Ichetucknee Springs State Park — Attraction in Lake City

An absolutely gorgeous state park nestled deep in the countryside of Florida. I initially visited this park when I was a kid, and as a young adult I wanted to see it again. Me and my partner went to Ichetucknee on the morning of July 29th because we wanted to see some nature, but also to beat the heat (Feels Like temps over 115 on the day we went). We went tubing on the river, which was pretty damn cold at first compared to how hot the air was. But after you get adjusted to the temperature, the river is an amazing ride.

Its relaxing, the nature is beautiful, and the strangers you meet often have a good sense of southern hospitality. They're willing to conversate, they don't get annoyed if tubes accidentally bump, and they also help people out if their tubes get stuck in an odd spot. The only minor complaint I have about the river ride is it seems that it has been shortened due to damage from last years' hurricanes. I understand that's not the fault of the State Park or the people who work there, and I don't hold it against them. But the website does advertise a ride that's about 1- 1 1/2 hours, and it was more like 40-45 minutes. We'll definitely come back for the river ride once Dampier Point is reopened, because I wanna be able to get the full experience.

All of the staff at the state park, from the ranger at the front gate, to the people running concessions and the rental stations, the guys handing out the tubes, and all general staff were extremely kind and courteous. The actual park itself is gorgeous, with the main attraction being the dense forests and occasional wetland/swampy portions you can see along the river. I'm not sure how it looks up at the North side of the park, but I'll get to that in a moment. You also get to see some wildlife in the park, we saw 2 banana spiders (one on the side of the river, one on the hiking trail in a tree), an egret, and also a turtle along the hiking trail.

Since the river ride was shorter than usual, we were thinking about heading to the springs on the North side of the park. When we went to return our tubes and vests, we were told that we'd need to rent a new set of vests up on the other side. At that point I had already put out a good amount of money for the river ride, and we decided that it wasn't worth paying another $18 for the springs on the day we went. Now that we've gone though, I know we can bring our own gear along, so at the very least we'll be bringing life vests on our next trip.

And that last paragraph really boils down my only big complaint about the park, the price of everything. There's a lot of little charges, $6 for park admission, $6 each for the wristbands for the river ride ($12 in our case), the $22 for the double float, $3 for them to hold your keys, and $8 for the life vests. Not even counting taxes, that's already $60 for admission (if you're doing the river ride). I get that you gotta make money, and I hope a lot of that is going into maintaining the park. But I feel like $60 for a 45 minute river ride in today's economy is a bit of a steep ask.

And if you're tight on cash, don't even think about buying food or anything from the shop. I was wanting to get a shirt, but all of them were $37 minimum. We ended up buying some bug spray (admittedly should've brought that along), and it was $11 for a small can.

The grill inside the shop looks amazing and I'm sure the food is great, but its ridiculously expensive. A simple cheeseburger was $14, while a bacon cheeseburger was $17. No regular bacon cheeseburger is worth $17, even Five Guys won't go there. Even if you want something smaller like a corn dog, its $9. I would definitely recommend bringing food along from home, or stopping at the Howie's in Fort White on your way in if you're not bringing a lot of money along.

But again, the price is really my only issue with the state park. I know now to come more prepared with equipment next time to help mitigate costs. I do intend on visiting at least one more time, both for the springs on the north side and the...

