January 16-19 , 2009 [ Back ]

Jan 16 - 19, 2009 O'Leno/ Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Weekend

See the write-up for this weekend on the Ichetucknee report

Santa Fe over night paddle -

10 members of the Wilderness Trekkers met at the Santa Fe Outpost Saturday morning, Nov. 1 to paddle approx. 20 miles on this beautiful river that ends at the Suwannee River. It was a perfect weekend with no clouds and fairly warm weather. The group paddled upstream towards where this river comes out of the ground at Oleno State Park. We then paddled down the river fascinated by what this river has to offer. Places where streams come out of the ground into the river, and places where the water goes back underground. Clark Getz found one of these places. There were many places along the river that had rapids to negotiate, and springs coming out of the bottom of the river like geysers. There were many birds and other animals to see. The group stayed at Lily Springs run by Nature Ed. He has grown to like our group staying at the springs. The next morning we continued on past Ginny Springs and Rum Island. We finished up at Hwy 47. Most of us had lunch/dinner at Floyd's Dinner.

Host: Lee Simmons

OLeno/Santa Fe/Ichetucknee -

For this holiday weekend, the weatherman was threatening deluge and cold - so several people decided not to attend. But 4 intrepid Trekkers (Laurel Williams, Sue Chisefsky, Sam Hargis and Sandra Thomas) joined Erica and a few people from another club for the weekend outing, based at O'Leno State Park. Turned out not too bad after all. Most people arrived Friday to set up. Sat we postponed the Ichetucknee paddle and instead hiked in the state park while waiting for the rain which didn't arrive until mid afternoon. We all went to eat dinner at Floyd's Diner...No campfire that night due to the rain. Temperature was in the low 30's Sunday am but warmed up a bit by late morning as we paddled the Santa Fe past the various springs. The water was a bit low but no problem. (Erica wasn't able to paddle this weekend due to a wrist problem, but otherwise greeted, coordinated and shuttled.) Camaraderie and laughter at the campfire that evening,and some hot cider. Monday morning it was a bit warmer than Sunday. We paddled the Ichetucknee from the south entrance up to the top, walked around the park and paddled back. Only a few other paddlers on the river that day, probably due to the cool weather. After the paddle, we dispersed, some going back to the park to break camp.

Host: Erica Johnson

Santa Fe River Paddle -

On Saturday morning, seven trekkers set out to paddle a ten mile section of the Santa Fe River.  We were originally planning to do thirteen miles but due to low water and some pullovers we decided to shorten the trip a little.  The weather was beautiful as we started out but within an hour it as raining with thunder and lightening.  The river is much cleared when it is at a lower level because there is very little swamp run off so much of the flow is from the springs.  As usual we stopped for lunch at Lily Springs and said hello to Nature Ed.  The rain had stopped for a period around lunch but we had periods of rain for the remaining part of the day.  In spite of the rain we had a good trip because there was only minor other boat traffic and only a few tubers at Gemini Springs.

Event Host: Dennis Gonzalez