Flat Stanley canoes the Suwannee River

We immediately entered the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. This park honors the music composer,
Stephen Foster, who immortalized the Suwannee River in his song "Old Folks At Home".

The bell tower plays some of Stephen
Foster's songs and has a museum with
displays of his pianos, sheet music, and
dioramas depicting the stories behind
his songs.

(click on this and the following pictures
to enlarge them.)

The water level is really low, so we were able to see at lot of stuff that is usually below the water. Some of the limestone has
been eaten away and looks a lot like creepy skulls or skeletons. We could even see where the roots of the trees growing on
the riverbank extended under ground.


Tree roots are exposed by the low water and erosion.	Some of the rocks looked like skulls or skeletons

We saw a lot of wildlife, including an alligator, several turtles, river otters, herons, hawks, and other birds.


This alligator, about 3 feet long, was sunning on the bank. It ignored us.	Turtles frequently sun themselves on rocks or logs.	This egret waited until we got close then flew away.

White Springs is the beginning of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, which runs 170 miles down to the Gulf of Mexico. It is
like a long narrow park with lots of outdoor stuff to do. There are several campgrounds along the way. We spent the first night
at the Woods Ferry River Camp. Although there are screened shelters, we chose to stay at the primitive campsite, which actually
has several conveniences, including a picnic table, grill, and fire ring.

This was our first night's campsite at the Woods
Ferry River Camp "primitive" campsite.


The landing at Woods Ferry River Camp has a long walkway up from the river.	The campground provided a picnic table, grill, and fire ring. Dinner is being cooked over the fire.	The tent was set up on a nice soft bed of leaves.

The next morning we didn't bother with the fire. With the help of a Jet Boil stove we enjoyed fresh hot french press coffee,
hot cereal fortified with dried fruit and nuts, and fresh oranges..

Making coffee with a Jet Boil and French Press

Back on the river again, we continued down stream past the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. This is a private park and
campground that is a popular place to launch canoes or camp for the night. They also have frequent country music concerts.
We had originally planned on ending our trip here, but since we were so early, we hadn't even spent our second night out, we
decided to continue on down the river.

The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park has a nice launching ramp for canoes

Since the river was so low, we frequently had to avoid sandbars. They were hard to see and sometimes we got stuck. It
took a lot of pushing and paddling to get off them. We decided that one would be a good place to stop for a picnic lunch..


Sandbars sometimes made it hard to paddle.	I took a closer look at the sand bar.	This looked like a good place for a picnic lunch.

One of the things I learned was how the flow of the water shapes the river bank. When the river curves, the water has to
go faster around the outside of the curve, and slower on the inside of the curve. This erodes the outside and causes steep
banks, while the slower water on the inside of the curve allows sediments to settle out of the water and form sand dunes.

The outside bank, on the right, is a steep
rocky bank, while the inside bank, on the
left, has a sloping sand bank.

These sand banks also make excellent campsites. There are so many of them that there is always a
convenient place to stop for the night. So we took advantage of that the second night and camped
on a sand bank.


The second night we camped on a sandy riverbank.	I helped tend the fire, but I was careful not to get too close. We built it on the sand since there was no fire ring to use.	Dinner was made with the Jet Boil and dehydrated noodles and vegetables.


We used a SteriPEN to purify the river water for making dinner and coffee.	I helped to set up the tent. We have not yet put on the yellow rain fly.	The Florida Trail, marked with orange blazes painted on trees, follows the river bank through this section of Florida. We watched a Boy Scout Troop hike by.


While exploring the sand dune, we came upon a set of tracks. They ended at a hole that an animal had dug.	We looked them up in our guide book and concluded that a snapping turtle had climbed ashore to lay her eggs in the sand.

We went to bed that night, listening to owls hooting, fish jumping, and who knows what else was afoot in the wild.


The morning was chilly for Florida, but mild by Michigan standards.	This is the morning view of our river bend.	The reflection of this tree across the river has an eerie look.


While striking the tent, we discovered we'd had a visitor.	Getting ready to launch the canoe on day 3.	Paddling down the Suwannee River.


Not far down the river, we passed the Holton Creek River Camp, for those who want a little more luxury in their camping.	Still further down, we passed the camp of a group of University of Florida students. They also chose to camp in the wild of the river bank.


When we saw the Alapaha River flowing into the Suwannee, we knew that our trip was almost over. We were arriving at our pull out point.	After unloading the canoe and laying out the gear to dry, I helped take our last navigational fix for the trip. We had traveled 35 miles down the river.

We had one last stop to make. The mother of my friend Morgan, whom Sarah Marsh had met last summer in Colorado,
had helped us with land transportation, shuttling us and our car to make the trip possible. She picked us up at the
end of our trip and drove us back to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, where our car had been left.


I got to spend some time with Morgan playing on th beach at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.	This is Morgan's family, he cousin Shyanne, brother Mason, and her mother, Carrina.

Well, that wraps it up. I had a great time, and am looking forward to more adventures in the South. I'll write as I do more.

Stanley

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