Myakka River State Park is one of the biggest (37,000 acres), oldest (established February 18, 1941), and best (see article below) Florida State Parks to visit and camp at.
Located at 13208 State Road 72, Sarasota FL 3424. Open 8am – sunset. $6 per vehicle. Camping is $26 per night. Easily accessible to a huge portion of the population.
The 6.5 main road is the backbone of the park. I recommend you drive its entire length. We did a few late night drives and saw barn owls, hogs, alligators, opossums, deer, and other critters.
The bridge on the main road spans the Myakka River and is the best place to see alligators. They like to sun on the bank. A good hiking trail runs along the river here too.
Lake Myakka was beautiful. We tried some fishing on the lake but didn’t catch anything. There were dozens of bird species on the lake, including the pink roseate spoonbill. You can take a boat out on the lake for a large sum of money.
The canopy walk is the most popular attraction, based on designs scientists use in South America to get over the tree line to search for birds. The main tower is 76 feet tall and visitors can climb all the way to the top.
Myakka was plenty big enough to entertain my entire family for our four day camping trip. It was a wet trip, even though we went in late December. But the wetness was set off by a hardy Christmas spirit. The campgrounds were decked out in Christmas decorations.
Everybody handles Christmas differently, though. When I was there a young woman hiked off by herself to the distant primitive campsites to spend Christmas alone.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), I didn’t have my state park passport yet, so I will have to come back to get my official stamp.
One of my favorite state parks thus far on my journey to visit all 175 of them. I hope you find the time to visit too.
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