Suwannee River Paddle Dec. 21: Day 7: Riverbank Camp (rm 49?) to Fanning Springs State Park (rm 34.2)

I woke up early this morning. It was a bit difficult to rouse Edon and Ezi. They were awake around 7 AM, but didn’t get up and start helping pack up. They laid in their sleeping bags and listened to Edon’s podcasts. It was warmer this morning and fortunately the tent and rain fly were dry, which was nice because we didn’t need to wait for them to dry out before wrapping them up. Apparently we didn’t reach the dew point last night. I made a warm breakfast for John and I of beans and rice.
It was really peaceful to camp and wake up all alone in the woods. I had never understood the desire of people to camp away from a campground and away from running water. However, after this experience I totally get it. It is so awesome to not worry about other campers or noisy rv’s or tiny, rocky campsites. If you haven’t gone real off the grid camping, go do it. Do it for a couple of nights, so you can get used to it. You will be so glad you did.
We eventually got everything packed up and headed out at 9:07 AM. I am pretty sure we camped right around rm 49. Fanning Springs State Park is at rm 34.2. I had hoped to get going early because rain was predicted. I couldn’t access the internet and wasn’t sure when the rain was supposed to begin. When I had previously looked it up, estimations for rain beginning ranged from 1 PM to 7 PM
We paddled. The riverbanks are so much lower than upriver. The river is often wider than upstream as well. There haven't been too many animals along the river. Turtles and birds are the primary animals we see, but fewer of those than I was expecting as well. We did see a bald eagle and some hawks flying over the river.
There were a few boats out today, but only about 4. Still many less than I would have expected. I am really grateful for the lack of motorized boats on this trip. They are so noisy and make wakes that rock the canoes and kayaks. Plus, they make paddling feel kind of futile.
It has been difficult to write about this trip. My hands are always busy paddling and at night I have been too busy setting up camp, eating, and preparing everything for the night that by the time all that is done I need to go to sleep.
John and I paddled up Sun Spring Run for a bit before realizing it was too long to fit in more exploration. It was pretty and we saw lots of different fish, but the spring run was surrounded by houses so we couldn’t get out of the boat anyway.
We needed fresh water, so before we left I picked out a few potential boat ramps/parks that might have water. It was fortunate that the first park we stopped at had good water. It was called Turner Point Landing at rm 44.5. We filled up on water and the kids played a parkour game of STICK. They were surprised when Edon stuck a jump and looked down and saw a snake. Fortunately, it was a full, lazy, non-aggressive snake and nothing bad happened.
There weren’t too many springs on the banks to tempt us today and we just kept paddling. There was a neat spring called Copper Spring at rm 37.8. The iron in the spring water left a coppery residue on the vegetation surrounding the spring. This spring was also surrounded by private property, so we couldn’t get out of the boats. We enjoyed the scenic run, though.
Unfortunately, just after this we encountered a head wind. It was SO difficult to paddle for about a mile and then pretty difficult to go the next 2.5 miles to Fanning Springs. By the time we got there, around 2 PM, everyone was hungry and exhausted.
I was super grateful that we were able to get the key to our cabin right away, rather than waiting until check-in at 4 PM. These state park cabins are amazing, more like 2 bedroom, fully-stocked houses than cabins.
The cabins are not super close to the canoe area and it took a couple of trips to get everything to the cabin. Our gear and clothes and bodies smelled quite rank, so we put as much as we could to air out on the ample wrap-around screen porch and took turns in the shower.
The only grocery store around is a Dollar General. It is about 1 mile from the cabin, so after showers we put on backpacks and walked to the store. It was exciting to pick out fresh food, junk food, and meals for dinner and tomorrow. We went a little overboard and ending up buying about $83 worth of food!
Everyone cooperated to make a pound of fresh strawberries, 2 pounds of pasta, 2 pounds of frozen broccoli, 2 onions, garlic, 2 jars of pasta sauce, and a full package of frozen Checker’s Fries. All of the food was eaten, as well as a few cookies and part of a bar of chocolate.
With full bellies we laid around the rest of the evening. John went to bed at 8:30 PM. Ezi kept going outside to get WiFi on his phone, because it didn’t reach all the way into the cabin. It was satisfying that rain did start falling on our way back from Dollar General. It makes this luxurious stop worth it, since the prediction of rain was what made us reserve the cabin.
16.02 miles paddled.