Silver Springs State Park, Florida - March 30th to April 2nd, 2023

Nature decides when it will reveal its creatures to you. However, the more time you spend outside surrounded by nature, the better your chances of seeing some wonderful creatures. During our stay at Silver Springs State Park, we felt lucky as we encountered a variety of animals.

Thursday we drove from Three Rivers State Park to Silver Springs State Park, just outside of Ocala, Florida. We stopped in Perry, about half way. After picking up groceries, we ate a picnic lunch in the city park. From there we drove over to 3 Nelsons Burgers and Ice Cream to have Blue Bell for dessert. Of course, Ann had mint chocolate chip and Dutch chocolate in a waffle cone while Keith ordered a vanilla shake. They were very generous on the portions. We did not complain. The woman expertly packed the cone so that no loose edges dripped off. Then we continued our drive.

The campground is a couple of miles from the actual Silver Springs area of the park. The woman at the gate let us know that we needed to take our campground hang tag with us to the springs, so we wouldn’t be charge the day use fee. She also informed us that there was a sidewalk along the road, if we wanted to ride our bikes to get there.

As soon as we pulled into our camp site and started setting up, two people drove up on their e-bikes. They saw us drive in and wanted to stop and say hi. They were Eric and Kathy, fellow Winnebago EKKO owners who are members of the EKKO Owners Facebook group. How nice! It is always fun to meet people who share the same interests.

After cooking our dinner on the Blackstone (paid link), Keith attached a bubble level to the protective board we use under the Blackstone. He originally picked up the bubble level hoping to attach it to the Blackstone, but all of the surfaces were too warm for attaching something plastic. The board should work just as well. The level should help us level the griddle when we set it up for cooking. It’s not easy to cook when all the oil runs to one side of the griddle.

As we were getting ready for bed, Ann could not get her bedroom window to close. The windows “catch” at different positions. When you want to close it, you push it all the way up to allow it to come all the way down. (We discovered later that this is not entirely true. You only need to push it up past the next click to allow it to come all the way back down.) When she tried to do that, the window would never go past the highest “catch” on the way back down. The forecast called for low temperatures in the 40’s or 50’s that night, much too cool for leaving the window wide open. It was already dark and we didn’t feel like getting dressed to go outside to trouble shoot the window. So we grabbed the small toolkit out of our glove compartment and removed a couple of screws from one of the hinges, which allowed us to get the window closed. We’ll worry about fixing the window the following day.

A couple of days prior, back at Three Rivers State Park, we researched Silver Springs State Park. Ann remembers going to Silver Springs with her family when she was a child. She remembered going on a glass bottom boat ride. Do they still have those? Yup. They have a half hour tour and an extended hour and a half ride. However, we should have investigated it much sooner. We were staying at Silver Springs for four nights and there were only two seats left on one of the extended rides on one of the days. The rest of the time, everything was booked. Luckily we were able to grab the last two seats, for Friday at 1 pm.

Friday morning, we rode our e-bikes over to the springs area. There is a trail that leads from the campground to the springs, but the gate attendant warned us that there are sections of soft sand along the trail. Since we weren’t sure how long it was going to take, especially if we came across sections of sand that we had trouble crossing, we decided to take the sidewalk along the road instead. From our camp site, it was 3.4 miles with an elevation gain of 59 feet and it took us 26 minutes to get to the springs. Surprisingly, we only found one small bike rack in the springs area. It was located between the two ticket booths at the entrance to the springs.

We arrived a little after 11 am. After checking in at the ticket booth, we walked around a little bit, then decided to have an early lunch. The main building, which houses the cafe and gift shop, was closed for renovations. However, there was a food truck outside, run by the cafe. Ann opted for the BBQ pork sandwich while Keith ate the Cuban wrap, both with fries. The food was pretty decent. There were plenty of picnic tables sprinkled in the area, with most of them in the shade. A perfect place to relax. A man was playing songs on a guitar to help entertain everyone. It was a nice atmosphere.

