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Silver Springs, Florida Day Trip

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Yesterday we spent a few hours on Silver River, a short river (6 miles) draining Silver Springs and then connecting with the Ocklawaha River (and eventually, on to St John's River and the Atlantic Ocean.) The river has a couple of main springs near the put in and then little springs spring up, so to speak, all along the route. Many are as much as 60 feet deep, but the water is so clear, you feel like you can reach out and touch the bottom.

SilverSprings.jpg

We started out about 10:30 am. It is a popular spot and various canoes, kayaks and paddleboards can be seen along the trip, although it thins out toward the last couple of miles. It looks like there is a vendor take out at about 4 miles. The put in is at Silver Springs State Park and the take out is at Ray Wayside Park, an easy shuttle of only about 3 miles. Both sites charge a few bucks for entry and/or put in.

This was the first canoe outing taken with our (now adult) former foster daughter since we were caring for her, so it was quite the occasion. We were determined to see everything Silver Springs had to offer, stopping to see every turtle and flower and fish we could see. The water is so clear, fish swimming or just hanging out were easily visible. (No fishing.) Wildlife seems to have adjusted to all the boat traffic and few make the effort to move away. Anhingas were plentiful, drying their wings or snaking through the water, and even a near-fledging young one in a small colony of three nests.

We saw Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Limpkins, Gallinules, Pileated Woodpeckers.

Limpkin.jpg

And then, there were the manatees. We saw several small groups of manatees, who also showed no particular interest in our presence. They appear almost as ghosts in the clear water, raising their noses only enough to grab a lungful of air. One displayed a fine breach, giving us a good look at his arched gray back.

Manatees.jpg

We also stopped to see every flower blooming. There were bunches of cardinal flowers in full bloom, so red they are almost garish, especially in the large clumps.

Cardinal Flower.jpg

There were also hemlock, spadderdock, a tiny white-flowered water plant, and spider lilies.

SpiderLily.jpg

But the most unusual resident on this river are the monkeys. Silver Springs State Park is host to a resident population of several hundred rhesus macaques. According to an overheard glass bottom boat guide, the monkeys were brought to the park as a tourist attraction. The monkeys were placed on an island in the river, thinking the river would be a barrier to further movement. It wasn't. Since then they have reproduced happily and spread across much of Florida and other states and islands.

Monkey.jpg

It was like National Geographic viewing the adults climbing over the cypress knees, a mother grooming her baby, another baby scampering up a log.

May, in Florida, is hot. It is definitely wide-brim hat-wearing weather for me. This trip I tried a new tactic, an umbrella. I was turned on to light weight portable umbrellas by the ultra light-weight backpacking community who have found these umbrellas the best way to stay cool when hiking through the deserts of the Southwest.

I must say, it worked wonderfully. It was much cooler than a hat.

Umbrella.jpg
 
Great place to paddle! I’ve never actually done it in a canoe, but have been up from the lower launch to the head in an outboard and snorkeled much of it in the way back down. The monkeys and armored catfish need to GO. There has been at least one recent surprising gator attack on a scuba diver, so I’d approach snorkeling with caution.
 
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We did that trip in Feb. Being from the North it was hot! Over 80! (it's 59 today at home. normal)
We did from the Springs to Rays
The shuttle was $10 very nominal
In deference to 77 we splurged. We used to go from Rays to the Springs and back. 11 miles!
We also used to sneak in the old boat shed where the old tour and movie boats were housed before the State moved in
 
Great place to paddle! I’ve never actually done it in a canoe, but have been up from the lower launch to the head in an outboard and snorkeled much of it in the way back down. The monkeys and armored catfish need to GO. There has been at least one recent surprising gator attack on a scuba diver, so I’d approach snorkeling with caution.
Woodpuppy is correct. The feral monkeys are a problem, most seriously as they are carrying Herpes B and could spread it to humans. It is a public health problem that has not been addressed yet AFAIK.

Brad said he saw some armoured catfish, but not a lot - maybe a half dozen. For those who do not know, this exotic catfish has taken over entire river systems. The Peace River is literally wall to wall armoured catfish in some areas.

We saw very few alligators this trip and the ones we saw were small 3-4 feet only and shy. Brad said the last time he was at Silver Springs, some 15 years ago, there were a lot of very large gators and they were not shy, but not aggressive either. However, spurred on by Woodpuppy's post, I searched and found that a year ago, a large gator approached a woman on a paddle board.

Now, I've got to say, anyone who takes a paddleboard down a river full of gators is out of their mind, but a lot are doing it these days.

Here is a link to the article with a short video clip of the 11'10" gator approaching her.

Aggressive Gator

This gator was killed. Maybe others were also "discouraged" in some manner.

The incident Woodpuppy seems to be referring to is one from 2010 in which a researcher was bitten in the head while collecting samples. He was flown to a major hospital and I see no articles about his death, so presumably he survived. This gator was also near 12 feet and was also killed.
 
I thought it was more recent than that, but my oldest twins are 11-1/2 and the time since their birth seems a time warp.

IIRC they have been actively working at removing the armored catfish from the river. When I was there snorkeling there were entire walls/cut banks that were covered in burrows in a nearly geometric closest packing pattern. I’m glad you saw fewer of them.
 
I understand about the time warp.

There is no swimming allowed now at Silver Springs. So that must have changed since you were snorkeling. That is no longer an option.

The crystal clear waters over the white sand certainly is inviting.
 
On a visit to my folks around 8 years ago, my wife and I rented a canoe from the State park and paddled up to the springs and back. What a great river! There is an astonishing amount of water that heaves out of the ground at the springs! We had never had the experience of travelling along a river with monkeys in the trees...it was a weird experience. We saw plenty of birds, and when we went (it was probably March or April) there were plenty of alligators. Most were small, but one up near the springs was clearly over 10 feet. A monster. When we returned and were replacing the canoe in the storage area, we came across a cute armadillo. Thanks for the write-up! It brought back good memories.
 
🤣 I’ve never heard of possum on the half shell described as cute! They are also exotic (Texas) invasives in Florida.
 
Late to this wonderful thread. I've paddled Silver Springs many times over the past 25 years but have never seen manatees there. What a treat. The local folklore about the monkeys is that they were introduced during the filming of a Tarzan movie there in 1939. But the following article from the University of Florida debunks that story and confirms that a tour operator put the monkeys on an island earlier in the 1930's.


As much as I like Silver Springs, I actually like the Ocklawaha better. You can run from Rays Wayside to Gore's Landing, where you can camp if you want to, and from Gore's landing to Eureka. I prefer the second leg. In high water you can explore tributaries. It's all very "jungley". The Ocklawaha Canoe Outpost will run shuttles if you don't have two vehicles.

Steamboats used to cruise the Ocklawaha.

Ocklawaha Steamboat.jpg
 
We ran Silver one way in Feb and also because the current on the Ocklawaha was not strong we paddled from Rays part way to Gore..We loved the quiet seclusion of that river. Silver can be a zoo literally and yes people were swimming about halfway down..We have seen gators but that day they were staying in the water. Swimming seems like a bad idea and not permitted but there are always some that do what they want.

We have seen manatees several times on the Silver..Seems more so more recently than years ago.

Neat pic of the steamboat Glenn
 
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