This is about 1/2 hour north of Gainesville in High Springs.
The cost for this trip is $39 per person for "Wanna Go" members (non-members $50). With your own boat it's $25 per person for members and $35 for non-members.
The River
There are two Santa Fe Rivers. One is a small creek, a brown, watery trail ambling aimlessly through the shaded hardwood forests and intermittent swamps of northern Alachua County. It starts at Santa Fe swamp, just north of Lake Santa Fe near Melrose and extends about 30 miles west to present day O'leno State Park near High Springs. In some places, this little stream can be easily crossed with a running leap. And yet, it played an important role in the early history and settlement of this area.
A quarter mile downstream from Old Leno (now shortened to O'Leno), a huge cavity in the porous limestone swallows the river in its entirety. For three miles, the river courses underground, following a network of subterranean channels before resurfacing. But, it is a changed river.
Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the pupal creek that was the upper Santa Fe now emerges as a larger, faster waterway. It is now truly a river. The primary reason for this transformation is an increased volume of water. While underground, the river water is joined by an upwelling of the Floridan aquifer. So, as it surfaces into the world of light and color, this the reborn river carries the combined waters of the upper Santa Fe and a large, artesian spring. It is here, at the fountainhead known as River Rise, that the second Santa Fe is born.
Having now entered an area of more exposed limestone, the river carries itself with bold determination. It's steady, unfaltering surge carves through the rocky terrain in broad, sweeping strokes as it weaves a 30 mile path westward. Along the way, it picks up the clear, cool waters from dozens of springs before merging with the Suwannee River near Branford.
The seven mile stretch we'll be paddling, from Poe Springs to Hwy 47, begins as a slow, slightly tannic flow with only the slightest inclination to move westward. Without the benefit of a paddle, canoes and kayaks surrender their obedience to the river's current in favor of the slightest breeze - even if it's blowing in the upstream direction!
Moving downstream, the river alternately loses water by way of siphons (underwater cracks which drain the water into deep, underground channels of the aquifer) and gains water by way of springs (which bring water up to the surface from the aquifer). Among the largest we'll pass are Rum Island, Blue, Ginnie, Devil's Ear & Eye, July and Myrtles Fissure. By the time we get to Hwy 47, the transfusion given to the river by way of siphoning away thre surface water and adding artesian water has turned the river into a grand spring run.
Wildlife
Of all the rivers in north Florida, there is perhaps none with the fantastic population of turtles that you'll see on the Santa Fe. Most common are peninsular cooters, and chicken turtles. Occasionally you might also see a Florida snapping turtle. There are plenty of otters in the river. Keep a good eye out for them near Poe Spriungs. This is also a good area to watch for beavers, the huge rodents (largest in N. America) that survived being the main ingredient in a long-lived hat fad (remember Abe Lincolns stove-top?) and have repopulated their original Florida range. As with so much of Florida, feral hogs are well established. The first hogs to frolic in the Santa Fe woodlands were plodding at the heels of the first Europeans intruders - the Spanish conquistadores who crossed the river in 1539 (more about this in the "History" section below).
Of all the rivers we guide tours on, this has the smallest population of alligators. Most people are just fine with that. (if you want to see gators, there are plenty in other nearby waters - we'll gladly point the way!) On the other hand, you'll find more turtles here than any other north Florida river. Not only in actual numbers (it's not uncommon to see a couple of hundred in a 3 - 4 hours of paddling) but it has the greatest number of species. Water birds, deer, wild hogs and otters are some of the other animals commonly seen.
History
Florida's earliest inhabitants who first arrived nearly twelve thousand years ago, found game to be plentiful in the lush Santa Fe forests and at the many springs along the river. One of the earliest dated artifacts of human presence in Florida came from a paleo-Indian camp site found near Hornsby Spring. Here, a spear tip imbedded in a mammoth bone gave clear evidence of a nomadic hunters brave efforts to feed his family. Another interesting prehistoric site is near the Hwy 27 bridge, where the remains of a fishing weir was discovered in the river bottom. This was a row of posts spanning the river in a V-shaped configuration, with the point of the V pointing downstream. In the point, a basket would catch fish driven down by a group of Indians.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto led an army of nearly 500 Spanish soldiers on an exploratory mission through Florida. Earlier Spanish expeditions to South and Central America had yielded unimaginable wealth (at the expense of the natives who rightfully owned it) and the rush was on to find similar loot in La Florida. Fortunately for the Indians of north Florida, their wealth was not in gold or precious minerals, but in rich land. That would be taken later. For now, the Spanish moved through quickly, making winter camp in the Tallahassee area before continuing westward.
In the 1600's, Spanish missionaries of the Franciscan order established a network of missions and outposts across north Florida. Most were built at Indian villages that sat alongside an important Indian trail, stretching from the St. Augustine area to the mission San Luis in present day Tallahassee. For nearly a century, this important era in north Florida's history, resulted in the total demise of the Indian populations through disease, abuse and warfare.
Today, many place names in north Florida can trace their origins to the mission period. Some of our primary Rivers, including St. Mary's, St. Johns, St. Marks and even Suwannee get their names from missions that were located on their banks. Santa Fe river gets it's name from an important mission, Santa Fe de Teleco, that overlooked a broad, beautiful valley of the Santa Fe a few miles east of today's O'leno State Park.
Difficulty
This is an easy downstream paddle, going with the current. We'll be on the water for about 3 hours.
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