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Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

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💧 Springs

Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida

About

Gilchrist Blue pushes out about 44 million gallons a day at a steady 72 degrees, filling a wide bowl of green and blue water that you wade into from a sloping sand beach. Snorkelers drift over the boil while families ride tubes down the quarter-mile run where the spring empties into the tea-dark Santa Fe River. Come on a weekday morning before the swimming area fills and bring your own mask; there is no scuba here, just the slow float and the cold.

Highlights

72-degree second-magnitude spring, about 44 million gallons a daySand beach and roped swimming area with a 24-foot deep dive dockSnorkel the boil; no scuba diving permittedTube the quarter-mile run to the Santa Fe RiverCampground, boardwalk, and paddling on the Santa Fe

Getting there

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Florida Springs

Florida sits on top of one of the largest gatherings of freshwater springs on Earth, and they run a constant 68 to 74 degrees no matter the season. Some are first-magnitude giants pushing hundreds of millions of gallons a day, others are quiet blue sinkholes you can have to yourself at dawn. These are the ones worth the drive: the glass-bottom boat tours, the lazy-river tube runs, the cavern dives, and the winter springs where the manatees come in from the cold.