The Wekiva River: A Wild and Scenic River Starts Here
From the spring run at Wekiwa, the Wekiva River runs some 16 miles north to the St. Johns — one of only two Florida rivers with a federal Wild and Scenic designation. A paddler's river, born in a suburb.
1 minute read
Stand at the spring bowl in Wekiwa Springs State Park and you are standing at a river’s source. The run that leaves the swimming area, joined by Rock Springs Run, becomes the Wekiva River — about 16 miles of spring-fed, forest-walled water flowing north to the St. Johns River, and one of only two rivers in Florida carrying the federal National Wild and Scenic River designation.
The paddling trail
Together with Rock Springs Run, the river forms the state-designated Wekiva Paddling Trail, roughly 27 miles of it — calm, gentle current, subtropical hammock on both banks, and wildlife that treats paddlers as scenery: herons, otters, deer, alligators and, on the park’s trail cameras and lucky mornings, black bears. Swimming is for the spring bowl only; the river is for boats. Canoe and kayak launches inside the park put residents of the Wekiwa Springs community on their own river in minutes, which is a sentence very few American suburbs can honestly print.
Why the protection matters
The Wild and Scenic designation, and the state park wrapped around the headwaters since 1970, are why a river this close to a metro of millions still runs clear and wooded. The subdivisions east of the park carry the river’s name — Wekiva, with a v — on their streets and entrance signs. The river itself, like the spring, keeps the older spelling’s pronunciation and its own pace, flowing out of the suburb and away north, exactly as it did before either spelling existed.
Photo: The Wekiva River at Wekiwa Springs State Park. Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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