I will start this off by saying, floating down the river was great and peaceful. My issue was with the staff at the general store that you rent the tubes from. My wife and I are traveling through Florida and decided to stop at this location to tube the river. When renting the tubes, spoke with a short young blonde girl who acted as though she had no interest in her job at all. I tell her this is our first time and asked her how long we had to float the river seeing as we were arriving around 4:30 in the afternoon. She said, “as long as you are off the river by 6:00”. She would not offer any information about the river or tubing unless I asked about it. I end up buying two single tubes and head to go pick them up. When picking them up, I ask the boy giving the tubes if they had lockers for our stuff and he replied I could leave it with the people at the general store where I purchased the tubes. I go back to that location to speak with the same girl who I purchased the tubes with and asked if I could leave my stuff there. She said, “we do key locks for $3.68”. I’m thinking key locks are some sort of locker that they provide a key to so that I could get my stuff. I ask her, where are the key locks located looking around the shop and she doesn’t say anything other than pointing her finger at the counter she is working at. I tell her I will run to my car to grab my wallet (as I put it in there after purchasing the tube and didn’t want to leave it in a locker) and run and grab it. I come back, make the purchase and hand her my sandals, wallet, and key. She then responds, “we only take keys” as if I am supposed to know that and she doesn’t offer any information about the key lock process. The whole while I’m extremely frustrated she doesn’t offer any apologies. I then run back to my car to leave my other stuff in the car and go back and hand her my key and am now walking barefoot on the asphalt. As we are walking to the river a nice lady advises us that the store closes at 6:00 and because we are about to start tubing it might go past 6:00 which then the store would close which is holding my car keys. Even more livid about this information I go back inside to speak to the blonde girl and tell her I need my key. I tell her I didn’t know the store was going to close before we get done floating and would have expected her to say something about this before taking my money. Yes I could have asked about the store closing but with everything else I had just done, my wife had been waiting for a good while to start tubing and would have expected the staff, like the lady outside did, to advise me they would be closing possibly before we get done floating. When I told this girl that, she points to a man working there and says, “he told me to take the purchase” which to me makes it feel like they were aware of the time frame I was working with and just decided to take the purchase without making mention to me at all they close at 6:00. Terrible experience with that staff member and recommend getting someone who actually is informative and helpful when booking and spending money there. I feel like they stole $3.68 from me and they didn’t offer any refund after I confronted them about...

We took the kids to Ichetucknee for the day on a Monday, had a group of 6. There were more people than I expected at the park, but it wasn't packed. We did the tube run first and we had to launch at Dampier. They do not allow you to launch anywhere else, Midway is closed due to hurricane damage. No food, drinks or disposable items allowed on the river, they will check your things. The run was .75 miles, and the current is very strong. I was snorkeling, but it was hard to stay with the floats and keep my mask on with the fast current, so we tied our tubes to the kayak so we could stay together. There were some shallow spots along the run, so we were able to stop and regroup. The kids found a tree to jump off of, so we hung out there for a while. The kids loved it! Saw lots of turtles and huge fish, but I didn't see any gators. The water is darker than the Silver River or the Rainbow, and it's not as wide or as deep either. But the ecosystem is a little different than the other artesian springs. It reminded me of a river in the mountains. There are lots of rocks near the entry and exit, and they are very slippery. After the run, we caught the shuttle back up to Dampier, then drove to the head springs at the north entrance, which was really just a small swimming hole. There is no way south on the river from there again due to damage along the river. They only allow pool noodles or life jackets in the spring, no large floats. You cannot bring any food or drinks down to the waters edge at the spring, you have to keep your belongings up on the hill at the picnic area where you cannot see it, so be sure to pack light and smart. The water was amazing and cold, just like any other spring. At the end of the day, we walked along the boardwalk to the Blue Hole, and I wish we had gone earlier because it was epic. It's a huge volcano shaped cave with a massive hole that goes very deep. My son took the go pro down into it and got a video. It was surreal. It was also colder than the head spring. Next time, we will go to the Blue Home first while the sun is high, so the visibility is better. Also, there is no parking at the south exit. You can only walk or ride the shuttle back to Dampier where your car is. It is cheap to get in, but it's a mirage because then they charge you $8 per tube and $6 per person to ride the shuttle. You also have to sign a waiver before going down the run, they give you a wrist band that will allow you to get into the spring head and keep your receipt to get a tube again later in the day if you go back to the run. Overall, it was a beautiful place and as always mother nature did not disappoint. We all loved it and will definitely be...