BEST ZIPLINE IN FLORIDA! THE CANYONS ZIPLINE

My daughter Emma, (seen zipping away above), gave me a trip to the Canyons Zipline and Canopy Tours near Ocala, Florida this year.
Now, my birthday is in January, but we were so busy with school, we just never had a chance to go play ... until this week.

Oh my, oh my ... This place is TOTALLY AWESOME.

Just the scenery alone, is worth the trip. 

I love my home state, but she's flat as a board folks.
We get a few soft mounds on the central ridge and again in the panhandle, but mostly, there is no relief in sight.

The Canyons are different.

Set in an old limerock quarry, the Canyons Zipline property is just spectacular with valleys, canyons, vertical limestone cliffs, and lakes.

If it weren't for the cabbage palms, you would not think this was Florida at all.

Neither Emma or I had ever zip lined before, so we didn't know exactly what to expect, but everything about that day exceeded our expectations.

Our two zip line guides, "Jonesy" and "Rob" were funny, safety conscious, and just a heck of a lot of fun to be around.

(When you go, be sure and give them a little extra tip ... I didn't think about that ahead of time and had a total of $4.00 in my wallet. They deserved better.)

The guides kit you out with the safety harness and give you a short tutorial on a tiny zip line and then its off to the races.
The zips start out small for the first two.

After that they get pretty dang A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

This is the view as you break out of the treeline, pass over a cliff, and head out over the lake.

See those cliffs!
This is Florida?

Looks more like Arkansas.

This is the view from the highest platform in the park. According to Jonesy and Rob, this is the longest (1100 ft) and fastest zip line in Florida.
At this point, you are 130 feet above the lake.

And there goes Emma!

Here's my view as I leave the 130 foot tower.
All the photos on this post are video captures from my GoPro camera.
I know this sounds like a commercial, (it's not), but this little GoPro Hero is absolutely a fantastic little camera.

I thought I was going to have to use my head mount strap for the GoPro, but The Canyons has some of their helmets outfitted with standard GoPro mounts so you can just snap your camera to the helmet.

SWEET!

Its not all zip lining, there is a bouncy fun rope bridge that crosses a chasm.

This is called a "self rescue".
If your momentum doesn't quite get you to the next platform, you just spin around and hand over hand pull yourself those last few feet.

This only happened to me once on the 1100 foot zip.

Its effortless, so stop worrying.
All day long, the safety harness and zip equipment did all the heavy lifting.
You can do it.

After the final zip, you wind up on a platform, high above the ground with no way down but rapelling.

This too is effortless.
Once again, you are in control, but the rope and hardware are doing all the work.

Going down.

All in all, I think we did 9 different zips, plus the neat rapel at the end.
Emma and I were the only ones on this late afternoon tour, so we had no waiting and no delays.
As a result, our tour time was a little quicker than most, but that beats waiting in line any day. Tour groups are up to 8 people and a full one takes longer.
Rob and Jonesy (our guides) were up front about this when we first met, since the brochure mentions 2-3 hours.

You can get all the particulars at the website.

Dress comfortable and the rest is up to the Canyon folks.

I'm posting about it here on Pure Florida because it truly was a quality experience.
And, it was a real experience, as opposed to the superficial NonPureFlorida MouseWorld experience.

The price isn't cheap, but neither is the experience. When you consider what people pay for a few hours of boat rental, fishing guide service, or other outdoor activities that require special equipment or knowledge, then the Canyon's price of about $89 is not unreasonable.


Plus, if you ride 3 times within 2 years, you can get a 4th Zip free. Sweet.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm not getting reimbursed for this review in any way. If it had been a Zip Rip Off, you would have heard about it here, but it wasn't. Neither GoPro (who I gush about constantly) nor the Canyons folks have any input here at Pure Florida.

I'm just telling it like I see it and my advice for anyone looking for a unique experience is go ZIP THE CANYONS!

How To Tube The Ichetucknee River, A Splash By Splash Tutorial

So, you want to tube the Ichetucknee River?

Good.

You won't regret going, ... unless you fail to pay attention, so tune in.

