"Frogwatch" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 22, 12:02 pm, wrote:
On Oct 22, 10:40 am, Frogwatch wrote:

Spent a long weekend at Suwanee River State park just east of Live
Oak, FL in the cabins there. These are not "cabins" but are luxury
style with enormous wrap around porches.
In spite of ultra-low water, the river was great for canoeing and
kayaks. I had forgotten how beautiful it is there. It has high
limestone banks and springs flowing into the river. The
Withlacoochee
flows into the Suwanee in the park and is entirely different. The
Suwanee is tannnin stained from arising in the Okefenokee whereas
the
Withlacoochee is much clearer. Where they join the demarcation is
as
sharp as a razor.
You could easily spend a week boating, fishing, hiking, just lazing
around, "spring hopping", etc so a long weekend was too short.

There is a great bluegrass concert in Live Oak every year. That's a
beautiful area.http://www.magmusic.com/

When I was a kid, int eh early 60s, my family would travel from
Tallahassee to Jacksonville to see grandparents via US90. It took 5
hours and we would always stop at Suwanee River State park for a
picnic and bathrooms so I was familiar with it but had forgotten its
beauty.
We walked the Limesink Trail and the rocks were so green with moss
you'd almost swear someone had photoshopped reality.
An interesting new exhibit there is part of an old ferry that washed
out of the bank. It was made from a huge piece of cypress hand hewn
to shape with axe marks clearly showing. It had been operated by a
guy with the last name OHara (same as mine) but my family is from near
Gainesville in Hawthorne.
Most of the springs were dry from the drought. Nearby Falmouth
Springs was filled with algae and not flowing at all. Suwanoochee
Springs just up the Withlacoochee River from the junction was flowing
strongly as was Little Gem Spring in the park.
The state park is a kayakers paradise.


Falmouth Springs was another favorite swimming hole. In about 1948, my
father saved two boys from drowning who jumped into the dark waters near
the edge of the spring, thinking the water was shallow. Locals familiar
with the springs always avoided that area. It is now a state park.

In 1976 I had a chance to buy the springs and about 100 acres around it.
The only stumbling block was money. Years later the owner, Ed Ball,
donated it to the state shortly before his death.