Withlacoochee River Park

Today, I'll be temporarily handing over the reigns to my buddy Howie.    He writes a beer blog here.  We decided one night, a couple weeks ago, that we would trade blogs for a day.   I reviewed a beer for his site, and he'll be reviewing our latest river trip here.    This is a competition of writing prowess, which will be judged by our readers.      So, without further adieu, I bring to you.... Howard's Withlacoochee River Blog...

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I've only recently caught the kayak fever. I've been out a few times in one of Jason's kayaks but trying to get my fat ass into and out off one of his tiny ass yaks was a very trying feat. There have been many a joke and blogs wrote about my inability in enter and exit something meant for a much smaller person. I finally went out and bought my own yak and now can't get enough of it.  

My fat-ass-approved yak.

This was my first real river outing with the new yak. I was pretty stoked about finally going somewhere other than the the local lake. So plans were made then plans got changed then finally it was settled on the Withlacoochee River.

After stopping at one GAS station for smokes and an energy drink then 10 miles down the road Jason realizing he may need gas we stopped at another GAS station for gas. We arrived at the park which is located...

We had three other friends who were joining us but due to their normal tardiness we decided to put in and head off down the river a bit.

The dock.

Jason has done this river before but due to the low water level at the time he was unable to get more then a couple hundred yards down river. Lucky for us it has rained A LOT recently and the water level was pretty high. Once we got past the point were they had to stop last time we decided to stop and wait for the rest of the crew.

Let the waiting begin

Jason swore that the last time he was here, he was catching fish almost as fast as he could cast the line. Well we had no such luck.

I caught a HUGE...snag.

Random picture that I just find funny

The quote of the day came while we were sitting here waiting. It came from this little guy, the one on the left. The one on the right is little but that's a completely different subject.

"Look at all this soaking wet water" -Koen

I guess this is the point were I should say something about the water. It was relatively cold but you get used to it after a few minutes. It was pretty dark, from above it almost looked black but once you put your hand in it you can see that it is actually tea colored. I would never have thought to put it that way but I heard Jason say "I guess this is what they mean when they say the water is tea colored" so I'm gonna go with it.

After sitting at this area for a good hour or so the rest of our crew finally rounded the bend and joined us.

1+2= OVER AN HOUR LATE.

We all loaded back up and headed on down the river. The scenery was pretty nature-y, we didn't see much in the way of wild life. I think we saw one gator and this...

But that was about it. Here are some more random pictures...

More on this bridge later

I still don't know how I got that women to marry me.

We were just paddling along enjoying ourselves and then we saw it. As we rounded a corner the lead yak hit the water breaks and there before us in all it's glory stood... a tree. I know, you were probably expecting something much more spectacular like the Ape-man or something but we did get a picture of him alongside what appears to be his kin...

I think the nipple pinch is a dominance thing

Back to the tree. Apparently the thing to do on these river trips is to try and find the most dangerous looking tree and hope that it has either some very horribly nailed steps or a rope swing attached to it. When we saw this tree we had struck gold, not only did it have horribly nailed steps and a rope swing but it was also damn near 30ft tall. So as men will do, three of us (I was way too fat to climb this damn thing) decided to climb all the way to the top and jump, hoping the water was deep enough and that the white trash river rats who built it knew what they were doing.

I can see my house

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Invisible tightrope (Yes, I stole that Jay, shut up!)

Then there was the obligatory back flip by Chet.

I was really hoping for a belly flop

Ape-man's first ever rope swing attempt

FAIL

Me Tarzan!

He's actually coming out of the water, like a fat dolphin

After our party was crashed by a car load of river rats, and by car load I mean 2 kids actually go out of the trunk, we were back on our way. We were doing what people in kayaks on a river do, paddle. We finally decided to stop and have lunch. The spot was pretty good, it had a small little creek running into the river. We, and by 'we' I mean Chet, started a fire so everyone could cook their Cheesy Brats. Once again Jason decided to try and catch something but had no luck. Jason was quick to inform us "There are no fish in this river" after failing twice in one day to catch fish. Once with a pole and the second time with a cast net. Here are some pictures of our lunch spot...

Random hat on tree

"I blow and fire go"

"What you talkin bout, Willis"

After everyone had their fill we decided to turn back. Mainly cause some asshole had to return his father-in-law's truck. Everything on the way back looked exactly as it did on the way there so there ain't much to comment on about that. We stopped again at the tree so Jay, Chet and Blake could tempt fate once more by jumping almost three stories into the water but the family who piled out of their car like circus clowns were still there so we decided to continue on. Remember the bridge from an earlier picture? Well, we decided to stop there on the way back. After determining the water was only roughly 6ft deep under the bridge it was decided that it was completely safe to jump from the bridge. Luckily no one was injured as it would have taken quite some time for someone with any kind of medic training to arrive on scene had someone got hurt. Here are those pictures...

20ft up into 6ft of water? No problem!

The rest of the trip back to the dock was pretty uneventful.
Overall this is a good little run of about a mile and a half and it was pretty easy. If you want a detailed look at the portion of the river that we did then click HERE.
Well that's about all I got on this one.

PRICE- 2$ per vehicle. It's the honor system but you get a little slip from the envelope that you have to put in on your windshield. 
DIFFICULTY- 3/10 There were a couple sharp turns but we had two kids on the trip in their own yak and they were able to navigate it just fine.
FISHING- 0/10
STAFF- We didn't run into any park rangers.