Chassahowitzka River (May 8 - 11)

Thursday, May 8 - We arrived at 12:30 and set up camp on site 46. We took a walk down to the river and enjoyed the view and watched a bunch of kids who were having fun on a kayak outing. We were invited for dinner and a swim at Paul and Janets and had a great evening with them. They have a beautiful home just a few minutes from the campground. This is the couple who are building a new camp in Maine that we visited last summer. They love to kayak and have volunteered for manatee watch on the Crystal River.

Friday, May 9 - In the morning we met Paul and Janet and followed them to Rainbow Springs for a day of kayaking. The plan was to drop off the kayaks at KP Hole and one of the vehicles a few miles down river to take us back. The trip was awesome, but a little breezy. What was supposed to be a float trip down river turned out to be a little more work. The river is wonderful and because it is fed by a first magnatude spring, it is crystal clear. When we got back to camp, we both got showers, turned on the a.c. and took a nap. We returned to their home in the evening because Janet graciously offered us her washer and dryer to use.

Saturday, May 10 - We had a few things to do around the campsite in preparation for heading to St. Joseph's Peninsula on Sunday. We then took a walk down to the boat launch. What a zoo. We spent quite a bit of time there watching people. If this had been a weekday with much fewer people, we would have launched the kayaks. There is no way we would subject our lives to the crazyness there on weekends. They really need police patrols there, but we only saw one sheriff pull through the parking lot in his squad car. There were three young men pushing a paddle boat with about 5 kids on it. No one had life jackets on and there was only one that we could see on the paddle boat. Joan is reacting badly from deer fly bites. Both of her hands are swollen from being bitten. We have not encountered them here before, but we've not been here at this time of year either. We met a couple named John and Joanna this week who are involved in starting a group called "Florida Paddling Trails Association" that has volunteers who "[H]elp monitor & improve the trail while improving Florida's environment". Florida has 1550 miles of canoe/kayak trails. Their website is: http://www.floridapaddlingtrails.com



View pictures of Rainbow Springs: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/RainbowSprings