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Tuesday 11/11/25. 19 miles to Gornto Springs - a long one.

Yes, that's Jacques. He joined us for an evening at Gornto Springs.

Over our years as a group, Jacques has become Firemaster, for his unique and artistic fires.

Despite the subfreezing temps, I was up around 7 and got the fire rekindled. And, to stay warm, got my gear stowed. We had coffee and breakfast and I took off around 9:30, about an hour ahead of Steve and Dave. I had a tailwind (N) all day (sunny and cool) so good sailing and easy paddling. I stopped briefly at the confluence with the Santa Fe River (where we'd tentatively planned to rendezvous), but it was all uber-developed and uninviting, so I went on. In another couple miles, I stopped at a sunny patch on a beach to have lunch. About a half hour later, Dave arrived. He stopped for lunch as well. A bit later, Steve paddled up. We paddled together a few miles, stopped at Rock Bluff Spring which was quite developed but pretty, with a beautiful run. It was mid-afternoon and our destination was only a couple miles ahead. Steve and Dave lingered to have a beer, while I paddled on to Gornto Springs County Park. Jacques was meeting us there. Rachel was taking him to pick up his truck at SOTS, and then he was driving to Gornto with beer and dinner (delicious chili by Rachel, including a vegan potful just for me! Much appreciated❤️) ...and more Lemon Snaps.  The hosts, an elderly couple, charged us $6 (total) and told us to camp anywhere we'd like. (Top of boat ramp in a flat grassy area). The park had a playground and RV hookups but was overall a bit shabby. The spring was fenced and not very inviting. But there was an ok toilet and we found a power source to recharge devices. We were the only ones there. We also found a huge cache of firewood (trashpile) and had a lovely fireside meal with Jacques. So great to see him, and he was looking quite happy. He'd also brought his tools and changed Dave's pedal drive fins to larger ones (turbo). Uh oh, now I might be left in the dust. One minor snafu - we had to get into a panel box on pole with a huge bright street lamp just overhead to turn off that awful light for our fire and sleeping... but we did remember to turn it back on in the AM. We said bye to Jacques about 8ish. Our usual bedtime and Jacques needed to head home.
 

Wednesday 11/12/25. 12 miles to Hart Springs.
 

Another cool sunny day with a light wind. The river snaked around in every direction but overall continued southbound. We hit a record 4 mph, covering our day's run in just over 3 hours. I felt surprisingly exhausted after arriving, and discovered new sores on the tops of my feet, a red swollen toe that had been hurting a bit that day, and the sore on the inside of my R foot that had been getting worse for a few days despite a bandaid. And I plucked an engorged tick off my R clavicle. Damn, it'd been there several days. I dipped into Dave's First Aid Kit again and took the time to really clean, treat and bandage all my wounds. Then I kept my feet dry (as much as possible), and in socks and crocs for the next few days. That worked. Whew. Easy to lose control of a skin wound when out in nature for more than a few days. Could become a trip-breaker.

Hart Springs County Park is a very developed family-oriented park, complete with a bath house, gift shop, sidewalks, pavilions galore, a dive platform, and numerous walls surrounding the springs. The spring run (paddling in) is lovely, with a boardwalk along one side. Steve talked with management and we had to pay $75 to camp there!, but at least we were allowed to camp close to the beach where our boats were. Steve swam in the spring and was first to the showers. He used up the entire tank of hotwater before Dave and I got there. Even the woman's showers were cold. We never did get a hot shower there. Way too cold to shower in the morning. Bathrooms not heated. No fires allowed. Water yellow and sulfury.... overall mediocre accomodations for $25 each, especially compared to the lovely $6 river camps.

Thursday 11/13/25.  9 miles to Fanning Springs.
 

Interesting dock built around a cypress tree.

Easy and calm day.  Paddled it in 2 1/2 hr. Steve was familiar with the layout, so we pulled our boats up at a beach near the primitive group campsite. Big yard with live oaks, picnic tables, a spigot with good water, and a central firepit. Plenty of firewood around. We were the only ones there. Nice. After setting up, we walked into nearby town to buy lunch. I had a fish sandwich while S and D had barbeque. We had a swim in the lovely big spring with a manatee. (No hot showers here.)  Then a relaxing evening around the fire. Minimal dinner after the big lunch. Next morning while packing up, Liz Sparks, a friend from Tallahassee, showed up for a surprise (to everyone!) visit. She and girlfriends had just camped 2 nights on the river. Later, a ranger came by (we'd been unable to find any rangers on Thursday) and told us we owed $6 each and should drop it in the box by the ranger station at park entrance, which we did.

Friday 11/14/25. 17 miles to Fowlers Bluff. 9:20 - 3:20 including 1 hour stop at Manatee Springs.

This was my getup whenever we paddled under sunny skies. (I dislike sunscreen.)

Camping in the No Camping Parking Lot across the street. 

