Our members have participated in projects in several rural county governments and business groups, including the Pure Water Wilderness, Suwannee River Wilderness Trail Working Group, Original Florida Tourism Task Force, Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce, Monticello Mainstreet Program, Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, and the University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).
Our members know the issues and can provide assistance with visioning, marketing, formulation and implementation of plans related to tourism and economic development, local government land development regulations, ordinances, policy development and implementation, and legislative initiatives.
The Walden Group is available to consult with individuals and organizations on various projects ranging from issue advocacy, business development, marketing and advertising. The strength of our advocacy stems from dedicated professionals who have worked for many years on myriad projects in various capacities related to state and local issues.
Our members have a combined 100 years of event management experience on everything from Olympic Games to cross-state bicycle rides to mega music events.
Trip Report:
On November 8th, 2006, four intrepid paddlers set out from the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, for a ten-day excursion to the Gulf of Mexico. The trip was designed to assess needs on the new Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT) and to bring back data for use in creating travel packages for Florida e-tours (see the Florida e-tours website in the links section).
Bill Richards and three colleagues packed themselves and their gear into two kayaks and one canoe for the journey. GPS devices were fired up and cameras and cell phones fully charged.
Our initial intention was to begin the trip in the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia. With water levels being at record low levels, that was impossible. Plan B was to leave from White Springs near Florida’s Stephen Foster State Park in order to preview all of the new SRWT River Camps. Again, water levels prevented us from doing this. So instead of a planned 170-mile trip, we moved to Plan C and arrived in the Town of Suwannee with 145.5 miles logged.
The first day’s paddle was the shortest, 7.5 miles to the new Holton Creek River Camp; part of the new series of hubs, cabins and river camps that comprise the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail. After a sumptuous meal of chicken and rice, the travelers settled around a campfire circle at the river camp to discuss the day and the many miles that lay ahead. Soon after could be heard the sound of zippers opening and closing tents and sleeping bags as a chill descended on the river.
The next day’s paddle nearly doubled our mileage to 13 as we headed to Suwannee River State Park and arrived at the campsite at the confluence of the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers at 3:45pm. Several springs that had not been visible before the record-low water levels, could be seen near the bottom of the limestone cliffs along the way. With over 20 miles behind us, we dined on Chili and potatoes and had a restful night under a clear sky with brilliant constellations above us.
We were off at 9am and headed for the Advent Christian Village hub near Dowling Park, 15 miles downriver. There were survey stakes in place for a soon-to-be-built river camp on a beautiful sandbank when we arrived at 3pm. Dinner this evening was Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs). The four of us sat by a fire as the weather began to cool. The fire each night provided light, heat, ambiance, trash disposal and olfactory delight. As always, we took nothing but pictures and left nothing but footprints. We awoke to an amazing fog-shrouded river in the morning before setting out for Day 4 at 9:30am.
The night before, we had decided to make the next stop Lafayette Blue Springs State Park, just a ten-mile paddle. We negotiated two particularly tricky sets of rapids about a half-hour out of Suwannee River State Park. For the lunch stop we chose Charles Springs. Across the river there was a boat ramp where four horses were frolicking in the water as we snacked. There’s something you don’t see everyday. We arrived at the park at 3:30pm, just in time to listen to the Florida/South Carolina football game on the radio this Veteran’s Day. We each showered for the first time in four days and had a meal of Chicken Tortellini. A light rain fell just as we all turned in for the evening.
On Day 5 we got on the river before 9am for the long 20-mile paddle to the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) campsite just upriver from Troy Springs State Park. We planned a lunch stop for the restaurant at Convict Springs, but it was closed. This was a beautiful day as we traversed nine sets of fast water. We stopped at Peacock Slough River Camp where construction was nearly completed. Along the next picturesque stretch, we either stopped at or observed several springs including Perry, Telford, Running and Royal Springs before arriving at our campsite at 4pm. This would be our longest day. The weather radio warned us of cold temperatures so we hunkered down for an early and cold night.
