The St. Johns River

The St. Johns River - Fuller Warren Bridge

Keith asked me last Thursday or Friday while I was hanging out at Up the Creek if I would be interested in paddling the St. Johns some time in December. When I asked him where we would paddle he said that we would be paddling from the headwaters to the Atlantic. This immediately got my attention, and I was onboard from that point.

We are in the very early planning stages, and should have things finalized in the next week or so, but as of now we will be mostly camping of Water Management property and will have to stage places where we can get fresh water. We will be taking around 10-11 days to complete this journey and will be paddling, eating, and sleeping constantly (maybe even at the same time).

We would like to raise awareness about the river and all the great paddling that can be done on the river as well as  support the East Coast Greenway in an official capacity by showing people all the paddling that runs right along the greenway.

A herd of Manatees in Blue Spring, Deland, Florida.

There is so much great wildlife on the river, and there are plenty of campsites. If you didn’t want to paddle the whole river you could start near the head waters and do an easier pace and cover around 100 miles in 5 days. There are just so many possibilities for trips on the St. Johns.

I hope to have more info as Keith and I compile our plans and start conditioning for the trip.

Limpkin on the St. Johns River near Blue Spring State Park.