I'm spending what I expect to be my last week in Florida this season. I'm at the Falling Waters State Recreation Area. It's claim to fame is a 67 foot waterfall that flows into a 100 foot sinkhole. Unfortunately the waterfall is nothing but a trickle because of the continuous lack of rain.
I drove over to Vernon and the put in at the SR 79 bridge over the Holmes Creek. Holmes Creek is another of Florida's Canoe Trails.
40-50 feet of greenish, deep, fast moving water flowed at 1 knot or so between banks of cypress, sweet gum and other hard woods. Where it could seen, the bottom was mostly sandy with lettuce type plants swaying in the current. Profusions of lily pads could be seen scattered around in pockets of varying size.
Lots and lots of downed trees had to be negotiated. A path had been cleared so the creek was never completely choked off but just barely. The fairly clear water and the sandy bottom made it easy to see all the submerged logs and branches. Limestone bluffs and walls are sprinkled along both banks but no interesting formations.
I got to see my first owl as it flew across the creek in front of me. It was about a foot high, brown and white speckled feathers and a lighter colored chest. It landed back in amongst the trees in a heavily shaded area and just sat there looking at me. It would have made a lousy picture but I reached for the camera anyway. I guess it didn't want to pose because it took of as it heard the Velcro on the camera case tearing open.
On one section of the river, a number of what I took to be beech trees, all had abnormally round and hollow trunks. These round sections are probably under water during normal conditions. This provided an interesting contrast to the cypress and other trees.
I passed a long dock with steps leading down. Leading down to where? Not into the water. The steps sat back 30 feet or so from the 3 foot bank. I guess the water level is down somewhat here, too.
I passed 2 guys in a john boat picking up trash. That's the first time I've seen anyone else picking up any of the litter that unfortunately lines most of the creeks and rivers and lakes and ponds.
As I paddled upstream I kept an eye on the feeder streams flowing into Holmes Creek. Two large springs feed Holmes Creek and they could be expected to be at the other end of a clear feeder stream. Becton Springs pumps 40 million gallons a day while Cypress Springs pumps 89 million. As usual, I didn't look at the map very well and didn't know exactly where they were nor how far up a stream they might be.
I followed one clear stream for a couple hundred yards and came to a greenish blue pond at the end. A very small boil disturbed the surface. While it was a spring, I didn't think it was Becton Springs nor was it pumping at a 40 million gallon a day rate, at least not that day. I don't know how deep the spring was. The water was too dark to see anything at all.
Several houses and shacks could be seen along the shores of Holmes Creek. Not too many, maybe 6 in 4-5 miles.
Some large, twisted oaks made an appearance as did some palmettos and a few large pines.
I didn't see too many fish along the way. I did see one school of about 20, 1-2 foot suckers with big fat white lips.
I popped into another clear feeder stream and a few hundred feet later found a much larger spring. The 25+ canoes stacked on top of each other on shore indicated to me this was Cypress Springs. When I had put in at Vernon, I had seen a sign saying that was the end of the Cypress Springs canoe trip.
This spring had clear water with a bluish tint and you could see all the way to the bottom with no problem. It also had 2 boils, where water escaped from the limestone bottom and forced its way to the surface.
The first and smaller one was like a 20 foot long trench or chasm 15-20 feet deep. Jagged limestone ledges and walls made this boil interesting. A submerged tree with spreading branches covered a part of the trench as if trying to hide or protect the spring.
The large boil bubbled up from in the middle of a 50 foot round hole in the stream and went to a depth of 20-30 feet or so. Its edges were a combination of steeply sloping sandy banks or protruding outcrops of limestone. Several submerged trees lay at the bottom of this boil too, with branches spread out every which way. This larger boil was strong enough to push your boat around pretty easily and it was pretty difficult to maintain a position.
I didn't see too much wildlife. The owl, a hawk, turtles, a snowy egret and some gray ones.