob Dyksterhouse, Jan Corcoran’s grandson and son-in-law, decided to join the trip for the first leg of the day.  Lunch was served at the Advent Christian Village, mile 14.  Besides Dane, Bob & Jan (who traded kayaks at lunch with Casey Richards and Melissa Rigas), everyone set out to complete the “marathon” day of paddling. Nine miles later, they arrived to Lafayette Blue Springs State Park. 

Lafayette Blue Springs has a neat architecture to it, there is a land bridge separating two “pools” which adventurous swimmers can dive down and go under, popping up on the other side.  After much swimming, dinner was served, then some announcements were made.  Nickie Kortus announced a partnership with Necky kayaks and Bill Richards announced a partnership with Gander Mountain, and then passed out “Gander Bucks.”  Tom Shed then entertained the crowd with “history, humor and the human condition.” 
          Sunday was truly a day of rest and relaxation, with an easy 13 miles to paddle on the river.  This day also brought to the water Jill Lingard and Scott Jantz, who spearheaded Paddle Florida’s participation in the Great Suwannee River Clean-Up. 

They passed out bags to all of the paddlers, who were all eager to help clean this magnificent river they were traveling down.  The rest/lunch stop was at another river camp, Peacock Slough.  Paddlers arrived at the night’s campground, River Rendezvous, pretty early, thus had an afternoon to themselves.  After a barbecue chicken dinner, awards were passed out to those with the most outrageous clean-up stories from the day.  Canoer Fred Borg carried the largest amount of trash off the river, and “Pizza Bill” received an award for all of his items. 

Tom Hauer helped Melissa Rigas learn to roll a kayak for close to an hour (in frigid water), receiving well-earned recognition for that, and Mim Duncan received an award because everyone just thought she should get one.  The evening commenced with a performance by the group “Patchwork.”
          Monday paddlers awoke to a breakfast of a wonderful assortment of warm, fresh from the oven, homemade breads, as well as a delicious casserole.  Then they hit the river, continuing the Great Suwannee River Clean-Up for the 15 miles until Ivey Memorial Park, in Branford.  The rest stop (mile ten) was at Little River Springs, which has an extensive cave system more than 1,200 feet long and 100 feet deep!  Divers were seen going down to explore the depths while paddlers were around. 

Five miles later, paddlers arrived to the night’s site.  This night was the first (and pretty much only) time we were within walking distance to stores and little gas stations, as well as our wonderful hosts for dinner, the Branford Shrine Club.  This was where the party was at for the afternoon!  Paddlers headed over here early to relax and enjoy each other’s company, as well as a few drinks. 

After a delicious dinner and homemade desserts, the total amount of garbage collected was announced… 1,124 pounds!  In two days!  After this was announced, Mark Gluckman, a retired land planning consultant, talked about the interesting history of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.  The evening was ended, as it typically was, with jokes and laughter (and a few performances of “Little Bunny Foo-Foo”) around a fire.

Tuesday morning, after another tasty meal provided by the Shrine Club, paddlers headed back out onto the water for a 21 mile day.  After 13 miles, the lunch stop came at a local boat ramp, and then paddlers continued the other 8 miles to Gornto Springs in Dixie County.  Cheryl Hollis and her crew returned for the rest of the trip’s meals.  Dinner was a delicious bread bowl with chilli and a make-your-own-salad on the side, followed by ice cream sundaes.  After dinner, Big Cypress Bluegrass Band played some wonderful tunes, their name even brought a couple from Branford to watch and listen.

Wednesday brought the first slight traces of clouds to be seen the whole week.  But it still didn’t rain, and they didn’t last.  After another tasty breakfast, paddlers took to the water.  Today had a great spring to be explored along the trip, Mark Gluckman mentioned it, and even said if you get to the bridge, you’ve passed it, and should turn around and go back. 

The last lunch stop was at Turner Point Landing, about 11 miles out.  Nine miles later, paddlers will reach Fanning Springs State Park.  This is a beautiful blue spring with lots of swimming room and a jumping platform, though thankfully no one attempted any “red-bellied” contests, though Fanning Springs used to host that sort of thing on Memorial Day for those interested…  Dinner was followed by lots of events. 

First and foremost, the Miss Congeniality award was given by last year’s award winner, Catherine Ray, to the newly voted Mim Duncan, who very graciously accepted and wore her banner.  Then Jenny Frye received an award simply because “she thought she deserved one.”  Then the real show began with bluesman Willie Green, accompanied by a 1700+ picture slide show of all paddlers’ photos (who wished to submit them).  After his stage show, Willie Green sat around the fire with everyone, hanging out and telling stories.