We awoke on the morning of Day 6 to a haunting, fog-shrouded river as the sun rose. We made a quick pitstop at Troy Springs and attempted to get a look at the sunken ship Madison just outside the spring as we talked about the park with a Florida Park Service ranger. Later that morning we came upon Little River Springs, a Suwannee County Park. We explored the spring and discovered a sleeping opossum in a trash can there. This was a truly beautiful facility that is popular with cave and cavern divers. We continued our paddle downriver and took a break in Branford. We had hoped to lunch at the Suwannee Cove Restaurant, but alas, it was also closed and we sat and munched snacks in order to continue our 17.1-mile paddle that day. On the way to the campsite at the confluence of the Santa Fe and Suwannee River we encountered our first alligators of the trip. We also observed limpkins, snowy egrets, great blue herons, anhingas, roosting bald eagles and vultures, and turtles by the score. We arrived at the steeply-graded, sandy riverbank at 3pm. After quickly setting up camp, we decided to paddle upriver on the Santa Fe in order to visit Ellie Ray’s Campground and Marina for pizza and drinks. The nighttime paddle back to the campsite was eerily calm and thrilling.
We got on the river for Day 7 at 9:30am and paddled 11 miles to Gornto Springs, a Dixie County Park. There were laborers rebuilding the pavilion and bathroom facilities there. The spring was almost dried up and filled with algae. Larger and larger algae blooms would become a common sight as we continued south. It appears the nutrient load gets greater and greater as we move into the more developed and populated regions on the Lower Suwannee. We arrived at the Wannee boat ramp at 3pm, after covering a total of 16 miles and set up camp just upriver from there as we had our third MRE dinner. This was another early night with a gorgeous sunset.
Because our destination was uncertain for Day 8, we got on the river at 8:40am and quickly decided to attempt to paddle to Fanning Springs. The weather was getting colder and heavy rain was predicted. We could feel the front coming as the river got wider and wilder. After completing 16.6 miles, we arrived at Fanning Springs State Park at 1:30pm. We were finally able to check into one of the new Suwannee River Wilderness Trail cabins at 3pm. After each of us showered for only the second time on the trip, we walked to The Bear Den for a beer and then got takeout barbeque at Huckleberry’s just down the street. Dinner at the cabin was a delicious treat as the rain began to fall. We felt very fortunate to be sheltered from the storm. The ranger at Fanning Springs State Park was a great help in getting our gear to and from the cabin and the river. We all felt rejuvenated for the last two days of paddling.
We didn’t get on the river until 10:45am on Day 9, because we went back to Huckleberry’s for a hearty breakfast. It was no time to grow accustomed to civilized living; we still had thirty miles to paddle and the weather was getting worse as the river became more challenging. Whitecaps were more common than not for the rest of the way. We arrived at Manatee Springs State Park at 1:30pm and the park was deserted. We made the decision to get as far downriver as we could, in order to make the final day’s paddle as short as possible. So far we had been quite fortunate with the wind and weather. It wouldn’t last forever. We finally stopped at what looked like an abandoned hunt camp with a dock at the 128-mile point. We had a great fire and sunset and our last MREs as we prepared for a cold and windy night after covering a respectable 13.6 miles against the wind. The river had now morphed into a tidal marshland.
We knew we would have a hard 16.5-mile slog into the Town of Suwannee for our 10th and final day, and got on the river at 9:15am after having a difficult time breaking camp and packing the boats due to the fact that we were now being impacted by a very low tide. The winds and the tides were now against us and we settled in for a long, hard paddle. After passing by the beautiful houses in Fowler’s Bluff we stopped at Fletcher’s Landing for our final lunch and rest stop at 12:30pm. After a half-hour of grazing on salami, cheese, crackers and chocolate, we got back on the increasingly wild river to finish at 3:15 in the Town of Suwannee near the Gulf of Mexico. The four of us were glad to get on solid ground to unload the boats and see the cars we left there 12 days before. The next item of business was to have our third shower of the trip and get ready for a great dinner at the Salt Creek Restaurant just down the road. We got back to the house that had been provided by some good friends, had one final toast to a great journey and slept a great sleep.
It was an honor and privilege to paddle one of the world’s truly great rivers and experience all the different ecosystems as we paddled to the Gulf of Mexico.