Close to a year ago the CurbCrusher gang stopped in and looked at Suwanee River State Park while the campground was under renovation. This year the Florida Pop-up Camper (FPUC) group planned the July camp out here, and since we were on our way back from North Carolina, this made a good stop for the trip home.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, after a little over a week away from home. We checked in at the new ranger station that is located on the entrance road, and headed toward the re-furbished campground. The road to the campground, and the road through the loop are paved. The campsites are dirt, leaves and other assorted components that make up what is commonly referred to as ground. Our site was fairly level, a bit of a slope, but nothing that the levelers on the motorhome could not handle. It came equipped with Electricity (30 and 50 amp), water and sewer. The site was fairly large both in terms of depth and width, and had a good spacing over to the neighbors. This is not necessarily true of all sites in this campground. A number of them are small and much closer together. If you end up in most sites numbered greater than 20, there is a very wide road and shoulder that allow for plenty of maneuvering room while backing. Another thing to watch for is that on a number of sites the sewer is actually located up hill of where the RV will be parked, and may be at the front of the coach instead of near the plumbing area of the coach. We were on site 20, and everything was placed together, so there were no long hose or cord runs to worry about.

There are a number of trails in the park, but no real place to swim. There is a boat ramp, and a number of campers have their boats with them and spend the days fishing in the river. The playground is fine and Little CurbCrusher gave it her seal of approval. Because of the lack of place to swim, we visited two springs in the area.

The first was Falmouth Springs which is located about two miles from the entrance to the park. This is pretty much a hole in the ground. At Falmouth the spring comes above the ground, runs for a about 100 yards, and then goes back underground. The spring is deep enough to swim in and is fresh cold water. There is a rope swing over the water here, but no real beach to park yourself on when you’re at the spring. It is sort of a “You’re in the water” or “You’re out of the water” type of place. We went up here on Friday after we set up and cooled off for a couple of hours.

The real fun was at Madison Blue Spring, which was located about 15 minutes from the park. This is another state park, and so far the state hasn’t removed the fun from it. The spring head comes up in a pool that is about 60 – 100 feet across and the water is crystal clear. You can put on a mask and stick your head underwater and see clearly across the entire spring. The spring then has a short run to the Withlacoochee river. There is a small beach at the junction of the spring run and the river. You can wade across the river at this point with ease, and walk up and down the river a good ways. The real fun is a diving platform that sticks out over the spring. It is about 15 feet off the water and provides loads of fun and entertainment for the whole gang. As you can see in the pictures a lot of our group, even the adults, took a turn on the diving platform. Then to add to the fun, a short five minute walk down the river is a rope swing. I learned in a very short time on the rope swing that Mr. CurbCrusher had no business trying to swing over the river. After the second face plant into the river water, I left that activity to the kids.

All in all we had a great time as Suwanee. It was great to hang out with the FPUC group, and all the adults and kids had a great time diving and swinging at the spring. I’ve decided to try using Flickr as a photo sharing and storage site, so pictures of Suwanee and Madison Blue Springs are here.