More Springs Adventures

Tuesday my friend Jenn was in town from Seattle, so I took the day off and we went to Ichetucknee Springs State Park. The Ichetucknee River is a tributary of the Santa Fe, and it's spring-fed -- totally clear all year-round. It's an incomplete summer when I don't go down this river in a rented inner tube at least once. But I've never spent much time at the springhead, which is a series of swimming holes at the north end of the river -- the origin of the river, I suppose.

It is, of course, unbelievably beautiful.


Inbetween sunbathing/napping/reading episodes I went swimming several times, using my mask and snorkel (thanks, Alex!) to look at the fish and underwater caves.


I didn't want to leave.


The wildflowers are in bloom along all the roads in rural North Florida. I'm pretty sure the yellow ones are Coreopsis lanceolata, the Florida state wildflower.


Update: The DEP used to have a map on their Web site of all the springs in the state, but since I can't find it, I'm linking to the The Orlando Sentinel's map of many springs.

If you're looking to go to a spring, you should know that some springs are privately owned and are not accessible to the public, while others are privately owned but charge a fee for the public to use them. Still others are owned by counties or municipalities, and some are state parks.

Other spring facts: There are several springs that are right on or just off rivers and can be accessed by canoe or other watercraft only. Some spring-fed rivers include the Rainbow, Juniper, and the Ichetucknee. The largest concentrations of accessible springs (at least from my experience) seem to be in Gilchrist and Suwannee Counties (North Florida) and in Marion County (in the Ocala National Forest).

Aha! A helpful person answering comments at www.floridasprings.org just emailed me this site, which is more comprehensive than anything I've ever seen about Florida springs.

Ginnie Springs

My neighbor and I went to Ginnie Springs (on the Santa Fe River) on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day. I alternated between swimming in one of the springs and lying in the sun (protected by sunscreen, of course). After I exited the water (72 degrees year-round), my skin would vibrate for twenty minutes. It might be one of the best feelings in the world. I think I'm going to try to go to one spring or another every weekend possible this summer.


Florida has more freshwater springs than anywhere else in the world -- geologists estimate more than 700. They're literally windows into the aquifer (the glowing blue spot in the center of the above photograph is the Dogwood Springs cave). Under pressure from the many layers of limestone that emerged from the sea a long time ago, they pump out water constantly -- sometimes as much as 60 million gallons per day. When we overpump water from the aquifer (where do you think bottled water like Coca-Cola's Aquafina comes from? Yep, they have at least one plant along the Santa Fe River) or let fertilizer and pesticides leave our landscapes, the state's water supply is endangered and we risk losing our amazing springs.

Belated Introduction

So I just realized I should probably introduce my blog. This blog is called "Ecomania" because it's going to be about all the gardening-related things that interest me: native plants, composting, local food and farmer's markets, smaller-footprint living, and anything else sustainability-related that strikes my fancy.

I grew up in North Florida, and I love a lot of things about living here as an adult. There's the beautiful natural places, amazing produce, great climate, and like-minded people. I hope I can share some of my observations and thoughts in an interesting way.

(Photo by Rob)