After finishing our lunch, we still had about an hour before we needed to line up at the boat dock for our tour. So we wandered around the gardens. There was a bird that looked like a cormorant drying its wings in the sun, but it had different markings than a cormorant. It turned out to be an Anhinga, a beautiful bird. Along our walk, we ran into Eric and Kathy. They had gone on the half hour boat ride and loved it. They wanted to go on the extended ride, but it was sold out. Again, we felt lucky to have gotten our tickets.

Then it was time for our boat ride. It was fantastic! First we went over some of the springs, staring at the fish and plant life in the crystal clear water through the glass bottom of the boat. Then we went further down the river. There were a variety of birds and turtles along the shoreline. We passed by a few alligators lying in the sun. There were quite a few kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards in the river with us. Then we saw them, manatees, the gentle giants. They would swim right up to the boats to check them out. A few of them swam right under our boat. Some of the people in the kayaks would reach out and touch them. What an experience! We’ve never seen manatees before.

Our boat captain was explaining that it was getting close to the end of the season for the manatees to be near the springs. They usually hang out here in the warm 72 degree water in the winter, but head out to other waters in the summer. They can damage their thin, delicate tails if they are in too cold of water, similar to frost bite. So yet again, we felt really lucky.

In addition to our captain’s extensive knowledge about the local flora and fauna, he also taught us some of the history of Silver Springs. It is where the glass bottom boat was invented and boat tours of the springs began in the late 1870’s. The area around the springs became a state park in 1987, but the springs area itself was not added to the park until 1993. The state took over control of the boat tours in 2013.

Decades ago, while Silver Springs was operating as a theme park, they imported some monkeys, rhesus macaques, from Asia. The theme park operators thought they could contain them on an island, but they are great swimmers. The monkeys left the island and hundreds of them still inhabit the area. We haven’t seen any yet, but they camouflage well in the tree tops.

About a dozen movies and some TV series were filmed at Silver Springs. There are some movie props left behind, like boat docks, sunken boats, and three statues that sit at the bottom near one of the springs.

After our boat tour, we explored some more of the trails. There is a short Creek Trail on the other side of the gardens and the Ross Allen Boardwalk trail near the paddle trail. If we only had to choose one trail, it would be the boardwalk. The boardwalk is a much more interesting trail, as you can see the paddlers along the Fort King Paddle Trail, and it is a little further away from the road, so there is less traffic noise.

Riding our bikes back to the campground, we took the Spring Trail (the blue trail). Yes, there were sections of loose sand, but we were able to either go around the really deep stuff or coast through the other parts without too much trouble. However, we would not recommend taking road bikes or even hybrid bikes on this trail. A mountain bike should be fine. The trail was fun, with some varied scenery, from open skies through palmettos to lovely shade from live oaks forming a tunnel over the trail.

In the evening, Keith worked on Ann’s bedroom window. He lubricated the hinges with T-9 (paid link) and put the hinge back together. It is working fine now. We’ll see how long this lasts. He also attempted to mount a handle on the inside of the screen door. However, he didn’t have the proper screw bit and the head of the screw broke off as he was trying to tighten it. The handle will have to wait until we make a trip to the hardware store.

In the meantime, Keith worked on our Americanizer. It worked great with the original hose that came with the Winnebago, but when we switched to the Camco Rhinoflex (paid link), it was really hard to get the Americanizer back off without some prying with some pliers. He was able to scrape down the connection knobs a little bit with a file. Now the Americanizer goes on and off easily, but not too easily! We wouldn’t want it to pop off while we are dumping.

Saturday morning, during breakfast, we ran a load through the laundry. There is only one washer and dryer in the bathhouse in our campground loop. We’re assuming there is another washer and dryer in the other bathhouse. There were three loads of laundry to be done before we leave on Monday, but we didn’t want to hog the washer for that long. So we planned to spread our loads out. One Saturday morning, one Sunday morning, and the final load Sunday evening.

