Santa Fe River in Gilchrist County, Florida

Photograph: Santa Fe River, near river rise, in Oleno State Park, Florida.jpg by Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Gilchrist County attraction

Santa Fe River

Gilchrist County · North Florida & First Coast

A 75-mile river that runs underground for three miles, then comes back up and collects a string of springs along the Gilchrist County line.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The Santa Fe River rises at Lake Santa Fe near Keystone Heights and runs 75 miles west to join the Suwannee near Branford. On the way it forms boundaries between Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Suwannee, Union, Gilchrist and Baker counties. The strangest thing it does happens at O'Leno State Park, where the whole river drops into a sinkhole, travels three miles underground and comes back to the surface at River Rise Preserve. The dry land between was a natural bridge, and both the Spanish mission trail and the old Bellamy Road crossed the river there. Below the rise the springs begin, and the Gilchrist County stretch has most of them: Gilchrist Blue, Ginnie, Hornsby, Lily, Poe and Rum Island, all holding around 72 degrees the year round. The New River, Olustee Creek and the spring-fed Ichetucknee all run into it. The water itself is dark brown with tannin off cypress and fallen leaves, so the clear blue of the spring boils against it is striking. The country along it is thinly settled, and black bears, bobcats, Florida panthers and manatees all use the river. Fossils turn up in the gravel

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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