My First Little Manatee River Adventure

This was my first time running the Little Manatee River. The water was a little shallow at first but about halfway the river became wider and deeper. It was a quiet day. Usually you pass a lot of other folks in kayaks and canoes but I seemed to have the river all to myself; well maybe except for the dog on the side near the beginning. The put in point was under the highway ridge neat the Canoe Outpost. The take out point was up a small inlet that ends at the Manatee State Park primitive camping area. The run takes about 2 and one-half hours paddling easily with the current.

The tannin stained, tea colored Little Manatee River begins in the central woodlands of Florida. A little brook at first, small feeder tributaries and springs feed the river and it is soon deep ebough for kayakas and canoes. A few miles further down stream the ocean tide effects the depth of the water and the river becomes deep enough for lare boats - I even passed a 32-foot yach moored to the river bank. Most of the way the river meanders through old forests of hardwoods, palmettos and strangely enough, some citrus trees. Most of Florida's wildlife cane be found here at one time or another.

Background music is Porch Blues by Kevin MacLeod. (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creat\
ive Commons "Attribution 3.0" http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\

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Travel & Events

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• manatee
• river
• canoe
• Florida
• paddle
• Manatee State Park Little