Although there are alligators in the Silver River, Ann decided to try paddle boarding again on Saturday. Not far from the glass bottom boat dock, there is a boat launch for non-motorized craft, like kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards. At the boat launch, you can rent boats or bring your own. They even rent clear plastic boats, but we’ve heard mixed reviews about whether you can really see anything through the clear boats. However, no swimming is allowed in the river. For private boats, there is a $2 per person park entrance fee along with a $4 boat launch fee. However, our campground hang tag allowed us to waive both of those fees. Thank you!

Being a Saturday, the place was packed. Keith dropped Ann off with the paddle board (paid link) near the boat launch, then went to find a place to park Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). Ann pumped up the board, then wondered where Keith was. He had the hang tag and some of her gear. When she called him on the phone, she found out that he hadn’t even gotten around the drop off loop yet, someone was loading a trailer full of canoes.

We attached the GoPro (paid link), with the shorty stick (paid link) as a tripod, to the front of the paddle board using bungee cords and a carabiner. For extra safety, we attached the two camera floats (paid link) to the GoPro. So if the GoPro does fall off the board, it won’t sink to the bottom.

The boat launch is along a narrow side channel of the river, called the Fort King Waterway. The waterway is about a mile long, before it joins the main river again. No motorboats are allowed on the waterway, making it a wonderful place to paddle. The waterway also connects to the start of the river, near the tour boat dock, so you can paddle a loop.

Ann had no trouble getting up on the board after launching. The water was pretty calm. She started getting more comfortable on the board. Her main concern was not hitting all the obstacles in the water. There were lots of trees and branches laying across the bottom of the shallow water. Then there were lots of other boats to avoid as well. She developed some technique of when to back paddle and maneuver the paddle in the water to steer more accurately.

Ann started out going with the current down the Fort King Waterway. From her high perch on top of the board, it was easy to see down into the clear water. Turtles would dive down and swim under her board. Fish would swim by. A small alligator was swimming along against the current. Ann kept her distance.

The disadvantage of standing on the board was that it was harder to take pictures. The glare from the waterproof pouch that her phone was in made it hard to see the screen. We’ll see if any of the pictures turned out.

As Ann was getting close to the main river, her board hit something and in the water she went. It was pretty shallow where she fell in, so she was able to quickly get back onto the board. She wasn’t sure what she hit, but another paddler said there was a log laying there. A lot of sea grass was in that area, so, even looking back, she could not see the log.

The GoPro, which she had running since she left the boat launch, was knocked over, but was still attached to the board. Surprisingly, her sunglasses were still on her head. She had gotten completely wet, but she doesn’t remember her face actually going into the water. Ann turned off the GoPro and decided to paddle while sitting on the board for a while. She was about to enter the main river, where the current is stronger.

As she entered the river, just upstream was a group of paddlers taking pictures of something in the water. It was a group of manatees! Yay! She paddled around with the manatees for a little while, trying to take some pictures and video of them. We’ll see if any of the footage turned out.

The current of the main river was rather strong, so Ann decided to head back to the Fort King Waterway to go back upstream. If you want to do a loop, it would be better to do it clockwise. Head over to the main river first, going downstream in the strong current, then come back the Fort King Waterway. Ann thought about doing it that way, but wanted more time on the calm water to get comfortable on the board before going out on the main river. Plus, she wasn’t sure she would recognize when to turn off the main river onto the Fort King Waterway. On a weekend, it is probably not an issue, as there are plenty of people paddling in and out of the waterway.

Another option would be to paddle with the current, down the waterway and down the Silver River for five miles to the Ray Wayside County Park. You can arrange to have a shuttle pick you and your boat up there and drive you back, whether you rent a boat or if you are using your own boat. The park says to allow three to four hours to complete the trip. At just about the mid point, is the state park boat ramp along the River Trail. You can pack a lunch and dock there to enjoy it. A port-a-potty is available there for use.

