Dear Visitor,
Our City and its residents are bound closely by a wondrous and awe-inspiring sash-- the Hillsborough River. It meanders through our most private areas, flows under busy public thoroughfares, and in the process, brings joy and peace to everyone who encounters it. It is brimming with aquatic life, teeming with wildlife, and is an avian haven. Our residents use it for relaxation, contemplation, and restoration.
Upstream, it is a narrow, winding body of water, well-suited to solitary and silent canoe and kayak exploration. Downstream, it is a broad and straighter passage used by groups of power-boaters, water skiers, wake boarders, and jet-skiers. Fishermen use all of it, from casting tiny nymph flies in the upper narrows to Carolina-rigging for monster bass by the dam. Along its banks, one can watch in suspense as an alligator sits motionless, waiting for the opportunity to feed on an unknowing fish. Inspiration soars as a flash of pink when the spoonbill claws for the sky; or when a hawk dives seemingly out of nowhere and flies off clutching a wriggling blue gill. The perfect formation of a covey of baby ducks, silently shepherded by their mother seems fittingly correct, providing a quiet sense of balance in this cacophonous world.
Our river is a constant source of joy and amazement to those familiar with it. We invite you to join in our wonder and explore this treasure; but please, “Leave no trace!”
