What is the “Real” Florida?
I recently visited Big Shoals State Park in northern Florida and at the entrance of the park a sign read “Welcome to the real Florida.” This phrase caught my attention.
The word “real” was intriguing. It made me feel like I was getting an insider’s perspective at the true beauty of the state and I wondered if Floridians knew something that us out-of-staters might have missed if the signs didn’t so boldly proclaim it. Often, when someone says “Florida” images of big cities, amusement parks, beaches, palm trees, and alligators probably come to mind instead of the natural landscape.
However, I agree with the State Park System’s proclamation that the “real” Florida is the natural habitat that Mother Nature has to offer us.
It’s important to explore our natural surroundings so we can learn to appreciate the systems of this world that exist without human-engineering. This is what I did on this trip; explored the landscape through trails at a state park.
I’m a certified interpretive guide which means I have been trained to observe our natural surroundings and explain it in a way that will enrich people’s lives by giving them something to consider and explore. This article illustrates, through photos, what I found unique and interesting on this short hike through Big Shoals State Park. I hope it inspires your curiosity about nature, and encourages you to explore the “real” world surrounding us.
Three Unique Aspects of Big Shoals State Park
From the parking area, visitors can take a 1-mile hike along the Suwanee River to see the shoals (a section of large water-rapids) for which the park is named.
The Park Service provides ample opportunity to learn more details about the surroundings in several informative panels placed alongside the trails, and many of the facts in this post were described on those panels.
#1 – Trail Lined in Saw Palmettos
This trail weaves through saw palmetto stands, a landscape that appears otherworldly with densely-packed fan-like leaves all reaching for the sky. These plants often grow together in pine and scrub forests. Interestingly, the stems grow horizontally across the ground rather than up, so walking through a stand without a trail would be quite difficult due to the tripping potential. Each plant is large as each individual leaf-fan can grow to be 3 feet wide. For reference, the ones in the photo above are about 2 ½ feet across. The common name “saw palmetto” hints at the fact that the plant is sharp in some way. Although it’s not shown in this picture, the stems have teeth, thus the name “saw” palmetto.
#2 – Blackwater River
The trail travels beside the Suwannee River and from it, if you peer over the saw palmettos and between vines, you can glimpse the water. The Suwannee belongs to a unique category of rivers found primarily in the Amazon river system and in the southern United States. They are called blackwater rivers and as a panel near the river describes, those are “deep, slow-moving channel(s) that flow through forested swamps and wetlands.” Before reaching the shoals area, the Suwannee River is incredibly calm.
On days with little breeze, like the day I visited, the water’s surface is reflective due to its dark color. The water is stained and has an appearance similar to tea because of the decaying vegetation in the river. Many of the plants surrounding the river contain a naturally-occurring chemical substance called tannins, so when the vegetation breaks down, the tannins leach out and cause the water to become acidic and dark-tinted.
#3 – Big Shoals
Further down the trail, but before you get to the shoals area, you can hear the low rumble of churning water. As you continue walking the sound grows louder and soon you’ll find a wooden platform overlooking the river. From this platform you can look down over the water you’ll notice the once-calm surface has been replaced by racing water tumbling over the limestone outcroppings. This is the large water rapid system, the Big Shoals area, for which the park is named. This section of the river drops 9 feet in elevation in less than ¼ mile, thus creating “Florida’s most extensive river rapid system” as the park’s informative panels describe.
But, the rapids here are different. The water approaching the rocks still appears very dark from the tannins, but the water rushing over the outcroppings and being churned up isn’t primarily white as most rapid systems are (think of the term “white water” that’s typically associated with rapids). Instead, this churning water is shades of brown and yellow. This is a great illustration of how the tannins have tinted the water color!
You can continue down the path from this point and explore how large Florida’s most extensive river rapid system is, marveling at the change from the slow-moving, reflective waters to this loud, powerful, churning section and the tinted water.
What Now?
Now that you’ve seen photos of a unique natural landscape and know some fun facts about that habitat, perhaps you’re curious and want to explore the “real” world surrounding you.
A good place to start are state parks as they’re usually small enough to avoid the large crowds that national parks draw. Simply do an internet search for your state’s “state parks” and you’re sure to come up with a resource for locating parks close to you.
If you’re interested in exploring Big Shoals State Park, you can find more information here.
If you’d like to explore more of the “real” Florida look at their website for the various parks and different habitats you could discover.
Finally, share this article with your friends to inspire their curiosity about nature, and encourage them to also explore the “real” world surrounding us.
