Canoeing on the Chipola River

One of the things I wanted to do while we were at the Florida Caverns was rent canoes and paddle along the Chipola River.

That was the only event during our whole trip that the Island Girl had any interest in so she and I took one canoe while the Island King and the boys took another.





You can only paddle up river from where the canoes are because just south of this point is where the Chipola disappears underground and then springs back up about a 1/4 mile south.



Fortunately, the current wasn't very strong at all and paddling upstream was no problem.





The river is gorgeous and the cypress and sweet gum trees that grow throughout the swamp are spectacular.



We went about a mile upstream to the park border and stopped to take a look around the swamp.



Don't you just love the look on the Island Girl's face. She was fine in the canoe but the minute we stepped up on the bank she stopped being happy and turned into a nervous wreck, worried that a bug would crawl on her.

We found the park border



And guess what was hanging behind the sign.



Finding the geocache wasn't the only reason I wanted to canoe up the river but it played a small part.

We saw a lot of this and are assuming beavers did it.



There aren't any beavers along the stretch of the Choctawhatchee River that we're familiar with so we've never seen anything like it.

If it was beavers there must be a lot of them because it seemed like every other tree had been chewed on.

We made it back to the boat launch completely dry - which for my family is an amazing feat.



Once we put the canoes back we went in search of the spot where the river comes back to the surface.

It comes back up here and is a popular swimming hole.



And then continues on it's way.





There was so much to see and do in the park and we didn't have near enough time.

I'm thinking we need to go on a camping trip there for a weekend - and soon.

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