Myakka River State Park: A Natural Haven

Awesome place to take the family!

I visited Myakka River State Park today. While it’s certainly a pretty spot with plenty of classic Florida nature, as someone who has visited many state parks across Florida, this unfortunately isn't one of my favorites. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from visiting, but my experience was a bit of a mixed bag. The Highlights: The standout feature for me is definitely the tower connected to the canopy walk—it is pretty neat and offers a truly beautiful, sweeping view of the landscape. The Downsides: A bit of the park fell short of expectations. One of the main docks is currently closed, and the much-talked-about canopy walk itself turns out to be very short. Overall, it’s worth a stop if you are in the area and want to check out the views from the tower, but compared to some of the other phenomenal state parks Florida has to offer, this one ranks lower on my personal list.

Awesome experience

It has been many years since I have visited Myakka River State Park. From that previous visit I have always held fond memories of how nice of a park it was, with great trails and lots of wildlife to encounter. Unfortunately, it is just a bit out of reach for me to visit regularly. So, it had been with high hopes that I made it a point to revisit recently. I was really disappointed. I write this with the full understanding that they are still trying to recover from storms that hit two years ago. There is a fairly short (about 3/4 mile) nature trail, which also contains the Canopy Walkway. The nature trail itself has some interesting interpretive signs along the way but is really nothing more than what you can see at other Florida parks. The Canopy Walk, i.e. a platform that brings a visitor up to treetop level, is quite short at about 100 feet long. Other hiking trails were mostly unmaintained and very very buggy. The Birdwalk, basically a wooden pier stretching out into Upper Myakka Lake, was previously destroyed and has not, yet, been replaced. The concessionaire, Pink Gator Cafe, is closed and food is being served out of a trailer setup in the same location. Kayaks seemed to still be available for rent, but I did not witness anyone taking advantage. The Gift Shop was open, and their prices for beverages was reasonable. The refrigerator was working overtime, as these were ice cold and very welcomed. Prices for gift items seemed elevated to me (t-shirts "starting at" $30), but I presume these are set by the State Park system and not the individual stores. They may sell more at more reasonable pricing. Restrooms near the gift shop were fairly clean but were lacking in paper towels for drying hands. What was really striking on this visit, however, was the distinct lack of animals. Beyond a handful of birds (and insects), there was such little wildlife as to question if something was going on with the lake(s) and waterways. The waters were mostly dead, with no sightings of turtles, alligators, or even the ripples as evidence of any fish. It was very very uncharacteristic for a Florida park. My thought originally was that this was going to be a one-star review, due to the current conditions of the park, and my experience during this visit. However, I decided to add one additional star for nostalgia, as I think back to what this park used to be, and could someday return to.

We had a good time here and were able to observe some animals. However, we must also say that this place is in dire need of renovation and refurbishment.