Do the following:

1. Before anything else, go to the state park website for Ichetucknee Springs State Park and READ IT! Pay attention to the part about the park closing EARLY AND OFTEN due to crowding.
2. Avoid a weekend or holiday unless you are insane.
3. GET THERE EARLY NO MATTER WHAT DAY YOU GO.
4. First timers should probably start with the south end half river float, expecially if you have little ones who might get chilled after a few hours in the spring water (72 degrees).  These guidelines will mainly focus on that trip, but you can start at the north entrance to the park for a longer float.
5. USE your sunscreen. You will float in and out of shade during the trip.
6. What to take:   a) nothing you would not want to lose in the river.       b) a mesh diver bag that can be tied to your tube is really handy for holding your mask, hat, sunglasses ... things that can get wet, but you may not want to hold or use the entire trip.     c) a change of clothes for afterwards.  
7. The less stuff you take on the tube ride the better, although I always recommend a mask and snorkel. Leave your fins at home if you are taking this trip. You do not need them and they damage the bottom vegetation.  
8. You don't have to hassle with taking your own tubes, there are vendors located just outside the park. We use the LOWES tube folks and it is always a good experience. A big basic tube costs $5 for the day and the LOWES folks will tie them on to your vehicle for you. After you finish tubing, you drop your tube off in the park and the LOWES folks take them back from there. Sweet.
9. The basic procedure once in the park is simply walk to the tram pickup, ride the tram to the upstream starting point, walk a short beautiful trail to the water, jump in and tube to the get-out point (about 2 hours), then do it again or dump your tubes and you are done.
10. REMEMBER, THE PRIME DIRECTIVE IS "GET THERE EARLY".

My brother in law Frank and family demonstrate the terrific tubular tieing of the Lowes Tube Rental folks.

My daughters demonstrate pre-tubing beauty in the parking lot. The building in the background is the park concession area with food and restrooms. This is where you can leave your car keys ($2) while you tube and where you can change into dry clothes afterwards.

My son and his cousin Frankie demonstrate suave debonairyness.
If you can look good in a tube, you can look good anywhere.

Getting in is as easy as plunking your butt in the tube from the dock, or you can jump in and then mount your tube from the water.
Caution, the dock stays wet and therefore is slippery.

Smile, you are tubing.
I am just demonstrating what not to do in this picture.

Nature Coast State Trail: Trenton Trailhead

Florida has a very successful, very active rails to trails program. In my area, it's possible to ride a bike, horse, or just walk from one small town to another on these nicely maintained trails.

As a green kind of guy, I like the reuse of these old railroad right of ways as linear parks and common areas.

As a strategic thinking kind of guy, I like that these long strips of land are in the public domain, in case we need them for a future mass transit purpose.



Last week, I did a little biking along the Trenton section of the trail.



I parked the JEEP at the Trenton Train Depot and took Emma's new cruiser bicycle for a ride.

It would have been really nice if the scenery was all like this ... it was for a short distance, but the trail quickly opened up to a roadside, non-forested bike path that was okay, but not spectacular.

Trenton is a quaint little town though.

This mural graces a building near the old depot at the trailhead.

My experience at the trailhead reinforced something I've always wondered about rail trails. I've always wondered about security on and around these trails, because over the years, I've noticed that railways often run through the toughest side of town.

Therefore, when you turn that rail into a trail, you are inviting folks into areas that are sometimes ... nay ... often crime ridden.

My experience went something like this. I parked the JEEP, undid the bike, and took a short ride. When I returned, a group of teens were hanging out in the depot building being loud and apparently incapable of speech without using the "F" word a few times per sentence.

I work with teens, so I'm not quick to judge, but on the other hand ... I work with teens and I know trouble when I see it.

I didn't feel comfortable leaving the easily broken into JEEP there for a longer ride, so I moved it over to a grocery store parking lot before continuing my ride around Trenton. This was very pleasurable and the JEEP was fine when I got back.

Just be careful out there.

Surprise Wildhog Canoe Race Pictures

I posted about the Wildhog Canoe Race about a month ago. Junior and I competed as a team in the grueling race down the Waccasassa River.

Since it's a race, on water, with many, many portages over logs and rocks, I am never able to get photos of the event. There's no time for photos while you are hustling for 3 hours so I don't even bother with the camera.

So, I was pretty stoked when a Mom of one of my students sent me these shots last week.
She was at the finish line and when her daughter said, "Look! It's Mr. FC!", she blasted off a series of the final seconds of the race.

She gave them to me as prints and I've scanned them, so the sharpness may be a little soft, but she did such a good job of capturing our antics at the end, I thought I'd share them with you.


At the end of the race, just before the finish line, you must toss your canoe over this log and clamber over it yourself too.
When we shoved the canoe over, it took off all by itself and empty.
The finish line is only a few meters ahead and you have to be in the canoe when it crosses.


We desperately chased the canoe through the waist deep water.

(Interesting fact #1: water is 800 times thicker than air.)


When we caught up with the canoe, we both jumped in at the same time from the same side.
Yup ...you guessed it.

After at least 30 successful portages and no capsizing during the tough part of the race, we flipped it right at the finish line!


Lucky for us the bow of the canoe had crossed the line just as we were flipping!

Success and a second place win in our division.

I think we earned it.