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Springs Fever: A Field & Recreation Guide to 500 Florida Springs.
3rd Edition by Joe Follman and Richard Buchanan

• Home
• Table of Contents
• Central Florida Panhandle
• Springs Near Tallahassee
• Taylor County
• Withlacoochee River
• Suwannee River
• SantaFe River
• Ichetucknee River
• Ocala National Forest
• Central Gulf Coast
• Other Central Florida
• Northeast FL
• Other Natural Features
• Email us
• Native American

Springs Fever: A Field & Recreation Guide to 500 Florida Springs. 3rd Edition by Joe Follman and Richard Buchanan

Treehouse Spring (ALA112971)

Alachua County

Directions

From downtown High Springs drive about two miles north on U.S. 41/441 to bridge over the Santa Fe River. The boat ramp to the river is on the NW side of the bridge. Put in and go upriver about 2/3 mile. Look for a circular cove on the right, created by the spring.

Additional directions and a map

Spring Description

The large first-magnitude spring, with an estimated flow of nearly 260 MGD, was not formally classified as a spring or
measured until 1997 by Hornsby & Ceryak (1998, p. 20).  It is, however, one of Florida's largest individual springs.  Water
flows up in wide slicks from a depth measured at 44 feet.  The spring pool is oval and was about 150 by 200 feet in diameter
on date of visit (April 2000), a time of drought.  On this date, water in the Santa Fe River was quite clear, but the water in the
spring was not clear enough to see the bottom or any limestone formations. Partially because the water is not very clear, the authors speculated the flow might be an additional portion of the Santa Fe River Rise a short distance upriver.  The land surrounding the spring sloped upward about eight feet into low rolling hills of hardwood and floodplain forest.

Use/Access

• No apparent use. The water did not invite swimming. The Hornsby Spring run is 150-200 yards inland from the back of the spring run and easy to spot due to its long low natural bank.
• The land around the spring was not posted; the authors did not know if it was Suwannee River Water Management District land or perhaps belonged to nearby Camp Kulaqua.

Local Springiana

Personal Impressions

One of Florida’s largest springs, this site was not named until 2001.

Nearby Springs

• Santa Fe River Rise
• COL428981
• Hornsby Spring
• Darby Spring
• Columbia Spring

Other Nearby Natural Features

• Ichetucknee Springs State Park
• O'Leno State Park
• San Felasco Hammock State Preserve
• Devil's Millhopper State Geologic Site
• River Rise State Preserve
• Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park