Hope you all are ready to have a great time going on an amazingly beautiful, fun canoe/camping trip! My family has done this canoe/camp several times and it’s so much fun for everyone! Here are some pics of a trip we took several years ago. So much fun!

We have reserved Camping Shelters at The Holton Creek River Camp for Saturday night, July 22nd. Shelters are free! We also have a tentative reservation of 12 canoes with Suwannee Canoe Outpost.

Here are links to both:

Other important info:

We will meet at Suwannee Canoe Outpost, 2461 95th Dr, Live Oak, FL 32060, which is located in the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, Saturday morning, July 22rd, at 9:30am. You will park there and will be transported back to your car by the Canoe Outpost early Sunday afternoon. It’s about one hour and a half drive from Jax.

$52 per canoe, includes paddles, life jackets

$7 per person to be transported back to car

– families will pay Canoe Outpost individually upon arrival

is an eight mile paddle down the river. Based on other trips, it takes about 6 hours because everyone likes to stop frequently and play along the banks or explore a spring or two.

Even though it’s a very calm, safe river, the insides of the canoes will get completely soaked. Anything you want to keep dry, especially bedding, needs to be protected. You can buy water tight bags from sports stores, but they’re a bit pricey, so I recommend putting everything in double bagged garbage bags. I prefer the big, sturdy black garbage bags. You can put blankets, pillows, clothes, etc in them and they will stay dry. Holton Creek shelters are covered and screened in, so no need to bring tents, just bedding. The camp does have several electric outlets inside the shelters, if you want to blow up an air mattress or charge your phone. Shelters also have lighting and ceiling fans. There is a non-public road to the shelters in case of an emergency.

I also recommend wearing old shoes, sandals while canoeing. There are several beautiful/fun places to stop along the river, springs to swim in, rope swings, etc., it’s mostly sandy but some areas can be rocky. I would also bring flip flops to wear at camp or some dry footwear you’ve packed in garbage bags. There are hot showers at camp, so pack accordingly, if you want to shower. Showers/bathrooms are also air conditioned.

-Bring your own food/drinks for lunch Saturday. We like to get Subway or Publix sandwiches (they will double wrap them in aluminum if you ask).

-Dinner at camp. I will bring plenty of charcoal for their grills. You will need to bring items to cook on the grill, as well as utensils. We like to season steaks and freeze them the night before, then ziplock them before putting in cooler. We also season and double wrap several potatoes, corn, in aluminum foil, that way you just throw them on the grill…makes it easy! There is water at camp and it’s supposedly very healthy, but can be very sulfuric. So bring your own water to drink. One good way to keep a cooler cold, even on a very hot day, is to put a couple of larger frozen bottles (2-liter, empty milk bottle) in a cooler, mixed in with ice. We’ve primitive camped for several nights like this and it keeps the cooler very cold.

-Breakfast at camp. Erin and I will make plenty of pancakes, eggs, and coffee for everyone. Anyone is also welcome to use our coleman camp stove to cook something else if you like, or bring your own sausage, etc.. and we’ll cook it along with the pancakes.

The five mile canoe to the take out point, Gibson Park, will take about 3 hours. Each family is responsible for their own food/lunch. We like to pack a lot of snacks (nuts, raisins, granola bars) and have a late lunch at a local restaurant.

I’m thinking of asking the Canoe Outpost to pick us up at 1:30 so we aren’t rushed, but if anyone wants to get out earlier, please let me know. This time can be adjusted. They will load all of our gear onto their vans. It’s about a 30 minute ride back to the Outpost.

If anyone has questions, please email LRE@BBUUC.