Rainbow Springs State Park headsprings

We visited the headsprings part of Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, Florida.

Their map:

Rainbow Springs map

The main part of the park is physically separated from the campground:

A sign with info about the history:

Info sign

Pond and waterfall:

Pond and waterfall

Natural Landmark since 1972:

Natural Landmark since 1972

Paths and the spring:

Paths and the spring

Caution, gators:

Gators

Info sign:

Info sign

Selfie:

Selfie

Swimming area:

Swimming area

Swimming area

Swimming area from other side:

Swimming area from other side

Bumpy path:

Bumpy path

Marshy area:

Weedy area

Marshy area

Bubbling sand GIF:

Bubbling sand

Waterfall GIF:

Waterfall

Waterfall long exposure:

Waterfall long exposure

A nice park. Apparently crazy busy in summer, but not so much in winter.

Seeing hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida

We visited Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida, to see manatees. These fascinating creatures spend the winter gathered around warm springs connected to the gulf, as the springs maintain a temperature of 72° F year-round.

Here’s a map of the springs:

A map on the wall of the visitor center:

Map

350 manatees counted:

350 manatees counted

Entrance sign:

Crystal River Three Sisters Springs

Manatee manners signs:

Manatee manners

One of the springs:

Spring

Lots of manatees:

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

Manatees

The nearby Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center:

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Rainbow Springs State Park

We stayed at Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A very nice state park campground.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-01-12
  • Check out: 2025-01-19
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly sunny, some rain
  • High temps 57-68°F, lows 38-48°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 21 MPH, sheltered amongst trees

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • Occasional distant train horn noise
  • Little neighbor noise

Site:

  • #9, back-in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
  • Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
  • Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by 15 feet wide
  • 40 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Thick trees and bushes between sites, nicely private
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit and charcoal grill
  • Tall trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 50 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 40 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 50-140 Mbps down, 15 Mps up, 30-40 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5-10 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • AT&T: 1-4 Mbps down, 0.01-1 Mbps up, 86 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 750 ms ping, unreliable
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful state park

We enjoyed our stay here and wish we could’ve stayed longer. The sites were spacious and private, with good hookups. It was quiet most of the week, with just some noise from the weekend crowd. You do have to drive a bit to get to the Rainbow Springs headwaters area, but it’s worth checking out. The river access at the campground is nice enough on its own, with kayak rentals at the main store/ranger station. We camped at Rainbow Springs State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: If you’re new to Florida and looking for manatees, this is not one of those springs. It is an easy daytrip down to Crystal Springs, however, where we saw tons of manatees….

Campground map:

Rainbow Springs

An interactive map:

Our nicely secluded site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Can’t see any other sites from the living area of the site, though there is a path behind the sites that occasionally has a walker or bike:

Our site

Utilities:

Our site

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Bathrooms, with a washer & dryer just out there:

Bathrooms, and washer & dryer just out there

RV check in area:

RV check in area

Basic camp store in the building with the check-in office:

Office and camp store

Camp store

Camp store

Picnic shelter:

Picnic shelter

A very moss-draped tree:

Tree

The Rainbow River:

River

River

Rental kayaks:

Kayaks

We’d be very happy to stay here again, and for longer.

Travel from Carrabelle to Dunnellon, Florida

We drove our coach 203 miles, about four hours of driving, from Carrabelle to Dunnellon, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading southeast:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops marked (we actually only stopped once, at Rocky’s 98):

Toading up at Ho-Hum RV Park; we miss that view:

Toading up at Ho-Hum RV Park

Why does their bear sign look like a polar bear?

Why does their bear sign look like a polar bear?

Goodbye Gulf Coast:

Goodbye Gulf Coast

Lunch stop at Rocky’s 98 gas station:

Rocky's

They had convenient big-rig-sized parking:

Convenient parking

A kitchen with various food options:

Food options

We just grabbed some super-healthy stuff for lunch (and fudge for dessert later):

Lunch

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Turning right in Perry:

Turning right in Perry

Paladin was feeling very snuggly on this trip:

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

“Follow That Dream Parkway”:

Follow That Dream Parkway

Arriving at Rainbow Springs State Park; we had to wait for several minutes for another RV blocking the entrance, presumably because they didn’t have the gate code; this park is unusual in that you need a code to get in even before checking in, which they provide via email beforehand:

Rainbow Springs State Park

Check in parking:

Check in parking

Office:

Office

Our site:

Our site

Custom desk tweaks

While in Red Bay we got Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets to do a few tweaks to the custom desk he previously built for us.

As a reminder, here’s the pull-out desktop he originally built. It was fine, but had a few things that bothered me:

Old desktop

Firstly, the front edge was flush with the cabinet below, making it harder to open, which also meant that when it was extended the desk chair would have to be on the edge of the carpet. Secondly, the ends of the sliders were exposed, which was untidy. Thirdly, the piece of Corian next to the desktop didn’t match the height of the others:

Old desktop

And lastly, the desktop was sloped towards the back:

Old desktop

He removed the old desktop and side piece, and had new ones made:

Removed desktop

The new desktop addresses all of those issues — it extends four inches in front of the cabinet, so is easier to pull out and the chair doesn’t have to go onto the slide carpet; it has a wider front to hide the slides, it isn’t angled, and it has a lip on the back to prevent things falling into the monitor lift area:

New desktop

Plus the piece to the right of the desktop now also matches better:

New desktop

The desk in use, with the monitor raised:

Desk

Much nicer.

Florida’s Forgotten Coast

While staying at Ho-Hum RV Park, we did a few drives along the Forgotten Coast, in the panhandle of Florida. Amongst other things, we saw all four of the lighthouses on the coast.

A pamphlet for the lighthouse driving tour, with information about each lighthouse:

Lighthouse driving tour pamphlet

Lighthouse driving tour pamphlet

The first drive was west of the RV park, with lunch at the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Cafe (they have a live cam you can view, too), then St George Island Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

Bridge to St George Island:

Bridge to St George Island

Blue Parrot for lunch:

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

Blue Parrot

St George Island Lighthouse; unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited:

St George Island Lighthouse

St George Island Lighthouse

St George Island beach:

St George Island beach

Further west, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse in Port St Joe:

Cape San Blas Lighthouse


The second drive was east of the RV park, to St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St Mark’s Lighthouse, and Publix groceries on the way back.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge visitor center, with info about the lighthouse too:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

The wildlife refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks Lighthouse:

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse

St Marks Lighthouse


The third drive was to have lunch at The Fisherman’s Wife restaurant in Carrabelle, then visit the nearby Crooked River Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

The Fisherman’s Wife; we wanted to eat here last year, but they were closed for the holidays. They were closed again most of the time we were at Ho-Hum this time too, but opened a few days before our departure:

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

The Fisherman's Wife

Crooked River Lighthouse, the tallest of the four:

Crooked River Lighthouse

The old lighthouse keeper’s house, now a small free museum:

Crooked River Lighthouse

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Fascinating stuff. We really enjoy this area of Florida; much more laid-back than the more touristy and populated parts.