Day Two on the Florida trip

Today we paddled the Rainbow River which was just as pretty as the name would lead you to believe. We had another great turnout boats wise, about 12 to 15 total. We started at another nice put-in which again led up to a beautiful crystal clear 40 to 50 foot deep spring. We weaved our way up stream past some beautiful houses and lots of vacationers for about an hour and forty-five minutes till we arrived at the source of the spring. There was a nice little swimming hole and dock access area at the top of the spring. We saw so many people swimming and sun bathing here so we decided to take a quick dip ourselves. After our refreshing pit stop we headed back to the main put in for some lunch. I noticed along the way that there were tons of kids on this river pretty much free roaming, clearly this was a pretty safe alligator free zone if their parents were letting them float up and down the river in their own dinghy’s and tubes.  

After our lunch rest and re-sunscreen everyone decided it was time to get back in the boats and get in a few more hours. About 6 boats decided to get a little more exploring in on another river which branched off the Rainbow River named the Withachoochee River (spelling is questionable but pretty close to reality, insert any and all dirty jokes here) Travis and I headed back up the Rainbow river with a few other boats we heard that the Rainbow was prettier so decided that was what were going for. We stopped along the way again and took another quick dip in the river, best to get your swimming in where the alligators aren’t hanging out if you know what I mean. While headed back down to the put in we came across a pretty amazing site, a giant heron nest in one of the old cypress trees. This nest had one big momma and four pretty large babies. Momma looked like she was ready to boot those mature babies out of their comfy nesting spot.    

We finished out the day with 23 miles in and about 4 hours and 40 minutes, the pace was quick and a few paddlers were a little feisty so that made the whole trip just fly by. Good drafting and great conversion up and down the river once again. I could get used to this lifestyle J

Finally caught a close up of these awesome birds I've been seeing everywhere. They are beautiful!