The Withlacoochee meaning "Crooked River", or "The With", as locals call it, is a blackwater river starting in the Green Swamp near Lakeland, Florida. The river twists and turns its way in a northwest direction for about 100 miles before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of only two rivers in central Florida that runs from south to north and it’s of such ecological and recreational importance that it was designated an Area of Critical State Concern in 1979 and added to Florida’s Statewide System of Greenways and Trails a few years later.
The official 83-mile long canoe trail begins in Lacoochee and ends at Dunnellon Wayside Park. Beyond this the Withlacoochee forms Lake Rousseau, a long skinny lake that was created to be part of the ill-fated Cross Florida Barge Canal. The proposed canal was an engineering project that would have rivaled the Panama Canal in length and served a similar purpose, however it was never completed for financial and environmental reasons.
