Silver River

I had a very interesting trip the first time I kayaked the Silver River in Ocala, Florida. The trip was made in my old inflatable kayak, which made for a less than enjoyable ride on the river's swift current.

The last time I made this trip, however, was in September in my nice Pelican Apex II kayak. The combination of the extraordiarily beautiful scenery and the swift current made for one of the easiest and most enjoyable kayak trips I have ever taken.

My parents and I woke up early in the morning to embark on the two-hour drive to Silver River State Park outside of the city of Ocala. This is one of my favorite drives to take because it goes straight through the rolling farm country in the center part of the state. It is always nice to remind myself that most of Florida is still rural, a fact that even a Floridaphile like me forgets sometimes.

As usual, we were the first ones to arrive at the park that morning, and, as usual, my dad needed to stop at the bathroom. While my father...um...took care of his business, I wandered over to the little "cracker village" that they have set up in the woods behind the bathroom building.

And they say Florida doesn't have culture!!

The village they had set up was nice, and it consisted of little houses, a blacksmith shop, and I believe even a schoolhouse. But it just struck me as weird, though...whenever I think of Florida Crackers, I do not think of villages. Maybe I'm mistaken......but back to the story.

We parked at the head of the "River Trail," a dirt path that leads through the woods down to the river. We carried our kayak a half-mile to the river, walked back a half-mile, retrieved our gear and said goodbye to my mom, and walked back down to the river with our arms loaded down with assorted kayak accessories. So before we even set foot in a kayak, we had walked one-and-a-half miles, already more exercise than most people get in a full day.

The weather was absolutely perfect for paddling, temperatures in the mid 60s and clear blue skies. We could not have asked for a better day in a Florida September.

Because this is a spring run (a HUGE one at that), the water is crystal clear and very swift (for a Florida river, at least.) We shoved the kayak into the water, and as I climbed in I got the strange feeling that I was floating in mid-air. The water is so clear (and with no reflections because we were in the shade,) that you actually get the sensation you are floating in the air when you first set off. This is a very strange feeling that can last for a while after shoving off. Welcome to Silver River and Silver Springs, Florida.

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This boy (girl?) is a Cormorant. You'll find these guys dive into the water chasing after fish, and then pop up a few moments later to breathe. They're fun to watch. There were 4 others on the branch that this guy was resting on, and one of them promptly tried to shoot excrement at us while we snapped pictures. We took the warning and headed on downstream.

Beautiful clear-blue water. The riverbottom in the shallow areas sparkled as if little pieces of silver were scattered about...I would assume that this is what the river is named for.

The reptile action on the river was pretty good. We saw a few turtles resting on logs like this and could see many swimming underwater. We also heard a gator splash into the water at one point on the river. I love the way turtles rest on their bellies and hold their feet straight out like this.

I want to say this is a kind of Water Hyacinth flower, but I am not sure. I am terrible at classifying plants. But the flower is not the main attraction here, it's the rather intersting-looking spider on the stem. I did not notice it until I uploaded the photos on the computer.

This is my favorite picture from the entire trip. The water all the way out to about 50 feet from the bank was perfectly clear and only inches deep. There's just a lot of beauty in this picture. I will leave you to comprehend it.