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Florida

Kayaking North Florida’s Sacred Springs & Rivers

Program No. 23541RJ
Kayak along North Florida’s artesian springs and rivers, learning about sustainability, conservation and ecology from the locals who advocate to protect the crystal-clear waters.

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Protecting the Environment

We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Learn more

Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone? 800-454-5768
Select your type of room
Price will update based on selection
Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Filling Fast!
Jan 14 - Jan 19, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Jan 21 - Jan 26, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Feb 11 - Feb 16, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Feb 18 - Feb 23, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Mar 3 - Mar 8, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Mar 10 - Mar 15, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Mar 17 - Mar 22, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Oct 20 - Oct 25, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Nov 10 - Nov 15, 2024
Starting at
1,699
Dec 1 - Dec 6, 2024
Starting at
1,699
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Filling Fast!
Jan 14 - Jan 19, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Jan 21 - Jan 26, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Feb 11 - Feb 16, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Feb 18 - Feb 23, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Mar 3 - Mar 8, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Mar 10 - Mar 15, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Mar 17 - Mar 22, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Filling Fast!
Oct 20 - Oct 25, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Filling Fast!
Nov 10 - Nov 15, 2024
Starting at
2,059
Filling Fast!
Dec 1 - Dec 6, 2024
Starting at
2,059

At a Glance

The artesian springs of North Florida flow together to create a unique ecosystem and habitat for local wildlife — and their gentle, aqua-blue waters provide the perfect classroom for learning about this ecosystem and habitat by kayak! Find out about the threats that these springs (and the Floridian Aquifer that feeds them) face from human activity and how local activists like the Florida Springs Institute advocate to ensure clean water. As you paddle along the sparkling springs from Ichnetucknee to Ginnie Springs, learn about these environmental issues from local experts who are at the forefront of local conservation efforts.
Activity Level
Outdoor: Spirited
Kayaking for several hours each day.
Small Group
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Stroll through Sweetwater Wetland Park, one of Florida’s best birding sites, and find out about Alachua County’s citizen-driven initiative to create clean water.
  • Take part in classroom lectures on topics from sustainability to ecology and cultural history of the area.
  • Enjoy kayaking with Gainesville native Lars Andersen whose 20 years of knowledge and expertise are unmatched.

