Myakka River State Park

March 25, 2010 by steve.

Well another month and another trip. This time we went only about 20 miles south of February’s trip to Myakka River State Park. Since we had done most of the attractions in the area the previous month, this was a great month to just camp and stay in the park.
Myakka is a park that has a bunch to do. There is the opportunity to ride on the “world’s largest airboat,” and a tram tour. There are a number of trails for hiking or biking, and ranger led talks. Perhaps my favorite thing was the Canopy Walk, a suspension bridge between two towers that is up in the tree canopy. I liked this so much I went back and did it a second and third time.

Canopy Walk

Like most central and south Florida parks the wildlife that you see on the trails and tours is birds and gators. But in Myakka there are big gators to see. There is a long walkway that reaches into the lake that is referred to as the Birdwalk. I was curious as to why it was called the Birdwalk, since it looked like a pier. It seems that this spring the water is exceptionally high in the lake, so the Birdwalk is a pier that looks over water about four feet deep at its end. In normal years the Birdwalk is more like an elevated walkway through a marshy wetland that is a rookery for numerous wading birds.

There are two camping loops at Myakka located a couple of miles apart. The loops are dirt roads, and the campsites are also with water and electricity. There are a number of small campsites, so finding sites big enough for a rig over 25 feet is a bit of a challenge. Most of the sites are very close together with little privacy, but there are some that have some foliage around them. I haven’t posted a campground map yet, but the campsite “inventory” pictures of the loop we were in are on flickr. The park ranger said they are building a new campground loop up near the entrance that will be “big rig” friendly and have full hookup. Once the new loop is completed toward the end of the summer (yes this summer they say), they plan to go in a “re-arrange” the sites in the other loops. No one was real clear on what “re-arrange” meant, but it seems that they are going to remove some of the smaller sites and try and enlarge the remaining sites.

Overall we had a great long weekend at Myakka. This was a bit of an extended trip, with a departure from home on Thursday and a return on Sunday. Myakka is a relaxing and self contained park that is a pleasure to just set up camp and walk/bike around without leaving. Pictures of the stuff we did at Myakka are here.

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