Silver River 11 miles 1255.1 total
Put in Ray Wayside Park at 9:45, Paddled up and back
Put in Ray Wayside Park at 9:45, Paddled up and back
Temp 77 degrees, some rain
We got to Ray Wayside Park and quickly got our kayaks out as we knew it was going to rain that day. We got in at 9:45 and paddled 5 miles upstream in three hours to Silver Springs State Park. Our arms got a good work out as we were definitely paddling against the current. One thing we noticed this time were the large number of paddlers on the river. We don’t remember this many paddlers the last two times we were here. Along the way we noticed fish in the water, many turtles on logs, and alligators on the bank, but we didn’t see the monkeys known to be along this river.
We got to Silver Springs State Park and had lunch. The paddle back was definitely faster. We may have been averaging 29 minutes a mile going upstream and 15 minutes going downstream. Those aren’t really accurate estimations as we stopped several times to see the wildlife. We were lucky enough to see a mama Manatee and her baby. We watch them for maybe 20 minutes and tried to get several pictures as they swim under our kayaks. If the rain wasn’t coming we probably would’ve stayed longer but we did begin to feel drops. There was a good steady rain on us for a few miles, but it was warm and there was no thunder or lightning. Today was a long paddle and we were happy to get to the end.
We went to Silver Springs Campground and knowing that the rain was coming, we hurried to get up our tent. We had the tent up and all of our sleeping stuff inside within 10 minutes. Yay us! The restrooms were just cleaned and we took hot showers. We ate dinner at Harry’s restaurant, a New Orleans style restaurant and the meals were excellent. A neighboring customer gave us a coupon so our dinner was very cheap! We relaxed at the campsite for a while and decided to watch a movie. Alas, no movie for us tonight as the rain is too loud on our tent and we can’t hear the iPad. But it was another good night of sleep with a gentle rain all night long.
We got to Silver Springs State Park and had lunch. The paddle back was definitely faster. We may have been averaging 29 minutes a mile going upstream and 15 minutes going downstream. Those aren’t really accurate estimations as we stopped several times to see the wildlife. We were lucky enough to see a mama Manatee and her baby. We watch them for maybe 20 minutes and tried to get several pictures as they swim under our kayaks. If the rain wasn’t coming we probably would’ve stayed longer but we did begin to feel drops. There was a good steady rain on us for a few miles, but it was warm and there was no thunder or lightning. Today was a long paddle and we were happy to get to the end.
We went to Silver Springs Campground and knowing that the rain was coming, we hurried to get up our tent. We had the tent up and all of our sleeping stuff inside within 10 minutes. Yay us! The restrooms were just cleaned and we took hot showers. We ate dinner at Harry’s restaurant, a New Orleans style restaurant and the meals were excellent. A neighboring customer gave us a coupon so our dinner was very cheap! We relaxed at the campsite for a while and decided to watch a movie. Alas, no movie for us tonight as the rain is too loud on our tent and we can’t hear the iPad. But it was another good night of sleep with a gentle rain all night long.
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