We traveled over to the Rodman Reservoir, which is the dammed up portion of the Ocklawaha River. Our kayak trip today was for a lesson in contrast and comparison. A face only a mother could love! Oklawaha River-Rodman Reservoir Never give up for even rivers someday wash dams away – Arthur Golden White Ibis feeding at boat ramp Paddling in the channel through old cypress forest Temporary ramp at Hog Valley Park Reflecting sky Wood Stork.

The draw-down is scheduled to last until early March, 2016. Also, I heard a temporary ramp will be built at Kenwood when the water level gets low enough. NOTE: There are no facilities at the temporary ramp. This could be a fun trip down stream only, ending at the Oklawaha River. We looked at it going under a bridge on C.R. The spring head is privately owned but I think the spring run is open. On our drive home, we looked for a launch site on the Orange Springs run. It looks nothing like the Oklawaha River when the reservoir is full. It will be interesting to see the area at the peak of the draw-down. If you get out of the marked channel, you can hit a muddy bottom or still submerged stumps. If they were, I’m not sure why they would leave the stumps so high. I’m not sure if the trees were logged first. When the river was dammed back in the 60’s, thousands of acres were flooded and the existing trees died. Temporary ramp in the middle of the lake!Ī 1/4 mile from where we launched, we started seeing thousands of old cypress stumps which are now exposed. Instead, we headed towards the small town of Eureka going upstream. They were all within a mile of the Kenwood ramp, but since we couldn’t launch there and with our late start, we decided to try again another day. I entered the coordinates for six of these springs in my GPS. One of the things I wanted to do was to see some of the submerged springs that become exposed during the draw-down. I paddled up the outflow for a hundred yards and it was a struggle. Right now it’s an easy paddle going up or down river as there is very little current, but the current in the Orange Springs outflow is quite strong. A stone’s throw from the boat ramp, across the river, is the Hog Valley boat ramp. Temporary road leading to temporary rampĪ temporary boat ramp has been made right next to the outflow of Orange Springs, but you can launch yaks and canoes just about anywhere. After a half mile on a bumpy but drivable dirt road, we arrived at a cleared space in the middle of what used to be the lake. However, we saw a dirt road leading out from the corner of the parking area and figured this was it. The canal from the boat ramp was just mud and not navigable. We decided to head down to the Orange Springs boat ramp, a few miles west of Kenwood. We met some other yakers who read the same thing and were looking. I read that a temporary boat ramp was made at the Kenwood Park/boat ramp due to the low water but it wasn’t there. We heard the draw-down of the Rodman Reservoir had begun, so we decided to check out the Oklawaha. To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish – Chinese Proverb Kenwood Park boat ramp In the fog, it had a surreal feeling with all these long dead stumps giving testimony about what used to be here. About a mile upstream is the beginning of an old forest with thousands of stumps. I even walked around on a couple of islands formed by the low water levels. I paddled upstream for about 3 miles stopping several times to take photographs. The current was noticeably stronger compared to previous trips. If you use a Hobie peddle drive kayak, be careful of hidden stumps and limbs. During the rest of the trip, I hit a couple of hidden stumps but no damage. I limped back to the launch, repaired the flipper, and headed out again. Less than a minute out, I hit a snag underwater and tore the rubber flipper on the kayak’s drive. I launched the kayak around 9:00 AM and headed out to the main channel. I’m glad I didn’t try for sunrise photos as the sun was barely noticeable. On this morning, the fog was so thick I could barely see across the river, about 75 yards. As in the earlier trip from here, you have to drive beyond the normal boat ramp/park area on a dirt road out into the Rodman Reservoir. My journey started at the confluence of Orange Springs run and the Oklawaha River. I know I wrote earlier posts about the Oklawaha River, but I want to get as many photographs of the draw down before the river is flooded by the closing of Rodman Dam. When scientifically investigating the natural world, the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Rodman reservoir drawdown schedule 2015