This was my solo paddling day. I left Fanning camp about an hour or so ahead of Dave and Steve. The day was glorious and clear. No wind, glassy calm. I stayed covered from head to toe the whole day and used my umbrella constantly for shade. Found that soaking my shirt and neck gaiter in the river every hour or so, then putting them on wet, cooled me nicely as long as I had the shade of my brella. I stopped at Manatee Springs where I was greeted by a manatee at the mouth of the spring run. But there were signs with icons that appeared to say no boats (even kayaks) in the run. Luckily, there was a woman on a paddleboard there. She said she'd just paddled down the run, and there were kayaks for rent as well. So up I went. I beached near the rentals. It was a fairly busy day with tourists (including a family I'd met at Fanning when I swam there). I walked the path to the main spring and looked down into the deep turquoise. It was one of those magical moments. No one else around. My heart really opened wide as I slipped down into that spring water. A few minutes later, an elderly woman with a dog came up and called to me from the walkway and then reminisced about her younger days swimming there. I suggested she come on in… not too late. We had a sweet exchange. I had lunch (now from my easy-access topside lunchbag, compliments of Dave.) The others hadn't arrived after an hour or so, so I paddled on. I got to the ramp at Fowlers Bluff mid-afternoon, right by Treasure Camp Restaurant. We had understood there was camping allowed, but all I saw was "No Camping" signs everywhere. At the restaurant, I talked with a staff person who said it was fine to camp in the parking lot across the street (where there was also a No Camping sign). It was a fairly long haul (200 yds) from the water to the gravel lot where there was a port-a-potty and way in the back, a live oak and patch of grass. I set up there. Later, after Dave and Steve had set up, the owner of the restaurant told me that she'd prefer that we not leave our boats along the edge of the ramp, and welcomed us to put them in the adjoining grassy areas (her yard on one side and the restaurant yard on the other.) She said some trailer drivers are terrible at backing down the ramp, plus the river is very tidal here. She just wanted our boats to be safe. Nice. Understandably, they couldn't allow us to camp in those pretty riverside yards since they had no public toilets. The parking lot across the street was county, and they said no one enforced the No Camping. Plus it had a porta-potty.  It was fine (with a great restaurant at hand.)

We had a wonderful dinner at Treasure Camp. (I had a grouper reuben sandwich). And then spent our fireless evening nursing beers at the riverside bar outside. The next morning we had a full breakfast at TC as well. What a treat.

Saturday 11/15/25. 21 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

What a glorious day!

Town of Suwannee ahead. 

Heading out into the big Gulf waters at sunset.

Slap-Yer-Momma Cake alamode

We got into our boats about 9:30. Another beautiful calm day. The tide at Fowlers Bluff was still coming in, but tide tables said it should be turning mid morning, so we'd be paddling with an outgoing tide (faster current) much of the day. I had had low expectations of the lower section of the Suwannee (Manatee to the Gulf) having read that it is wide, windy, full of motor boats (wakes), with uninteresting inaccessible shoreline. Maybe it was because we were lucky with the wind (none) and tide (favorable), gorgeous weather, nearing the end of our trip... or... who knows? But I loved these last two days of paddling on the big river. The glassy calm allowed us to see dozens of rolling sturgeons, some right beside our boats (though none jumped). We saw very few motor boats, and none with significant wakes. The shores were all scrubby woods and some palms. No accessible land for miles. We got to the town of Suwannee about 3:30. Weird paddling into a town (a very water-oriented town with docks everywhere and boats and buildings hanging over the water.) We found our way (using Google Maps - - there were no signs directing us as it said in the guide) up a series of canals to Anderson's Landing (a ramp) and Bill's Fish Camp where we could camp. Except that we couldn't camp! The "camp bathroom" was out of order so no camping allowed. But there was a motel and we could rent a room for $66. And then we could camp because we had a bathroom. OK. Steve and Dave opted to camp out waterside under a big live oak. I stayed in the shabby but comfortable little room. We unloaded our boats completely and attempted to dry things that were wet. Dave and I then reconfigured our seats and pedal drives onto the tandem boat he'd been pedaling. About 4:15 we launched again, presumably approaching dead low tide (5:00 pm by the tables) and paddled 4 more river miles through the salt marsh and palm isles, and tidal creeks, out into the Gulf for a magical sunset closure to our day and trip. We paddled back to the Landing in twilight in fairly slack tide. I saw a big racoon climb up a tall palm tree. Saw murmurations of small black birds, and numerous shorebirds heading to roost. It was a thrilling end of our journey.

We showered and walked down to Salt Creek Restaurant (a block away) for dinner, ending the meal with a slab of Slap-Yer-Momma Cake alamode.

SOTS Canoe Outpost (Willie) picked us up at 11 AM Sunday and brought us back to Live Oak where Dave's truck and Jacques awaited. (Canoe Outpost fees were $15 each (four of us) to take 2 drivers to Blue Sink put-in, and $60 each for picking up 3 of us and all our gear at Suwannee. Plus we gave Willie generous tips.) A great and much appreciated service.

We still have the "Upper 80" to paddle - from the Okeefenokee to Blue Sink...

but not until the water levels are good. Stay tuned.

ADDENDUM

I'm adding some "gear photos" to help us gather and pack for the next trip.

My in-hull system for storing and accessing food

Invented a roll-up grill for reheating over coals.

My Macgyver Bag contents. (A smaller toolbag not in photo.)

The wheels were handy several times. Well-worth having.

Cozy for ramen bowl, to keep pot hot while freeze-dried food rehydrates.

Perfect pouch for electronics, including solar panel. Fits into a drybag.