Silver River

I went to bed Friday evening, not having made up my mind where to paddle. Wekiva, Rainbow, Weeki Wachee and Silver Rivers were all possibilities. I woke up about 6 and decided, what the heck, I'll go to the Silver River. I was in the water at 8:30, launching from Ray's Wayside Park just west of the State Road 40 bridge over the Ocklawaha River.

I paddled upstream, putting effort into my strokes. I wanted to beat the Saturday crowds, and the afternoon thunderstorms. I saw two other boats, a family in a power boat, and one kayaker up to the halfway point. There, two canoes launched from Silver River State Park Four craft to share the Silver during the hour forty five minutes it took to reach the head spring/theme park area.







Those are female wood ducks with the turtle. I wonder if the nick on the shell is a gator tooth mark. Yakdave's theory is young alligators will try a bite, learn the hard way (pun intended) this is not an easy meal, and end up sharing the same sunning logs.
The glassbottom boats tours were just beginning when I arrived. You can see the two boats I saw, before I moved downstream to avoid the entire fleet.
















After working hard going up, I took it easy coming down.







These are moorhen chicks. First time I've seen young ones.







Kayaks and canoes out numbered powerboats coming upstream. I like that. The entire Silver River is idle speed no wake, so yaks and canoes are perfect for enjoying the broad clear River,



























and wildlife.








My readers are thinking, yeah, yeah, cormorants, turtles, gators and butterflies are nice, but this is the Silver River, show us the monkeys !


















I saw one small troop, on the way downstream. I went past the canal leading to Ray's Wayside, floating to the confluence with the Oklawaha River, then went up the Ock. Not for long, a large tree blocked the River a short way up. Here is a picture where the spring fed Silver and rain fed Ocklawaha meet.




I landed at 1:20, just short of five hours on the Silver River. My usual routine after yaking the Silver is going the Salt Springs. But it has been closed, and still may be for renovations, so I went to Silver Glen Springs instead.





































My bum knee precluded a hike on the Lake George Trail. Instead, I took a short walk on the Boils Trail.










"Boils" are mini-springs, percolating out of the sandy creek bed.


The Yearling Trail is across Highway 19 from Silver Glen Springs. After getting by this fierce gopher tortoise,





it was a short stroll to see several scrub jays.


















As you can see, the sky grew dark. I drove through two nasty storms on the drive home. A wind gust during the second storm pushed the yak off center. Banks make excellent places to resecure a kayk in the rain. Covered drive through. The storm littered Highway 17 through Deland with twigs and small branches. Knocked out traffic lights. Which is an opportunity to see how stupid most drivers are. Traffic lights down, its a four way stop.

D'oh !