Day 7 - the Spring Fling
It is a wonderful thing!
Editor's note. I am going to post this but will revise it later by adding graphics and pictures.....
Peacock Slough River Camp (PSRC) to Adams Tract River Camp
Fancy Breakfast
This morning's breakfast was going to be hot, and made to order. I was not going to cook it though. There was plenty of motivation in the morning to get packed up and on the river since breakfast was 4 miles away at Suwannee River Rendevous. There was so much motivation that my family actually beat Casey in packing their boats. That was a major feat believe me.
Spring ???
The Old Railroad Bridge
This is always a curious sight: an old early 1900s???) bridge for a railroad, turned not parallel or perpendicular with the shoreline, but at an angle of 45 degrees or so. The railroad was only in operation for several years before going out of business. The eddies on the downstream side of the turntable are quite intense so I warned the group about this. On the bridge itself, there are several trees growing. They seem to have established themselves pretty good. There are also some neat details on the bridge like the gear mechanism used to turn the bridge to allow for the river boats by.
Just as we were approaching the bridge, and being mindful of the powerful eddies, Savannah's drive came loose. The previous repair that I had made on it finally failed. I attempted an on the water swap out of my drive for hers but that didn't work. Once we got beyond the bridge, we put Mara's drive in since she wasn't using hers due to her legs being sore.
Bathtub Spring ???
On our previous trip in the spring, one of my brothers had seen indications of this spring (rock line at the rivers edge). We found it but couldn't get to it due to the low water levels in the river. It was small, and we were hungry anyways so we pressed on.
Breakfast at Last
Okay, we over did it. We order a lot for breakfast and ended up waiting a while for it to be made (new people in the kitchen apparently). The waiting was worth it. The water was nice, so we ate breakfast on picnic tables that overlooked Convict Springs. We didn't explore this spring today because we have done this one before. It was also noted that the tree next to us was the lynching tree used for when these grounds were a prison camp (Convict Springs, get it?). Yes, that caused some to have a quick pause while eating breakfast.
Please wait while we Pause
Shawn had come up with an idea the day before that since we were stopping at SRR, we should go get his vehicle and give the ladies a break at the pool. I thought it was a great idea. So we piled into my van, dropped off the ladies, and off we went towards SFSP.
After making a stop at Publix for some minor supplies, we headed back to SRR. Took about 2 1/2 hours. We unloaded some unwanted/unneeded items from our boats and we were back on the river. That ride seemed so out of place. We had been on the river for a week now. While driving I had this feeling that I just needed to be back on the river. Odd to say the least.
Shawn later said he wished we hadn't picked up the truck because it broke up the day. I kind of agree with him but it made our last day much more relaxed which was really nice.
Royal Springs
With a name like that, it has to be worthy. And it is. This spring is 45 feet deep, with a platform to jump off of at about 15 feet up from the water. The spring is a clear, deep blue pool of refreshment. The jumping platform was so inviting, that Shawn took the plunge even though the water was it's typically cold self. Casey also tested the water.
Before Shawn went, Angelia jumped. Later, she told me that to jump was crazy, to do it again was just stupid.??? Well, I guess she is stupid because she jumped a second time!
Maria also jumped several times. I took multiple plunges later on with the Gopro. There were even a couple of locals jumping into the water from locations other than the platform: a rail on an intermediate platform else where (he had to clear a bunch of rocks) and from about 40 feet high up in a tree!
What an amazing location. You can see that this is a local favorite with the multiple picnic tables and the cluster of chemical toilets. I would like to come back to this place in the winter/early spring.
Spring to No Where
This spring would be a little different than the others. We were to hike from the river to find it. Shawn, Debi, and Casey went on to camp. They wanted to get a shelter before the Adimaral Farragut group got theirs.
The first thing we noticed that the trail wasn't that easy to find since it wasn't used that often, After several false leads we searched and found.....nothing. We knew it was back there but i wasn't prepared for this hike (no radio, phone, compass, water, etc). It was already 15 - 20 minutes in and we couldn't find it. To make things worse, while on our way out, Savannah kicked a branch and got scrapped up on her foot.
My guess is that we should have turned near the beginning of the trail. Oh well, maybe next time.
Mearson Spring
After the search to no where, we were eager to get back into the kayaks. There was one last spring to explore before camp and no hiking was involved. We were all kind of tired from the hike so we weren't planning on getting out to play. At first, It didn't look like much but I took the kayak over the top of it to get a better view. I shot video in the water and what I could see it seemed really nice.
Adams Tract River Camp
Throughout the last two days, we dreaded this camp but not for what you might think: sadly, it was our last night on the river. Yes, we had some more places to explore in the morning but we knew the clock was ticking down to the end of this adventure.
This camp, again, had the portable bathroom cluster. It was also full again, with the same groups from Peacock Slough. After getting some gear put away it was time for dinner.
While getting the stove going, someone from the Boy Scout Troop came over and offered their left overs. It appeared to be chicken & craisins mixed in with Stove Top stuffing. It looked good but I had my meals already planned out ??? and ???. To make things easier, I took all of the meals that I would need for the trip, and put them in a container. I ended up leaving all of the extras back at the vehicle the day before. When I reached into the pail for tonight's dinners, I suddenly realized something: i had no dinner! I had forgotten to pull dinner out of the kayaks and put it in the bucket. We ended up eating the meal from the scouts and it was very good. God is good.
We also had desert. The two packages are what probably through me off Rasberry Crumble (my favorite dessert on the trail) and Apple Crisp which seems to be fairly new. I think it was unanimous in that the Crumble won hands down. I liked the Crisp as well.
The last night was the best night of sleep that i had gotten. It started to rain in the early morning but didn't keep me from sleeping.
Daily Digest
We ha
- River Camp Write up:
- Access type: Stairs and ramp. Paved to the restroom area and handicapped shelter
- Cart available: none
- Restroom type: Temporary structures. One with HC restroom and shower, one with two individual restroom/shower combos.
- type: treated with heavy sulfur smell
- Host: none
- General condition: Shelter we were in (first one on right, had no working ceiling fan or light). Electricity was working though
- misc notes
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