Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Springs are the thing in Branford, a small town on the Suwannee River
A swimming hole as a work of natural art, the deep gash in the earth that is Ichetucknee Spring glows an unearthly robin’s-egg blue, cradled in a limestone bowl within a leafy glen.
Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park is a top international destination for cave divers thanks to its extensively mapped system of underwater tubes: more than six miles of passageways connecting two major springs, six sinkholes, and the Suwannee River.
Staring into Royal Springs, it feels like looking into a bottomless pit. Steep and broad, it drops 42 feet into shimmering waters of turquoise and royal blue.
It’s August. It’s Florida. Where do you go to cool off? The springs of the Suwannee River Valley. No matter the size, these natural swimming holes are a delight.
Along its 266-mile meandering route from the Okeefenokee Swamp to the Gulf of Mexico, the Suwannee River is home to countless springs, sandy beaches, and tributaries that drop into the river down steep slopes as waterfalls. The Suwannee River Wilderness Trail lets you explore it all.
Florida’s first long-distance paddling trail sets up an incredible adventure of launching above White Springs to paddle your way more than 200 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
Tubing the Ichetucknee River means letting go and going with the flow, letting the waters carry you past beautiful springs and through ever-changing habitats. Here’s how.
