Just before the winter solstice, I caught up with Daniel Alvarez, Tallahassee's own intrepid kayaking voyageur. In case you missed my June post, Daniel has been kayaking more than six months from the northernmost point in the contiguous United States (in Minnesota) to the southernmost point in Key West. Daniel was just paddling out of New Orleans when he answered my battery of questions via e-mail. True to his nature, he took the historic portage between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River because he "felt like paying homage to the city's founding history."

The game is on! Two heavyweight contenders with incredible connections, Leon County commissioner Bryan Desloge and Wilderness Way owner Georgia Ackerman, are leaping ahead in fundraising and I'm left wondering if there is any chance for a little guy like me to compete. No, I'm not talking about running for office. I'm talking about raising money for the Apalachicola Riverkeeper.

Ochlockonee River State Park, just south of Sopchoppy along Highway 319, is the perfect setting to walk along high river banks under arching live oaks and to walk (or ride) a scenic drive through some of the best maintained pine flatwoods in the state. The red-cockaded woodpecker, an endangered species, is in relative abundance here along with an array of songbirds, deer and white squirrels (a color variant of the gray squirrel). Bobcat, fox and the occasional bear can also be seen.

The upper Wacissa River was on my radar the other day and I saw three other boats. Three! A kayak and two canoes. That's because I ventured to the headsprings just east of Tallahassee after work during the week, taking advantage of the long days of late summer/early fall. I had almost two hours of blissful, quiet paddling, and I had the 42-foot deep Big Blue, the largest spring along the river, all to myself.

Opposite in nature than the spring-fed Wakulla River is the swamp-fed Sopchoppy River, about 35 miles southwest of Tallahassee. Fed by small creeks emerging from the watery jungle of the Bradwell Bay Wilderness Area and other wet areas of the Apalachicola National Forest, the Sopchoppy's color varies from yellow-gold to red-black to coffee-colored, depending on rainfall, water depth and sunlight. Think of the river's headwater swamps as giant tea pots brewing a concoction of fallen leaves, cypress needles, bark and wood and you get the picture. The water is clean from a pollution standpoint, however, since it emerges from wholly undeveloped lands. 

The Wakulla River has been a refreshing destination this summer. It can be a busy place on weekends, so I try to launch my kayak early, say, by about 9 AM to beat the crowds. Sometimes a cool mist hovers above the water, and when the day starts to warm, it's wonderful to dip arms into the clear, springfed water, and splash my face and head. Or, I just jump in.