Beautiful, Inexpensive, and Accessible Wekiva Springs

When are not able to go to the Walt Disney World parks, due to our blockout dates, we often go to a beautiful location just 30 minutes north of the WDW resorts called Wekiva Springs.  

To quote the Florida State Parks web site description of Wekiva Springs.....

"Located at the headwaters of the Wekiva River, the beautiful vistas within this park offer a glimpse of what Central Florida looked like when Timucuan Indians fished and hunted these lands. Just one hour from most central Florida attractions, Wekiwa Springs offers visitors the opportunity to relax in a natural setting, enjoy a picnic, or take a swim in the cool spring.

Thirteen miles of trails provide opportunities for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding. Canoeists and kayakers can paddle along the Wekiva River and Rock Springs Run.  Canoe and kayak rentals are available from the park's concessionaire.  Options for camping include a full facility campground and primitive camping areas.

This is a very popular park, particularly on summer weekends. To ensure entrance, we recommend arriving early; otherwise, the parking area will be full and you may not be able to enter."

The current entrance fee to get into the park is $6.  As soon as you pass the entrance booth, you go a little way and parking is on the right, on top of a hill that looks over the springs.  Just a few yards down from the parking lot, there is a nice, grassy, picnic area looking over the springs with picnic tables.  Not far from the picnic area is a pretty decent permanent bathroom with changing rooms, and an outdoor ultra-mini-zoo, or nature center displaying live animals that can be found around the springs.  There are also apothacaried displays of animals in the area.  This is all located within close proximity of each other on the hill looking over the springs.

If you are a senior hoping to get down to the springs, you need do know that this walk may be hard on the hips and knees, and the handicap accessible chair that you can use to lift you down into the water will probably not work for you unless you have a strong younger person with you to assist. 

While the literature boasts that the springs are handicap accessible, they are not necessarily easy for the handicapped.

 Visitors can access the springs by walking down a gently stair-stepped board-walk, but despite the very well built and extensive boardwalk walking areas that are available, walking down to the springs can be difficult for people that have trouble walking, primarily due to the grade of the hill and the distance.  

It is also handicap accessible, but I wouldn't recommend going to the springs if you do have to use a walker or a wheelchair unless you have good support people with you to help you down.   They would also need to help you down the boardwalk area also.  I see the boardwalk area to be quite accessible for people who have very strong upper-body strength.  Using a wheelchair to get up the hill takes a lot of strength. 

An electronic scooter, however, work well.  I will say this, that getting right to the springs would be difficult in a scooter just because of the width of the area from the edge of the water to the incline of the hill. 

One more comment about handicap accessibility regarding strength; I have seen elderly couples, one handicapped, and one not,  go there,  get half-way down, needing to use the restroom, and having potty accidents due to under-estimating the difficulty of the walk. 

A couple of times, I have encountered and spoken with caretakers who find themselves too exhausted to help the handicapped partner, and I have seen (assisted) on a few occasions senior couples get very tired, frustrated, and even panicky when they discover that they have exhausted themselves getting half-way down to the springs with no energy to get back up.

In these situations, my family has had to take over to help get them in a comfortable and safe situation.

On the other hand, I have seen younger handicapped folks not only be able to get themselves down to the springs, but also onto the chair lift and put themselves in the water, and much of it has to do with cardiovascular health and upper body strength.  

On the right side of the hill, there are more restrooms, a concession stand, and a place to rent lockers, and then down the hill from there you can rent kayaks and canoes for about $15 per two hours.

I have not actually taken a swim in the springs, but my kids do every time we go.  The swimming area is surrounded by a concrete wall, and the water is a constant 72 degrees, which is chilly for a December day, but refreshing on a July day.  We do go swimming all months of the year, however, as do a lot of people.

Make sure you bring bug spray.  There are bugs there all year long but in the summer the mosquitos and sweat bugs (those annoying little teensy bugs that bite you when you are sweaty) are a problem, especially the sweat bugs.

BE ADVISED! If the weather is above 85 degrees, you can expect the parking lot to be full by 1:00 p.m. even on the weekdays, so get there early.  The springs never feel overly crowded once you find parking, but the lot does fill up quickly.

 We have never had trouble finding parking before 1:00 on a weekday, but last time, we took the last parking spot and we got there at noon.

Also, BE ADVISED, the parking lot fills up very fast on the weekends no matter the time of year, so get there early.

The kids enjoy swimming right over to the spring location where the water shoots up from underground cavern.  The force is strong enough to keep them from going down into the cavern where the water is coming out.  One of my boys took a GoPro down there and shot some pretty awesome video.

The water ranges from, I'd say about five feet to eight feet deep.  Beginner swimmers need a good swimming buddy with them.  There is no place for wading.  Children who don't swim well need personal floatation assistance.

We have seen little fish and turtles in the water on the swimming side of the spring, and the water is crystal clear.  We have not seen any alligators or snakes on the swimming side, although there are warning signs to be on the lookout.

We do know there are alligators on the kayaking side of the springs, and down the river.  A couple summers ago, one woman who did not heed the warnings of the signage and fellow kayakers yelling at her to get out. As she was swimming, she had her arm bit off by an alligator.

I have not seen any alligators or snakes during any of my trips, thankfully.  From my experience, the creatures of most concern are sweat bugs and mosquitoes. 

To the left of the swimming hole a board-walked trailhead begins the Wet Dry Trail, and it continues on to until it puts you at the trailhead of other trails in the park.  It's about a 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile hike, and with the photos I have of the springs, themselves, I'm including photos that I took on the hike. 

The Wet Dry trail is my favorite part of the whole park, and I'm looking forward to more hiking in this area.

Posted below are some of the photos I have taken.  I hope you enjoy them and they give you a good feeling of what a great place this is to spend the day.

Walking from the concession area down to the kayaking location of the Wekiva River

Turtles are often seen at the springs

Wekiva Springs on the river side as seen from a boardwalk bridge that divides the swimming area from the river

The boardwalk on the Wet Dry Trail

There are many beautiful scenes on the Wet Dry Trail

In the center of this photo one can see some amazing tree roots.

I love looking upward to see the blue sky framed by the variety of species of trees.  

The underbrush of the jungle has a variety of plants, including ferns.

This dinosaur of a caterpillar was huge, about six inches long and an inch in diameter, and fell victim to a group of parasitic insects

My young people keep me active and keep me young. Without them, wouldn't have considered going to this lovely place.

The boys discovered boogie boards as an effective way to get around.

Have a great day at Wekiva Springs!!!!!