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Canoeing & Kayaking

Our Route Summary

• Submitted by: Al Vazquez
• Date Submitted: 7/2001
• Location: 20 miles northwest of Gainesville, 8 miles northwest of Alachua, 1 mile northwest of High Springs on Route 27 / 20
• Class: Typically flat water river with some current
• Distance Paddled: We paddled about 3 miles round trip upstream until we were blocked by low water
• Water Level: typically not affected too much by low water drought conditions elsewhere, but water conditions can result in pullovers
• Water: fresh
• Wildlife: turtles, birds such as spoonbills
• Special Regulations:

Entry and Exit

• Directions: From Gainesville, take Interstate 75 north. Just past Alachua, exit onto Route 441 / 20 / 25 northwest to High Springs. In High Springs, take Route 27 / 20 northwest to the bridge over the river about 1 mile west of town. The put in and parking are on the north east side of the bridge.
• Fee: none
• Description: paved boat ramp with small adjacent beach
• Parking: adjacent paved
• Facilities: none there, but there are some at High Springs
• Handicap Access: paved boat ramp

What We Saw

The Santa Fe is one of a number of spring fed rivers in north western Florida.

We had hoped to paddle from the put in on Route 441 / 41 / 25 north of High Springs near River Rise State Park and take out here, but water plants clogged the river upstream. So we drove here to see how far we could paddle up stream.

Because the water level was a little low, we took care to miss shallow rocks in the river bottom by staying toward the main channel, which was easy.

One very notable sight was the rock bank lined with large holes shown at left.

We saw several birds along the banks.

But once again, low water stopped out progress just about a mile up river where there was what appeared to be a natural shoal dam all the way across the river. Because it was late in the day, we decided not to portage and returned to leave more exploration for another day.