I think we got a winner here. Juniper Springs for sure is the most picturesque of all the springs we have visited. In 1935-36 the CCC built a mill house on the spring which just added to the bucolic ambience. Whenever we come across a project the CCC have worked on, you know it’s going to be awesome. Those boys sure knew what they were doing. So, what defines a magnitude of a spring? It’s the volume of water that flows from it. A first magnitude is 64 million gallons per day or more. A second magnitude has a flow rate from 6 to 64 million gallons per day. I believe there are 8 magnitude classifications. Juniper Springs is a second magnitude spring. Sure makes it idyllic to float and snorkel around.
As far as wildlife goes, Manatee Springs had more fish, but Juniper did have lots of turtles...and eels. There’s more grass in this spring than any of the others so who knows what else was hanging out in there. It was fun to see the turtles pop up every now and again, and also spot an eel swimming thru them. Ned is actually pointing to a turtle that just popped up. The top right picture is where the water is bubbling out of this spring.
We took a nature walk to another spring. It was incredibly beautiful! Loved the bridge that the CCC built, the boardwalk thru the forest, and seeing interesting creatures like 4 inch colorful butterflies and blue tailed lizards.
The highlight was coming across Fern Hammock Springs. Wow! Pristine clear waters with lots of turtles. The water was so clear that even when the turtles ducked down into the water as we walked by, you could still see them swim along the bottom of the spring. The spring water was bubbling up from the sand so it made for some really cool special effects. The link below is a video of some fish swimming over the bubbling springs.
On our way here we thought we’d be driving thru just pine forest. Imagine our surprise when we came upon all these fancy-schmancy horse estates. We were driving thru Ocala, Marion County which turns out to be the horse capital of the world. There are 600 thoroughbred farms. We saw a sign proudly claiming “The 2017 Winner of the Kentucky Derby.” Uh - who knew? Certainly not us wandering yokels.
Okay, back to what we do know best...
This campground was rated one of the best 100 campgrounds in the U.S. Yes, it definitely deserves that distinction. It’s a Federal Recreation campground, not a state park. (With Ned’s old guy pass er Senior National Parks Pass we are camping for $10.) This is so much more our style than Gulf State Park, with the tennis courts and golf course for 1/5th cost. The sites are spread out and quite private. Everything is also in pristine condition. This is black bear country, so every campsite comes with a bear box. I almost feel at home, except for the palmetto trees instead of the cedars and the hot tropical sun, and the bugs, and the gators. But you know what I mean.
