5 fifths of whiskey and a bottle of fun
TLDR:
Rent canoes from Spirit of Suwannee Music Park Canoe Outpost for about $22/day. Have them shuttle you about 1 hour and 45 minutes to White Springs (there’s also a reasonable fee for this). Drink bourbon, shitty beer, and laugh as you float down the Suwannee River. Camp on the white-sand beaches. Do this for 3 days and 2 nights for about 22 miles of river and head home.
When I was in middle school, our class did a canoe and camping trip down the Suwannee River. I remember it being fun then, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise that I would return to the black water years later.
One of my buddys, Kit, is a true outdoorsman. He is the answer to the, “which of your friends would you most want with you in the event of a zombie apocalypse” question.
One year, Kit, two other friends and I opted in for a canoe trip down the Suwannee River. It was about 95 miles in about 4 days with cold weather and little-to-no current. I wasn’t sure the blisters on my hands would ever heal.
Years later, Kit mentioned he really wanted to canoe The Boundary Waters as it was famous for its beauty and a bucket list item for many outdoor enthusiasts. We had a 15-day trip planned but ultimately had to cut it short due to poor weather. We ended up doing about 175 miles over the 11 days, battling wind, rain, and mosquitos. But the story of The Boundary Waters and the treble-hook, giant bass, mosquito island and the legendary ‘Bear Burrito’ is for another time…
Both of those trips were certainly worthwhile, but they were a different kind of fun.
Friends of ours had heard of our epic adventures and legendary tales and voiced that they wanted in on the action. So, we decided to plan another trip down the Suwannee River. Sadly, Kit was unable to join for this trip. Because of work and family schedules, we would be unable to do a long trip and so were looking for something a bit more turn-key. This entry outlines the logistics of an incredibly fun trip that is quite easy to throw together.
About The Suwannee River:
I wont spend too much time here, but the Suwannee River actually begins in Fargo, GA, weaves South for a bit before angling a bit more West, ultimately emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. I share this information because the ‘Upper Suwannee’ (part closer to GA/North FL) is typically regarded as prettier part of the river.
This is important logistically because part of the beauty is that it’s less travelled, narrower, and has many white-sand beaches, of which the Suwannee is known for, that you can camp on. See, as you get closer and closer to The Gulf, the river begins to widen out and the boat traffic and private residences make canoeing and camping a bit more challenging, and less enjoyable.
How Long Is This Particular Trip:
For this particular trip, we camped 2 nights on the river and then a final night at Spirit of the Suwannee. The last night at Spirit of Suwannee is optional, indeed we had a couple of crew members leave the day that we got there and had returned the canoes.
There are a couple of things worth considering regarding staying an extra night at the Spirit of the Suwannee park. First, the time of year that we went (I believe January) meant that they still had up a bunch of their Christmas lights. They decorate the whole park and loads of families come in to camp and enjoy the spectacle.
Similarly, the park hosts music festivals several times throughout the year. Once we had finished our trip, we all talked about how fun it would be to do the same trip but finish at the campground as one of the music festivals was beginning. I’m unsure if you’re allowed to do this, but it would be AWESOME.
When to go:
December - March
A client of mine mentioned he and his family were planning an RV trip to one of the state parks we had passed through along the Suwannee River. He mentioned they were going in August. It sounded like the trip was already planned and he was pretty stoked to go, so I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it probably wasn’t the best idea to go that time of year. When he returned and shared how the trip was, he verified my assumptions. “Hotter than hell and so many damn mosquitos”.
To oversimplify this part of the planning process, the answer is simple. Just don’t go in Summer.
If you’re looking for clearer direction, I recommend December - March. This time will allow for weather that is warm enough to paddle in the day, but cold enough at night to keep mosquitos away all while allowing for the ideal camping atmosphere.
That said, it can get in the low 30s at night during this season, so definitely bring warm clothes for the night.
Where to go:
Start: Spirit of Suwannee Music Park Canoe Outpost
Shuttle to/put in: White Springs
Pull out: Spirit of Suwannee Music Park Canoe Outpost
Total Distance On Water: 20 - 25 Miles
For this trip we drove to Spirit of Suwannee Music Park. The have a canoe outpost that you can rent from. I can’t quite remember, but I think our boats were like $22/day, so it was pretty affordable, especially if you’re riding in the canoe with someone else.
From the canoe outpost, they will shuttle you up to White Springs. There is a fee for the shuttle and this is also affordable if you’re splitting with a group.
We selected White Springs for a couple of reasons. First, it is just on the other side of the one ‘rapid’ on the river. ‘Rapid’ is a generous term, and you can run the rapid in a canoe, but it is a little sketchy. We had some amateurs in our group and we had a lot of gear with us, so we didn’t feel like having to portage the boats and waste time doing something even remotely difficult.