General Notes

Select dates are designated for small groups and are limited to 24 participants or less. Almost all rooms have one queen bed. Road Scholar roommate matches and request for two beds are unable to be accommodated with this program. A low single supplement is available.
Featured Expert
All Experts
Profile Image
Lars Andersen
Lars Anderson is a history and wildlife author with more than 35 years of experience exploring Florida’s wildest places. He has published works about North Florida and Georgia including his most recent project: “The Paddlers Guide to the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail,” published by the Suwannee River Water Management District. Lars’s knowledge and understanding of the area’s cultural and natural history helps make each Road Scholar program a meaningful and educational exploration of the “real” Florida.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Profile Image of Gayle Felix
Gayle Felix View biography
Gayle Felix has been a Road Scholar group leader since 2015. She grew up and raised her family outside of Boston and now resides in Hingham, Massachusetts. With a history/American studies degree from Boston University, she enjoys sharing the history of Boston and surrounding areas. Gayle has led programs in New England; Washington, DC; and other areas in the United States. Gayle enjoys being with her family and friends, biking, kayaking, golfing, and hiking. She especially enjoys traveling and meeting new people.
Profile Image of Anne Casella
Anne Casella View biography
Anne Casella is a retired faculty from the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida. She is an avid gardener and bird watcher and serves on the Conservation Committee of the Alachua Audubon Society. She is also a program reviewer and site visitor for the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics. Whenever she is able, she travels widely to seek out new birds.
Profile Image of Lars Andersen
Lars Andersen View biography
Lars Anderson is a history and wildlife author with more than 35 years of experience exploring Florida’s wildest places. He has published works about North Florida and Georgia including his most recent project: “The Paddlers Guide to the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail,” published by the Suwannee River Water Management District. Lars’s knowledge and understanding of the area’s cultural and natural history helps make each Road Scholar program a meaningful and educational exploration of the “real” Florida.
Profile Image of Robert Knight
Robert Knight View biography
Dr. Robert Knight is the founder and director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting science and education for restoration and wise management of Florida’s artesian springs. Dr. Knight is an environmental scientist with more than 40 years of professional experience, including detailed ecological studies at more than 20 large springs. He is former adjunct professor at the University of Florida Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Sciences where he taught graduate level classes on Florida’s springs and wetlands.
Profile Image of Jackie Davis
Jackie Davis View biography
Jackie Davis — recently retired from a career as a nurse-practitioner and midwife — is a fan of the outdoors. Her love of canoeing began when she moved to Florida in the 1980s. Switching from canoe to kayak in 1998, she has explored as many rivers as she could reach, from the Aucilla to the Wekiva in north central Florida. A highlight was traveling down the Suwannee River. Her favorites are the Ichetucknee, Santa Fe River, Silver River, and the Gulf of Mexico at Cedar Key.
Profile Image of Mary Fukuyama
Mary Fukuyama View biography
Mary Fukuyama has had an interest in world travel since being a college student and studying in Japan for a semester abroad. Her career as a Ph.D. counseling psychologist focused on counseling, teaching, and training University of Florida psychology students with an emphasis on multiculturalism. Now retired, she enjoys art and music and more travel. Mary has lived in Gainesville for more than 35 years, intrigued by the bountiful nature of North Florida while kayaking, birding, and bicycling the local “Rails- to-Trails” bike paths.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Gainesville (Images of America: Florida)
by Rob Hicks
Gainesville, Florida, has grown from a small agricultural community in the north-central part of the state to a thriving city. Many people have had a hand in Gainesville’s evolution. After befriending the Timucuan Indians, who had originally inhabited the region, the Spanish began recruiting other settlers to move to the area. Despite those valued contributions, however, the people who brought the railroad to Gainesville deserve the most credit for giving the town its start. Soon after tracks were laid through the city, small businesses sprouted and opportunities for new industries arose. The city’s population expanded along with its economic growth, and more people began to witness the unique potential of Gainesville. In 1905, the city became home to the University of Florida, and a rich educational heritage began. The university brought great attention to the town and subsequently made Gainesville one of the most important cities in the state and one of the most prominent educational epicenters in the South.
The Yearling
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Young Jody adopts an orphaned fawn he calls Flag and makes it a part of his family and his best friend. But life in the Florida backwoods is harsh, and so, as his family fights off wolves, bears, and even alligators, and faces failure in their tenuous subsistence farming, Jody must finally part with his dear animal friend. There has been a film and even a musical based on this story.
The Historic Haile Homestead at Kanapaha Plantation: An Illustrated History
by Karen Kirkman (Author), Kevin McCarthy (Contributor)
This is the first detailed history of one of the oldest houses in Alachua County, Florida: the Haile Homestead. Fully illustrated with many photographs, most of which were in private collections, this history deals with an important family in the county's history and brings the story of the house up to the present.
Cross Creek Cookery
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
First published in 1942, Cross Creek Cookery was compiled by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at the request of readers who wanted to recreate the luscious meals described in Cross Creek -- her famous memoir of life in a Florida hamlet. Lovers of old-fashioned, down-home cooking will treasure the recipes for Grits, Hush-Puppies, Florida Fried Fish, Orange Fluff, and Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie. For more adventuresome palates, there are such unusual dishes as Minorcan Gopher Stew, Coot Surprise, Alligator-Tail Steak, Mayhaw Jelly, and Chef Huston's Cream of Peanut Soup. Spiced with delightful anecdotes and lore, Cross Creek Cookery guides the reader through the rich culinary heritage of the deep tidal South with a loving regard for the rituals of cooking and eating. Anyone who longs for food -- and writing -- that warms the heart will find ample portions of both in this classic cookbook.
Paynes Prairie: The Great Savanna: A History and Guide
by Lars Anderson
This new paperback edition of Paynes Prairie still offers the sweeping history of the shallow-bowl basin in the middle of Florida, just south of Gainesville, but now adds a guide to outdoor activities that can be enjoyed in the state preserve there today, along with maps of trails for biking, hiking, and canoeing.





Important registration tip:
If you want to attend the live lecture, please do not wait until the last minute to enroll.
If you enroll after a lecture is complete, we’ll send you a recording of the event.