The Weeki Wachee received it’s name from the Seminole Native Americans meaning “little spring” or “winding river”. The water temperature stays at a constant 72-74° F and on average discharges more than 100 million gallons of water per day! Lurking beneath the beauty of the Weeki Wachee River lies the deepest underwater cave system in the United States. The spring is so deep that the source of the spring has never been found!

I finally got to cross Weeki Wachee River off my bucket list this past spring. It was an amazing experience for my family and I.   The Weeki Wachee River is listed as one of Florida’s top places to paddle board or kayak.  If you ever have the chance to paddle it, I highly recommend it! 

We embarked on our expedition from Rogers Park located at 7244 Shoal Line Blvd, Spring Hill, FL 34607. We were camping at The Chassahowitzka River Campground for spring break and Rogers Park was only 30 minutes away.

Launching from Rogers Park

We arrived at Rogers Park on a Wednesday morning in March. I was thrilled to see only a handful of cars in the parking lot upon our arrival.  There is a fee for parking for $10.00 you receive a 24-hour pass to park. 

The park has a canoe-kayak ramp available as well as a small dock where paddlers are also able to launch from.

We launched from the park and paddled upstream towards Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.  Luckily, we timed it just right and barely had to fight any current to paddle upstream. However, looking back on it, I would have taken more advantage of the slack tide and tried to gain as much distance as possible at the beginning of the trip. We took too many breaks at the get go and before we knew it the current became swifter and stronger making it more difficult to paddle up the winding river especially as we got closer to the entrance of the state park.

Although the parking lot was barely full, the river was a different story.   There were lots of people paddling but still plenty of room to find some peace and quiet on the river.

As you make your way upstream, the river is lined with beautiful and unique homes. I can just imagine how special it must be to be a part of this community. Each house seemed to have a charm and character of its own. How amazing would it be to be able to get out of bed and jump into the clear, blue waters of the Weeki Wachee River?!

Vader, our standard poodle really enjoyed the trip as well. He absolutely loves to paddle! I found the Weeki Wachee River to be very dog-friendly with quite a few other paddlers on the water with their fur babies as well.

Remember to bring some cash with you so you can stop by the floating hot dog and ice cream shack. It’s a fun and refreshing stop for kiddos and adults alike.

Unfortunately, we did not make it to the head spring. We made it to the entrance of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park and decided to head back. The current was getting stronger and we were told the paddling would become more difficult because of the many turns in the winding river. 

If I didn’t have my pooch with me, I think we could have paddled further but after lugging an extra seventy pounds on my board, I was getting pretty worn out. 

I would love to do the run launching from the state park and going downstream to Rogers Park. I think it would be a much more enjoyable and easygoing paddle. 

Overall, an amazing run that I would highly recommend doing on a weekday. There was definitely some traffic for a Wednesday so I can only imagine how busy it must get on the weekends. If you’re launching from Rogers Park and heading upstream, I would try to catch slack tide when the current isn’t as strong. We lucked out with an easy paddle upstream for most of our trip. Looking back, I would have taken less breaks so we could paddle with the current back downstream. Hope you found this post helpful or inspiring. Until next time…

Happy paddling!