Rainbow River Fl

[psdpower350]

Has anyone camped at Rainbow River State Park? Or tubed down the river? Thinking of taking the family before the summer ends.

[justlkn]

We have several times and loved it. Rainbow Springs is set up a little differently than other parks as the area where you tube at (the head springs) is on the other side of the park. They do charge (again) to enter that side of the park but if you show them your camping receipt you get in free.

My only advice it to remember the head springs flows AWAY from Rainbow Springs and you have to save energy for the paddle back...lol I learned that the hard way. I know they rent canoes there but don't ever remember seeing tubes. KP Hole is just down the road and they rent it all, kayaks, tubes and canoes and for a small fee will pick you up down stream and bring you back to your truck. Leave EARLY as the parking spots fill up quickly as it may be difficult to find a place to park if you don't.

The springs are beautiful and are filled with fish, turtles, birds and lazy gators lying around the banks. They have some beautiful man made waterfalls on the head spring side so don't forget to take a few minutes and enjoy the scenery. We ate at Swampys while we were there and it was pretty good.

Also don't forget to bring a zip lock baggie for the small items you bring along that sink fast...like keys to your truck, your cell phone or camera and other small insignificant stuff...don't ask me how I would know that.

Hope you enjoy it!

Glenn and Tami

[fla-gypsy]

I have camped and floated Rainbow River many times. The CG has FHU sites and some sites are shaded others are not so site selection is important in the summer. I liked site 22 the best. The tube floating is excellent and there are several ways to do it. From the CG you can walk to the river and float to the take out point but you need to make arrangements for the trip back to the CG. If you have two vehicles you can park a car at the take out point and have someone pick you up and enter at the CG, then drive yourself back for no charge. If you don't have that capability you can go to the take out point and pay for the shuttle service which takes you back to the CG tube entrance and you drive back in your car. The tube trip is about 2 hours and is excellent. The shuttle runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. You can also just walk to the river and cool off there and not tube. The river is a little over a 1/4 mile from the CG and no car traffic is allowed down to it other than the shuttle so be prepared to walk a little. There are also tube trips operating from a county park called the KP hole. The headspring was uninteresting and the swimming area there is terrible so don't bother with it. The camp store has full details on transportation options for the tube trip. It is worth it to do the float and is a beautiful river. We had a great meal at Stumpknockers not to far out of Dunellon back on highway 200 and to the south.

[psdpower350]

Thanks folks. Tried making reservations and its all booked through October. Trying to do the fri, sat, sun since its only a couple hours from me. Looks like a might have to reserve for next year.

[T11ravis]

Rainbow River is cool for sure but there are others if you don't want to wait.
Ichetucknee has always been my favorite...