White Springs also offered a suitable distance for us. From White Springs back to the outpost it’s about 20-25 miles along the river. This would allow for much more chill days of paddling compared to what Kit and I had done years prior.
The final great thing about putting in at White Springs for this trip is that the shuttle ride is only about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It’s always such a buzzkill when you’re hyped up to do a trip and then you have a long shuttle ride.
Decorations left up from one of the music park’s music festivals.
What to bring:
Don’t overthink it. It’s a pretty standard camping trip. Because you’ll be on the water, I do recommend bringing dry-sacks, but it’s HIGHLY unlikely you’ll tip unless you’ve never been in a canoe. Just remember, 3 points of contact baby! I’m sure I’ll be forgetting some things, but here’s basically what we brought:
Tent
Sleeping bag + pad
Rain coat/water gear
Swim trunks (it may be too cold depending on when you go, but nice to have if it is a hot day!)
Plenty of water (I think we maybe had a gallon/day/person)
Snacks (fruit, trail mix, sun-flower seeds, etc.)
Food (we were CHILLING on our trip so we brought a couple of gas stoves as well as water boilers, but you could easily just do dry foods like tuna and tortilla)
Plate/bowl/utensils/cup/water bottle
Dry containers for supplies
Flash lights
Coolers
More beer than you think (the river goes VERY slow, and it’s not that much distance for the amount of time on the river, so it’s a lot of floating and hanging out and not too much paddling)
Bug spray
Sun screen
Chapstick
2 pairs of shoes (In case one pair gets wet. Some type of water shoe is probably a good call)
Clothes (be sure to bring warm clothes for the night)
Gloves
Lighters + fire starting equipment + small axe/hatchet (I’m pretty sure we just foraged for our wood)
Towel
Camp chairs depending on how much gear you want to bring, but definitely not needed
Toilet paper/small shovel + hand sanitizer for using the bathroom (If you’re really uncomfortable with taking a poo in the woods, there are a couple of parks that you’ll pass by on your journey that will have restrooms, but I say live a little, let your hair down, dance with the devil baby!)
Harpoon for alligator hunting (Just kidding. No gators on the Suwannee)
I think that’s about all we had with us. While we were planning the trip, we realized that everyone was planning to bring a 5th of whiskey to share with everyone. We decided that we’d make it a little competition and see which bottle we got through first, thus signaling which whiskey was best. This turned out to be really silly and quite fun. See, we had every end of the spectrum covered from Woodford Reserve to Jim Beam (mine).
Now, I can tell you that if I’m out at a bar and each of the 5ths that we had brought were presented to me, Beam would probably be the last one that I pick. But, there was something about the river and the nature that made everyone LOVE the Jim Beam. Verily, the Beam was the first 5th emptied, thus, the best of the whiskey.
So, the final item you should bring with you is a 5th of Jim Beam.
Performing a docking maneuver to suckle some tasty Jim Beam.
Misc:
I can’t stress enough how easy and stress free this trip is to pull off. And I can’t recommend enough paddling some portion of the Suwannee at least once. It’s beautiful and peaceful. It’s hard to believe it’s right in Florida’s backyard, as they say.
Part of what makes it so fun is that the river is windy, so each turn of the river offers a new surprise. Wether it’s a wall of limestone, hauntingly picturesque cypress tress, or a new sandy beach that sends the group arguing over if it’s where you should camp, there’s endless fun to be had.
Seriously though, deciding on a campsite is way more fun than it may sound. And definitely don’t worry about being able to find something, there are plenty of options. As mentioned, there are also some state parks that you’ll pass, so you can even pull up and stay at one of those if you so desire.
I’ll close with one final story from this trip. One night, it had gotten terribly cold. As we sat huddled around the fire, someone mentioned how cold the water looked. A discussion erupted. “How much money would it take you to get in and swim to the other side”. “Oh at least a million dollars”, someone proclaimed.
So, the next night, just to blow some minds, I stripped out of my warm fleece, beanie, socks and sweat pants into nothing but my running shorts. I stepped into the freezing water. At this point, I’d gone too far. If I turned back I would look like a wimp. So, I took a deep breath and submerged my entire body in the frigid, black water. Steam rose off of me as I emerged like some magic creature rising from the dark shallows. Now that I had ‘acclimated’, I began to swim to the other side. I touched the limestone wall of the far shore and booked it back to our campsite where my friends were waiting with a towel, roaring campfire, shocked expressions, and….a 5th of Jim Beam.
