Paddling the Econfina River

This is the kind of day that explains why we love RVing. The spontaneous recreational opportunities we have that would normally require weeks or months of planning. We looked at our Passport America directory and selected a site in a town called Perry, Florida. As we were driving down the road, we noticed a sign for Econfina State Park that confirmed there was truly an RV park there. We had noticed this also in our Passport America book but didn't really believe it. We looked at each other and said, 'Let's go there', found a place to turn around, and drove the extra 6 miles to that park. It was delightful. You know we like to paddle on rivers and there was a river here, but we didn't have enough time - we were planning to get to Gainesville the next day to visit our friend Alex. But, we got an email from Alex that the next day wasn't good for her, could we wait a day. Well, OK. Now, what do we do with our extra day? We really would like to paddle *down* the river rather than up and back. I wonder if we could find someone to follow us in their car to a put-in spot ... etc. etc. We found a put-in spot that was on the main road and figured we could leave the car there and go back with the motorhome later. So, we had a day on the river. There were a few challenging places where trees were down across the river. We would get a 'running' start and run the kayak up on top of the partially submerged tree ... sitting kind of like a see-saw. Then, we scootch our bodies to the front of the kayak to tip it over the front of the log and eventually, after rocking, and pushing, and 'scootching', we'd be in the water on the other side. There were about 7 or 8 of these obstacles. It made the day more interesting. We never did have to get out of the kayak and portage. We paddled for a good 4 hours and didn't see another soul until we were almost to the take-out point, the boat launch at the State Park. Once we were out, Jim easily hitched a ride with another boater who had just used the boat ramp and was driving out to the main road. A perfect day. 

  

See the .pdf Blog Book for 2006 to see the photos that are supposed to be here. Use the Table of Contents to find this particular post by its title.