Winter Travel, full-time streaming
Vol. 1 - Florida & Southeast 11/08
Vol. 2 - the Southwest 11/09
Vol. 3 - The Southeast v.2 11/10
Vol. 4 - Southeast v.3 11/11
Vol. 5 - Southeast v.4 11/12
Vol. 1 - Florida & Southeast 11/08
Vol. 2 - the Southwest 11/09
Vol. 3 - The Southeast v.2 11/10
Vol. 4 - Southeast v.3 11/11
Vol. 5 - Southeast v.4 11/12
2011/03/02 - Juniper Spring Campground, Ocala National Forest, Ocala, FL
Posted 03-23-2011 at 06:53 AM by Phantom
2011/03/02
Day 108, Camp 23 (12 nights @ $10 a night)
Juniper Spring Campground
Ocala National Forest
Ocala, FL
ALL PHOTOS RELATED TO THIS BLOG
ARE AVAILABLE TO VIEW AT:
https://www.picasaweb.google.com/pshoemaker49
We drove up US-27 and then up SR-19 and west on SR-40... 65 miles max. Went back to our old, comfortable camp at Juniper Spring... been here 3 times now. Planned on a stay of around 4 days... ended up being 12 days! Arrived on a Wed. Only site we could get was on the intermediate-sized loop, closest to the highway Been here before and it can be a bit noisy if you're susceptible to that kind of interference On Thurs. we canoed Juniper Run. Did it two years ago and it was gorgeous again!... but it was a bit more challenging this year. Being a 'wilderness area' it only gets 'brushed out' minimally. Challenging maneuvers, and a bit of 'riffles'. 7 miles and about 4 hours of fun! Do it!
Next day we canoed the Silver River, from the 'Ray Wayside' up to the State Park. On the way there we drove through a little one-cloud shower. I said "it's just a brief little shower... one passing cloud". NOT. We launched and were about 1/2 way up the river when another 'little shower' passed over us. Bigger and longer. We got wet. T-shirts and shorts for Donna. T-shirt and long 'convertible' nylon pants for me. No jacket for Donna. Saw only two monkeys! Guess it was too rainy for them. Stopped at the landing, then up to the spring... Silver Spring... in the state park. It's about 4 miles... upstream. The spring is 'first magnitude'... and pours about 65 million gallons a day... creating the Silver River!... thirty feet deep and ditto wide! Amazing. On the return the wind turned into our face... naturally! It blew harder than the current flow. Then it rained hard. We got soaked. To our skivvies I donned my jacket. It was still a great canoe adventure Wished we'd seen more monkeys for Donna. This is her favorite canoe place. On the way back to camp, there was a huge funeral before we could pull out onto the highway.... then, immediately, a 45 minute traffic stop for an accident... then another accident. It was 'Bike Week' in Daytona! We decided not to move camp for an extra week! 500 to 750 THOUSAND bikes! All full within 75 miles of Daytona! Anastasia St. Pk. reported full for the duration, so we decided to stick it out in the Ocala, then head north for Oscelola and skip St. Augustine. We spent many lazy days. Canoed the Alexander Spring Run also. An old friend of 40 years came to visit us in camp, then we visited her in Ocala, Ate a couple times on the St. John's River... Blackwater Inn and Castaways. Yummy Hiked on the Florida Scenic Trail. It was recently burned in this area (to release the pine seeds from their cones) 12 days with NO electricity. water carried by hand. Hoop-la. Saw my first Swallow-tailed Kite! yeah. Ran into fellow Airstreamers, Al & Pat Meyer, who had been following my blog! We like it here. But there are always so many other places and camps to try and explore... I always feel like I haven't done it justice. We'll come back ya'all.
Day 108, Camp 23 (12 nights @ $10 a night)
Juniper Spring Campground
Ocala National Forest
Ocala, FL
ALL PHOTOS RELATED TO THIS BLOG
ARE AVAILABLE TO VIEW AT:
https://www.picasaweb.google.com/pshoemaker49
We drove up US-27 and then up SR-19 and west on SR-40... 65 miles max. Went back to our old, comfortable camp at Juniper Spring... been here 3 times now. Planned on a stay of around 4 days... ended up being 12 days! Arrived on a Wed. Only site we could get was on the intermediate-sized loop, closest to the highway Been here before and it can be a bit noisy if you're susceptible to that kind of interference On Thurs. we canoed Juniper Run. Did it two years ago and it was gorgeous again!... but it was a bit more challenging this year. Being a 'wilderness area' it only gets 'brushed out' minimally. Challenging maneuvers, and a bit of 'riffles'. 7 miles and about 4 hours of fun! Do it!
Next day we canoed the Silver River, from the 'Ray Wayside' up to the State Park. On the way there we drove through a little one-cloud shower. I said "it's just a brief little shower... one passing cloud". NOT. We launched and were about 1/2 way up the river when another 'little shower' passed over us. Bigger and longer. We got wet. T-shirts and shorts for Donna. T-shirt and long 'convertible' nylon pants for me. No jacket for Donna. Saw only two monkeys! Guess it was too rainy for them. Stopped at the landing, then up to the spring... Silver Spring... in the state park. It's about 4 miles... upstream. The spring is 'first magnitude'... and pours about 65 million gallons a day... creating the Silver River!... thirty feet deep and ditto wide! Amazing. On the return the wind turned into our face... naturally! It blew harder than the current flow. Then it rained hard. We got soaked. To our skivvies I donned my jacket. It was still a great canoe adventure Wished we'd seen more monkeys for Donna. This is her favorite canoe place. On the way back to camp, there was a huge funeral before we could pull out onto the highway.... then, immediately, a 45 minute traffic stop for an accident... then another accident. It was 'Bike Week' in Daytona! We decided not to move camp for an extra week! 500 to 750 THOUSAND bikes! All full within 75 miles of Daytona! Anastasia St. Pk. reported full for the duration, so we decided to stick it out in the Ocala, then head north for Oscelola and skip St. Augustine. We spent many lazy days. Canoed the Alexander Spring Run also. An old friend of 40 years came to visit us in camp, then we visited her in Ocala, Ate a couple times on the St. John's River... Blackwater Inn and Castaways. Yummy Hiked on the Florida Scenic Trail. It was recently burned in this area (to release the pine seeds from their cones) 12 days with NO electricity. water carried by hand. Hoop-la. Saw my first Swallow-tailed Kite! yeah. Ran into fellow Airstreamers, Al & Pat Meyer, who had been following my blog! We like it here. But there are always so many other places and camps to try and explore... I always feel like I haven't done it justice. We'll come back ya'all.
Total Comments 1
Comments
-
Posted 03-23-2011 at 02:26 PM by twobikes