O’leno State Park, High Springs, Florida
In Him we were also chosen, . . in order that we, . . might be for the praise of His glory. ~ Ephesians 1:11-12 (condensed)
Do you remember when we paddled the crystal clear river at Ichtucknee State Park last year? We repeated it again this year, only as you’ll read, there were things that were different this time.
These weren’t here last year.
By the way, that’s the guy.
The water level was lower, so we had to be on the lookout for trees and branches that were closer to the surface. Previously, we didn’t have to worry about that at all.
Last year, we paid $5 for a van to follow Blaine to a parking lot at the end of the paddle and then bring him back to where we started. This year, it was $8 and he had to leave the Jeep. Then when we got to the take-out spot, we had to wait for a van that comes every hour to take him back to the Jeep, while I stood guard over the kayak and waited for him to come pick me up.
It took 50 minutes for all that to take place. I think he waited in the van, texting me fun emojis, for 20 minutes or so. For my part, I had nothing else to pass the time. No book, and no service on my phone. And I couldn’t even sit and wait because there were mosquitoes! I had to pace the entire time to keep them from sucking me dry. I couldn’t take a walk because I was keeping an eye on our stuff.
Which brings me to another thing that was different.
There were a lot more people this time. Still not nearly as many as they get in the summer, but a good amount. Many of them were tubing – – floating down the river with no ability to direct their path. This meant that we had to watch carefully when we approached them, in order to get around them. A few others had rented kayaks. Someone told Blaine that in the summer there are so many tubers, you can’t kayak because you can’t get through the mass.
As kayakers, we have to wait for them to make a hole.
Now imagine 750 of these things on this river – all at one time!
That’s what Summer is like. . .
And the additional people, meant additional noise, which seemed to mean that the only wildlife who cared to stick around were the turtles and a few fish. Remember last year I talked about the ‘jumping fish’? Well, they were still around. One just missed jumping right into the middle of our boat! Now that was something to see! We looked him straight in the eyes! Bet he was surprised to see us! 😊
It was still a beautiful river, just not as relaxing or scenic as last year. We’ll probably look for a different place rather than go back again during this visit.
After a filling dinner of Chef Salad, we walked around the Park, but just a little.
