Most Floridians have never heard of it. The ones who have don't always tell you where it is. Ichetucknee Springs State Park sits in Columbia County, about 75 miles west of Gainesville, and it runs nine distinct spring vents feeding a 6-mile river that has been flowing at the same rate for thousands of years. The Timucua people lived along these banks for centuries. Spanish missionaries built missions nearby in the 1600s. The water temperature holds at 68 degrees year-round, regardless of what's happening above ground.
Today, the park limits daily tubing capacity to protect the ecosystem. On a weekday morning in the off-season, you can have the entire upper run nearly to yourself. No jet skis. No beach bars. No resort fees. Just one of the clearest, most biologically rich rivers in North America, sitting quietly in a part of Florida most tourists never reach.
This is the Florida that doesn't need a marketing budget. It just needs people willing to look past the coastline.
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About 40 years ago there was no state officials at Ichetucknee Springs. Almost anything could happen on the water or the banks. There would be groups with an ice chest full of beer floating down, somebody toking up, or a couple screwing in one of the coves.
ReplyDeleteThat was true of so many places. The government either wants to control you or tax you.
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