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 Springs Basin of the St. Johns extends from its confluence of the Wekiva River north of Lake Monroe to its confluence with the Ocklawaha River at Welaka (River Mile 100). This reach is so named because of the large concentration of springs that discharge into the river in this reach. The character of the river in this reach is similar to that of the Middle Basin with its narrow winding channel intermittently widening into large flow-through lakes. The last and largest of the river’s flow-through lakes is Lake George. North of Lake George the river returns to a channel, though not as narrow as that found upstream. As along the western shoreline of Lake George, there are numerous springs which discharge into the river and all are easily accessed but are either submerged within the river or 5 enter from the east shoreline.

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