Ichetucknee Springs

Ichetucknee Springs State Park is in north central Florida, about 40 miles north of Gainesville (home of the University of Florida and the Gators) and five miles north of Fort White, a little town that experienced a mini-boom once Ichetucknee went from a secret natural wonder on an unpaved, unmarked road on private property to a full-fledge state park in 1970. After meandering off from the Santa Fe, the Ichetucknee River flows into the Suwanee and, eventually, into the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Department of the Interior declared the Ichetucknee River’s head spring a National Natural Landmark in 1972.

Before long, Ichetucknee’s glory was no longer a secret. It became the most popular river for tubing in the world. In the peak summer months, upwards of five thousand people per day would grab an inner tube and float down the river. And that didn’t count people who came to picnic, swim, hike, kayak, canoe, snorkel and scuba dive the caves.