Twin Spring
SGilchrist County
Summary of Features
- Scale--2nd magnitude
- Scenery--good
- How Pristine?--land cleared around spring
- steps to water
- erosion
- developed camping/swimming/recreation area
- high-traffic tubing exit spot
- Swimming--fair-good
- Protection--good
- Crowds--heavy on warm weekends
- Access--excellent
- Facilities--excellent
- Safety--very good
- Scuba--no
- Cost- free from river; $14 for adults and $4 for children age 6-12 to swim
Directions
Part of the Ginnie Springs complex at 5000 NE 60th Avenue, High Springs, FL 32643.
From High Springs, drive south on U.S. 27/41 about 1 mile. Turn west (right) onto State Road 340 (Poe Springs Road), drive about 6.5 miles, and then turn right onto graded road at sign for Ginnie Springs. Follow another mile to the entrance.
Spring Description
Twin Spring lies at the head of a 200-foot run that flows into the Santa Fe River at the lower end of the Ginnie Springs complex. The pool is rectangular and about 30 feet across. Depths in the pool and run are from 3-10 feet, and water issues from a large limestone fissure. There is hydrilla in the spring run. Water in the spring is clear and blue except in times of high water and when tubers and swimmers stir the bottom. There is erosion on the bank due to heavy human traffic, and a platform has been constructed for tubers to exit from the spring.
Use/Access
- The spring serves as the take-out point for tubers at the Ginnie Springs complex, and is used heavily on warm weekends for this purpose and by swimmers who leap into the pool from the banks, rope swings, and, in the past, stacked picnic tables. Ginnie Springs is a full-facility recreation/dive site, with camping areas, a store, compressors for air tanks, scuba lessons, tubing, picnic areas, bathrooms, and other concessions. The complex is the most popular freshwater diving location in the world.
- A wooden step platform leads from the bank into the spring pool.
Personal Impressions
An attractive and good-sized spring, but little appreciated amidst its glittering neighbors, as it used in a utilitarian manner as a tubing take-out.
Nearby Springs
- Poe Springs
- Darby Spring
- Hornsby Spring
- ALA930971
- Lily Springs
- Pickard Springs
- COL101971
- Rum Island Springs
- Gilchrist Blue Spring
- Naked Spring
- Johnson Spring
- Ginnie Springs group
- Sawdust Spring
- COL1012972
- COL1012971
- Siphon Creek Rise Spring
- Myrtle's Fissure
- GIL1012971
- GIL1012972
- 47 Boatramp Spring (or GIL1012974)
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