Gum Slough

 

 

Gum Slough

        

 This one's about 1.5 hours drive SW from Gainesville. We'll be meeting at 10:00 A.M.. It's a round-trip paddle, ending at the same spot from which we launch. We're usually out for about 6 - 7 hours (including lunch and swim stop). The first half of this trip is an upstream paddle against a slight current (nothing like Silver).

 

The cost is $39 for "wanna go" members ($50 for non-members). With your own boat, it's $29 for "wanna go" members and $39 for others.


Calendar of Tour dates: www.adventureoutpost.net

 

Description

Gum slough starts as a network of clear, shallow streams which thread their way through an airy, semitropical hardwood swamp. Lots of red maple, hickory and ash make this a nice section in the fall.

 

Above the slough, the canopy opens, giving way to a beautiful, linear marshland. This is the spring 'bay' where we find the Seven Sisters springs. The only public access to this run is from it's lower end, where it flows into the Withlacoochee River (south). A nearby ramp at Turners Fish Camp is our jump-off point.

 

Happy paddlers in Gum Slough!

Beginning at the Fish Camp, a short, 20 minute paddle on scenic stretch of Withlacoochee River brings us to the unremarkable mouth of Gum Slough. Heading upstream (up-slough?), the many similar looking side-streams that enter and leave the main channel, highlight the fact that this is one of those mischievous little waterways that loves to confound unwary paddlers. In low water, it's. Like River Styx, this swamp holds many tales of lost paddlers who've spent an unplanned night in the woods, so you'll want to stay in sight of the group on this leg of the trip... or pack a tent!

 

A closed canopy of gum, red maple, hickory, cypress, ash and other wetland species towers over the first half of the run. This keeps under story vegetation to a minimum, allowing good visibility through the swamp--especially in winter. After a couple of hours of winding upstream, the canopy slowly opens and the river's edge becomes increasingly decorated with a lush assortment of marsh vegetation.

 

Another half mile and brings us into a wide, linear marsh. During much of the year, this has the feel of a lost paradise--hidden from the outside world and alive with color. Shades of purple are found in the blooms of both the native pickerelweed and it's unwelcome cousin water hyacinth, an an exotic species brought to Florida in the late 1800's. Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) adds its unbelievable version of crimson to the scene, and whites are provided by towering clusters of duck potato blooms and low, shade loving spider lilies (Hymenocalis).

 

In fall, the show continues as climbing aster bushes take center stage with a burst of small, lavender flowers and bur-marigolds poke their sunny, yellow blooms above the green masses. Taking advantage of every sunny perch offered by their sturdier fellow plants, we find the all-entangling climbing hemp vine (Mikania) with it's small white flowers and tiny cotton-ball seed heads. More color is added by the deceptively pretty orange sinews of dodder, the marshes most insidious resident. This parasitic vine threads its delicate, orange coils around the stems and leaves of it's host, slowly leaching out life-giving water and nutrients. Adding to the attractiveness of the scene are a variety of textures--ragged brown cattail heads shedding their fluffy seeds; Spanish moss waving from the high rigging of cypress, tupelo and ash trees; broad, fan-shaped leaves of cabbage palms.

 



One of the head springs

Below your boat, in the clear spring water, you'll see meadows of waving eel grass, burgundy clusters of red ludwigia and dark, green pony-tails of coon tail (Ceratophyllum)--all crowded with tiny river snails.

 

This beautiful little "bonsai cypress"  is a Gum Slough icon

 

This beautiful little "bonsai cypress"  is a Gum Slough icon

As one might expect, egrets and herons are found here in good numbers. We also see wood storks, yellow crowned night herons and lots of white ibis. Otters love these remote marshes. Literature provided by the SWFWMD (Southwest Florida Water Management District) who owns much of the land we pass through (Carlton Tract and Half Moon Wildlife Management Area), list bobcats, coyotes and fox squirrels as some of the other animals that live in the adjacent forests.


One of the more unique species we often see on this trip is snapping turtles. Whether we've just been lucky, or if there really is a greater population up here, I don't know. But we see them on about two thirds of our trips.



 Marshes of Gum Slough

This marsh is also where we find the Seven Sisters springs.

Like the slough 

itself these springs gets more impressive as we work upstream. In fact, the first ones are easily missed, with relatively dark basins and low flow rates. In the last half mile, you start to see limestone outcrops and small boulders scattered on the river bottom. (on this light background, you can really get a sense of the density of tiny river snails that live here). Finally, a slight bend in the river and a duck under a sweeping live oak limb delivers you into the head spring basin. Here, the thrill reaching the end is offset by the presence of a couple of houses. Even so, the beauty of the deep, blue spring is not lost.

 

Drifting over this and a couple of other nearby, equally beautiful boils, its 
easy to imagine why this was such a popular retreat for early Indians. If it weren't for the lone, stilted house at the beginning of the marshes and a few others at the head spring, the magic spell that is cast by this lush, hidden realm would be complete. Even so, Gum Slough still ranks as one of the finest spots in north Florida, in my opinion.

 



The Narrows in Gum Creek

 

Difficulty & Skill level

 

With the current water levels, this is a relatively easy trip, but long - usually taking a total of 6 - 7 hours. Paddling against the current for three hours can be exhausting for some paddlers. The return trip isn't much faster--about 2.5 - 3 hours--because the channel is so winding that you can't take advantage of the downstream current. Strength and stamina are required. I don't recommend this as a beginners first trip.

The main consideration is your physical ability and endurance.


Questions or reservations: e-mail - riverguide2000@yahoo.com , or call   (386) 454-0611