Comments: The "Quickens" did not disappoint. Seven of us had a great time on the wonderful Alafia River. Yes, it was beautiful. Yes, we had fantastic weather. And, yes, we hit the water level just right. You see, some of the time, the water is so low you must get out and walk the shallow "quickens". And then some of the time the water is quite high, and fast, and you just experience a fast section where the quickens are. But, on this wonderful trip, the water was just right. I felt a little like Goldilocks. The water was not too high, not too low, just right. Which gave us a safe, but fun path down stream. As we approached each quicken, I scouted to find the best path. Paddlers were free to take the way I went or try something else. One quicken finished in a small wave train. That was pretty cool. One quicken has a visible drop, which can be fun. (Actually, a drop is not visible. Most of the time you can see the river in front of you. With a drop, it looks somewhat like the end of the earth.) As you approach it, all you see is the edge of the drop off. You don't have much of an idea how high it is. Of course this is the Alafia, so it can't be too high. Then as you get closer you have a better idea. And, when you finally can see it all, suddenly you have to select which way to go. Whoopee! Or, you relax and just watch me. the trip was a real hoot.
Original Write Up: If there is such a thing in central Florida, this river is fairly swift. It even has small sets of rapids. Okay, okay, okay. Maybe they aren't really rapids. Maybe we should call them "quickens" instead of rapids. At any rate, If the water level is just right, we'll find as many as 10 sets of class 1 whitewater rapids. Don't get too excited, class 1 is the lowest class of white water. Even without any "quickens" this is still a wonderful river to go down. We'll even have some water cannons if you don't bring your own.
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