Ichetucknee General Store — Local services in Lake City

I recommend you avoid the south end of the park at all costs, there is a charge for every single thing you could thing of and staff simply have no regard for anything other than doing the bare minimum or maintaining the bottom line. I started the day at the North End of the park and visited the Blue Hole, it was amazing and I had visited before to go cave diving. The group I was with decided they wanted to do the lazy river and so we drove to the south end, upon parking we had to pay for a tube which I had every expectation of doing. I decided I would grab some goggles and water shoes just to make the walk back easier as my group wanted to enjoy the nature trail. When I expressed concern about taking my keys down the river I was told I would be charged 3 dollars to hold my keys, I was taken a bit aback since I had never heard of that anywhere before but wasn’t bothers as paying to replace my keys would’ve been more expensive. As we started down the river my significant other started to express ear pain from earlier, we tried to make her as comfortable as possible while floating down the river but it only progressed to worse and worse pain over the course of the river. As we reached the end we quickly walked over to the tram and explained the situation to the gentleman standing there. He said that we would have to ask the driver as he wasn’t sure if a medical emergency constituted getting a ride back to my car where we had ear drops and Tylenol. We stood for about 5 - 10 minutes before I asked when we can expect the tram to arrive as she was now in tears holding her ear. We were told it would be another 15 - 20 minutes. We then decided it would be easier to walk, so I carried her on my back the entire way to my car, in the time it took me to walk the trail the tram made one round trip. So charging $6 for something that takes the same time as walking means there is an issue somewhere. Fast forward to the car where she has ear drops and has had Tylenol, I realize I left my goggles at the river end. I walk inside trying to find someone to speak to and I stumble upon the general manager, I tell her I bought some goggles from here and say I left them would it be possible to ride the tram down and go get them. I was asked if I purchased a ticket and told her I hadn’t. I was told that I best start walking. I decided that the crapping ten $10 goggles was not worth the 50 minute wait I would be putting my group through because the bottom line didn’t allow for the basic customer service of giving me a ride down and back. Overall this place seems to value profit or customer service, if I ever return to the Springs I will be staying as far away from the south end as possible and enjoying the north end for all the beauty it has to offer. Two starts simply for the peace and tranquility I had at the north end. If not for that I would’ve...

The North Springs swimming area is beautiful. This place was awesome.. so pretty. Not commercialized. More woods. The springs are not monitored. There is no life gaurd or anything like that. Definitely beautiful.. They do have a bath house up above and a small part area. There are lots of picnic tables. This was by far my favorite area.. They did have a food stand there. We got there late, so they were closing. I can not comment on what all they had or the prices. We bring our own food and drinks.

As far as floating goes, the float was short about 20 minutes. Regular tubes $8 then they go up from there. 6 per person up ride back. Bring your own tubes would be cheaper. The staff here.. well, they aren't very helpful. The ticket girl was not enthused and acted like she hated being there. She was not nasty or anything, just more like a sigh, and her jib was dreadful . Handed me our wrist bands and said go to the wooden fence. We got there and put our wristbands on. Being the first time there, I had no idea what to do. They didn't seem to want to tell us either. We got our tubes and were standing there. Finally, one of the guys said you have to walk down the path. Ok, well, no one explained that. The workers definitely needed to be trained in customer service and need to be more helpful. The springs themselves were very pretty. The float was nice, but don't expect a long one it goes...

Love at First Splash 💘🌊

Ichetucknee Springs turned out to be the best worst idea for a first date — and I mean that in the best way possible.

We showed up thinking we were about to have a cute, chill float down a lazy river. What actually happened? I fell into the tube backwards, lost one of my flip-flops, and she laughed so hard she snorted. Romantic? Surprisingly… yes.

Once we got going, the magic hit. The water was insanely clear — like high-def nature — and the scenery looked like something out of a fairy tale, if that fairy tale involved me getting stuck on a tree branch and her heroically pushing us free with her sandal. Teamwork!

We saw turtles, birds, fish, and about three other couples clearly also testing the waters of romance. We talked, laughed, accidentally bumped tubes into strangers (sorry, Chad and Karen), and by the end of it, we agreed on two things:

Ichetucknee is pure natural magic.

We're definitely going on a second date. 😄

Highly recommend for anyone looking to fall in love—with a person...