Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

Newest State Park in Florida. There was a vent collapse in June 2023 that is a very interesting phenomenon of nature. But the water is back super clear as you can see the sandy bottom. If you want to camp, it has to be this year. In January, the campground will be shut down to remodel. Lots of construction barriers, so they must have had flooding issues. A beautiful place to visit on the cheap! Highly underutilized during the week, so the best time to go! Enjoy Mother Nature!

Lovely experience. The spring is clean and crystal clear but the water is FREEZING. Don’t miss out on the Canoe experience. RV areas are well equipped with water, electricity fire and are spacious. Cheap entry fees and cheap food. Hotdogs are fine, do yourself a favor and avoid the cheeseburger. Recommend you bring your own food and do a BBQ. Restrooms are a huge nono. Just no.

Although the spring itself is beautiful, there is nothing pretty about what surrounds it. There is an old wood boardwalk & stairs that have been fenced off with a rather ugly fencing, leaving only one access to the spring and it's the boat launch ramp. And there are some floating rope devices a few feet from the edges with some stagnant looking water inside it. But, the water beyond it in the spring is crystal clear and flowing nicely.nYou can rent a canoe or kayak or just bring your own flotation device.nThe restrooms are in really rough condition, needing paint & a good cleaning. Needs renovation.nIf you are just here for the day to use the spring, it's a nice place to have a picnic & swim.nThe trails are interesting, we saw two smaller springs that were closed off, under a restoration. But lovely to view. Bring a walking pole if you have any balance problems, as there are many obstacles along the paths, roots, etc. Plus, the paths can get slightly steep in places. But, it's mostly white sugar sand.nIf you plan to stay the night, RV or tent, they have water & electric, but NO holding tank dump. You have to drive to O'Leno park for that. Very inconvenient! Especially since the road into the park is a sandy washboard. We had to leave before our last night, with full holding tanks, we couldn't stay. After driving back down the washboard road, we just couldn't drive back. So, we moved on.nAlso, parking in many of the RV spots is a challenge if you have a large rig. Ours is a 33' motorcoach & we couldn't have pulled into our assigned spot if the spot across from us had been occupied, because of the trees & fences surrounding each space. Most RV spots are not level or even close, they are on soft sand which made it difficult with our auto level system. The pads sunk into the sand.nThankfully, the state has big plans for this park. We will return after the renovations are done, but only if they pave the road into the park.

Great spring for a day trip, but if your camping not so great. Only one bath house for the campsites and day visitors. It gets very messy fast. Do not get site 9. If you have a trailer, there is a tree in the middle of the site. Challenging to back in and not hit it.

A kid friendly state park and Florida spring experience.nnThere are public restrooms and showers on site. Picnic tables, pavilions and grill pits. Canoe and kayak rentals are available, or you can swim in the spring. There are several easy hiking trails around the park as well.nnThe spring is fairly shallow throughout and therefore makes a kid friendly place to go. That said, be prepared for lots of little kids running and splashing around. If you are looking for a quiet and serene spring, you may want to look elsewhere.nnBecause of the close proximity to the camp sites, campers and day visitors end up really crowding up the spring area during the heat of the day.