St. Johns River, FL

At just over 300 miles from its headwaters in the Upper Basin marsh to its mouth northeast of Jacksonville, the St. Johns is Florida’s longest river entirely within its borders. It is an amazing river that literally defies description for depending on where one encounters this serpentine waterway, it may be accurately characterized as an elongated estuary, a vast inland sea, an intimate blackwater creek, a braided puzzle-like marsh or an engineered drainage canal. Of all its myriad characteristics, it is this diversity that makes the St. Johns a paddling destination that, in a more reasonable world, would certainly eclipse Orlando’s Walt Disney World as a Florida attraction.

The St. Johns enters its Middle Basin at its crossing of State Road 46 where the river forms the boundary between Seminole and Volusia counties and extends from Lake Harney in the south, to north of Lake Monroe at the boundary of Seminole and Lake counties. Here, the river forms a more recognizable and well-defined channel that continues to connect numerous flow-through lakes that provide the paddler with both river channel and open water paddling experiences. Navigation aids begin just north of Lake Harney and continue to the mouth of the river at Mayport. The river passes near and through some large urban areas in this basin; however, its banks remain predominantly natural and undeveloped. River access throughout the Middle Basin is good, and there are numerous launch and take-out locations fairly evenly distributed along the course of the river. Along with increased access and urbanization, river use also 4 increases in this reach of the river, and because of the narrow winding channel, boat traffic and resulting wakes can be challenging for paddlers. This potential incompatibility can be minimized by avoiding paddling during holidays and weekends and by paddling during the off season when temperatures are low.

Source: Florida Department of Evnironmental Protection

For More Information Visit:

Florida's Designated Paddling Trails - Florida DEP

St. Johns River Paddling Trail Data Book (PDF)- Florida DEP