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January 2024 by Jeff K.
Amazing day. We watch Secrets of the Zoo on tv and see them rehabilitate manatees. They bring them to power plant areas where the warm waters create a great environment for them to thrive. Really cool to see the manatees interact with each other. Some bonding, some rivalries and mostly calm and slow moving. The staff was great. Very helpful with questions. The parking volunteers were really cool and friendly. Go there and take your time to appreciate these great animals.
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January 2024 by C W.
Beautiful park! I visited on a day with misting rain and there were so many cool mushrooms to see and orchids up in the oaks near the water on one of the trails. If you enjoy walking in natural Florida and seeing native flora and fauna, this is a beautiful little park.
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November 2023 by Haley Stromberg
We enjoyed a peaceful, quiet, private ride in nature with Gulf Coast Ponies. Madison was knowledgeable of the area, caught so many amazing pictures & made the ride peaceful and easy going for our rookie selves. Such a beautiful park!
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November 2023 by Tori Wiley
The family campground is small, but most sites have nice privacy. Many sites have quite a bit of sun, and partial shade can mean that you only have shade in the morning or evening. It's very nice and quiet , far from the roads. I would have loved to see more care for the campground as far as debris from bushes and trees, and that sites would be raked. The sand on the sites are almost as fine as ashes and gets into campers and tents. Debris from bushes and trees is laying around including the trail around the campground and some clean up would make the whole place look nicer and taken care of. A couple of sites at the entrance by the bathroom look very trashed like someone has stayed there for years which also drags down the overall impression. The bathroom is 2 yrs old, but still looks unfinished around on the outside. Trees have a lot of moss and vines.Lots of trails, could be marked better as we went on the beautiful Oxbow trail which is supposed to be a loop, but we ended up by a swamp, the trail seemed to end so we went back. Nice place for canoeing, the water is dark so definitely watch for alligators. I am hoping this will be read by those who run it to motivate some clean up!Playground: The whole playground was right in the sun, but it was a nice oneRestrooms: The restrooms are good. The showers don't have curtains so there is a gap in the door people can look inDog-friendliness: Very dog friendly
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October 2023 by Bernard B
I thoroughly enjoyed the layout, minimal flying insects and/or carnivorous predators. The sites are spacious and well situated.Water and electricity are available at most of the spots for those that need a fan to sleep. Oh and the hot showers
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October 2023 by Ana Jesselli
This was a great walk. $5 to use trails. The trail is a 6.1 mile loop. Beautiful woods. I saw some wildlife. Parking was easy to find.
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October 2023 by Brent M. Ferns, Sr.
This is a beautiful park. We kayaked through the park for about 3 hours and saw all sorts of flora and fauna, including alligators, turtles, otters, manatee, deer, and much more. The restrooms along the river were very clean, too!
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October 2023 by Chrissy Ciroli
HUGE rattlesnake on an entrance/ exit of the Oxbow trail!!!! Called park offices to see if a ranger could come out and relocate it because I could not pass it and they told me they were too busy and basically good luck! After going to the front office to show photos and videos and show location, they told me it was a pine snake and they ARE AWARE ITS THERE! If you will not relocate it, CLOSE THE TRAIL OR WARN PEOPLE. it is aggressive and aggravated and IS NOT A PINE SNAKE. Lunged to strike me, thankfully did not and we just scared each other. However in the 6 years of walking trails with my dog, I have never encountered a dangerous situation where I was offered NO HELP from the staff. I will never return.
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October 2023 by Glenn V.
The moneys been put in the box at the booth, it's five bucks and The Honor System is used - thena series of slow winding snake turns up the next half mile past the canoe launch and into the parking lot & picnic area where there's also a little playground set up for screaming kids.Last week we explored to the East, logic dictates we head West because there's more land, more trails and a brisk twenty minutes in, past the equestrian area and I had wished I brought my compass . So I looked to the sun, it was my nearing 9:45AM so I made a quick little sundial and determined my bearings, keeping the rays at my right shoulder, a tall pine in the distance for extra measure.So quickly the terrain can change from soft and slow white sand to fast packed non-silty soil to brown and boggy muddy to green and lush all within a stones throw in any direction. Know this friends - you'll be given no help from signage - only arrows , there are numbers from 15 to 3 - yet, not telling ya anything at all - no maps at the gate, nobody in the booth at the gate - nobody official looking around, so be aware of that if you want to see beyond the next turn. Getting turned around is easier than going straight towards the trails end. I assumed that the 15 I saw, then the 7 I saw then the 3&4 means I'd be on a cylindrical circumnavigation - looping back to the pavement that takes you in and separated the two very different sides of the park.We came up on Dude Lake and here in this primitive shallow shored lake - along with birds, turtles are sounds unique to my ears, movements in the brush that have the dogs diving into and thrashing within - only to pop out from the other side dumbfounded and disappointed. There are things that are unseen underneath - human penetration is virtually impossible without damaging the plants, vines and thick green entanglements. I believe these are small creatures, whatever they are but emit the most beautiful sounds, whatever they are.
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October 2023 by Chrissy C.
HUGE rattlesnake on an entrance/ exit of the Oxbow trail!!!! Called park offices to see if a ranger could come out and relocate it because I could not pass it and they told me they were too busy and basically good luck! After going to the front office to show photos and videos and show location, they told me it was a pine snake and they ARE AWARE ITS THERE! If you will not relocate it, CLOSE THE TRAIL OR WARN PEOPLE. it is aggressive and aggravated and IS NOT A PINE SNAKE. Lunged to strike me, thankfully did not and we just scared each other. However in the 6 years of walking trails with my dog, I have never encountered a dangerous situation where I was offered NO HELP from the staff. I will never return.
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August 2023 by tamera lanier
Amazing family adventures! Everyone was friendly everything was clean just beautiful!
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August 2023 by Banana Killjoy
Beautiful. Not a lot of fauna and the flora is kinda bland. Gets overgrown easily/frequently, but not unmanageable. Lots of beautiful views all by the river. 6.5 mile trail. You can rent a kayak but we haven't, so I can't speak on that.
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August 2023 by Leo Amaya
Great estate park to spend a couple days there is no place to swim only walk and bike. We could find any fish in there .bathrooms were very clean.
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July 2023 by Kerry Walsh
$5 is a steal! Small park with water access, camping, and trails. Not crowded at all. Has a playground and several pavilions. River and lake to boat or kayak.Playground: Simple buy has swings! No fence.Restrooms: Clean and accessablePicnic area: Several to choose from. Some have pavilions.
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July 2023 by bettsy quezada
My happy place! So big! And you can alone, with friends, family is awesome!Pay is easy and super cheap, clean and tou can explore freely! And if you are lucky see horses too! They have a playground, parking everywhere, picnic are, mobilehome areas too!