After paddling a while on the waterway, Ann decided to stand up again. The view from up higher is much better for seeing down into the water. On the way back, she spotted another alligator, this one was sitting on the bank. As she approached the turn for the boat launch, she decided to keep going, up to the main spring area. Boy was she glad she did.There was another manatee waiting for her!

By the time she pulled her board out of the water, she had been on the water about an hour and a half. And she still felt more relaxed and not as tired as the first two times she had tried out the board. Of course, this water seemed more calm and she was sitting part of that time. However, she still believes she’s getting better at it and it is started to feel more like she imagined it would be. It just took longer to get to that point than she thought it would.

As we waited for Ann’s paddle board to dry some before packing up and returning to the campground, we walked over to the food truck for Cokes and lemon Italian ice. When we returned to our camp site, we turned on the air conditioner inside of Red Tail for the first time this season. It was over 90 degrees, both inside and outside, so we wanted to cool down the rig to be comfortable for sleeping that night. We were relieved that the air conditioner is working well. We’re sure the air conditioner will get plenty of use before Season Five is over. After the sun set and the outside temperature cooled back down, we turned off the air conditioner so we could sleep with the windows open, listening to the sounds of nature.

Sunday we went for a hike. There are plenty of nice trails in the park to choose from. We picked up the Old Field Loop Trail to get us over to the Silver River Museum where we switched to the Swamp Trail. It took us a little bit to find the Old Field Loop from the campground, because it doesn’t actually enter the campground. We found a little, unmarked connector trail to reach Old Field Loop. After completing the Swamp Trail, we sat down at the picnic shelter by the museum and ate our snacks. Then we walked the River Trail, which looped us back around to the museum again. After touring the museum, we headed back to the campground the same way we came, on the Old Field Loop Trail.

The trails were easy walking, with sand beneath our feet. A lot of little lizards were rustling through the dry leaves on the ground. Squirrels were jumping from tree branch to tree branch. Birds were constantly chattering in the tree tops.

The Swamp Trail took us over on a boardwalk through what is normally a swamp to a viewpoint of the Silver River. The area was in a drought and the swamp was dry. The cypress knees were sticking up out of the dry ground instead of sitting in water. The viewpoint of the river is where the extended boat tour turns around.

The highlight along the River Trail is the boat ramp on the Silver River. Being the weekend, there were about a dozen kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes docked at the ramp, with people enjoying the rest and the view, sitting on the benches and picnic tables at the dock.

The Silver River Museum is a small but nice museum. It only costs $2 per person. We are not normally museum people, especially inside ones, but we can handle small ones. The museum is only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays because it is owned by the school district and the students visit it during the week. Items inside the museum relate to the Silver River, with things like mastodon skeletons and dugout canoes.

Outside are about a dozen buildings, from a blacksmith shop to sugar cane processing equipment along with some homestead cabins, barns, church, and a schoolhouse. All the outside buildings were locked. We don’t know if they open them up to the public or not, but you can peek inside some of the buildings from their windows.

We were back at the campground by late afternoon. The 5.7 miles with an elevation gain of 89 feet took us less than three hours to complete. We counted it as hike number 12 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2023.

The rest of the day we relaxed and finished up our chores, taking showers and completed our last load of laundry. It also gave us time to notice all the itchy bug bites on our arms. We’re not sure what type of bites they were, as we didn’t notice when the bugs were biting. They were probably no-see-ums, but could possibly be chiggers. Ann noticed her arms were covered with bites on Friday morning, so hers were starting to clear up. Keith’s bites showed up a day or two later and were still in their really itchy stage on Sunday. We should probably start using the Thermacell (paid link) when we sit outside, whether we notice bugs around or not.

Even though we would rather have skipped encountering the bugs, we were thrilled with all of our other animal sightings. It was such a treat to see manatees for the first time. We felt lucky to have gotten so close to them.

Check out our related video: Silver Springs State Park, Florida

(Ann)