Anclote #9 - Harvey Springs Run
Since the water tends to get a LOT higher in the section of the river, you will need to get up on land for this one. Navigate into the spring run; portage over logs may be necessary at low water levels. The cache can be accessed from land as well, now via trails behind the new Copperfield subdivision clubhouse.
After a lot of trial and error, I’m finally ready to publish this series of caches along the Anclote River. They can only be accessed via canoe, kayak or small boat and should provide quite a challenge since the river takes many different paths in some sections. Total round trip will be about 8 miles. Public access to the upper section of the river is sparse, and that hassle has kept a lot of folks from enjoying its natural beauty. Hopefully, you will get enough smileys to offset the extra effort. The fact that the river floods almost every year presented some special challenges, but I think I’ve got them solved. All of the containers have O-rings, are tie-wrapped to branches, etc. and have passed through a flood season already, remaining completely submerged for days without issue. However, it is important that you close the container properly to ensure it’s survival. All but two of the caches can be accessed without leaving your watercraft, so there is no need to trespass on private property or preserve areas.
As I said before, the river floods almost every year, so please check this site and make sure that the flood level does not exceed 13ft. on the day you plan to visit (else the cache may be underwater). I don’t like cache series that include parking cords with every single cache, cluttering my GPSr, so I will include some possible launch sites with the first cache in the series only.
Now the Disclaimer Stuff:
- If you are lucky, you will see some birds, otters, turtles and other small critters.
- If you are REAL lucky, you will see an alligator, manatee or snake.
- By far the biggest danger you may encounter are ants & stinging insects...so relax and enjoy.
- As always, use common sense when on the river and retrieving caches. If you plow through low hanging branches, there may be spider webs, wasps nests, etc