Myakka River State Park, Florida - April 3rd to 7th, 2023

If you want to see alligators, Myakka River State Park seems to be the place to see them. At least when we visited, the only way you could go through the park and not see any gators was to keep your eyes closed the whole time. We lost count of how many gators we saw.

Monday we drove from Silver Springs State Park to Myakka River State Park. As it had become our routine on a travel day, we filled our water tank half way and dumped our cassette and gray water tanks before we left the campground. As we were dumping the toilet cassette, we noticed some liquid had spilled out into the cassette compartment. We wiped it up, but we’re not sure why it happened.

Stopping by a grocery store and any other stores that we needed had also become part of our travel day routine. At the grocery store, we picked up a spray bottle to keep a diluted vinegar solution in. We’ll keep the spray bottle in bottom of the water compartment so it will be handy to wipe out the cassette compartment in case we encounter any more spillage. We had been buying pints of Blue Bell ice cream to keep in our freezer, but the store only had half gallons. We weren’t sure if a half gallon would fit. We risked it and bought it anyway. If it doesn’t fit, we’ll just have to quickly eat it! It turned out that not only did it fit, we can fit two half gallons in there. Woohoo!

At a hardware store, we picked up some miscellaneous tools needed to finish installing the handle on our screen door. While we were there, we picked up a small DC fan. In a week, we’ll be staying at Big Cypress National Preserve with no electrical hookups, which means no air conditioning. We wanted to be prepared with options for staying comfortable.

While we were searching our route for stores, we noticed that there was a Whit’s Frozen Custard shop in the town of Land O’Lakes. We are very familiar with Whit’s, which started in Granville, Ohio. Even though it was a little bit out of our way, we just had to stop! Whits did not disappoint.

When we reached Myakka River State Park and set up for camp, we noticed a strong urine smell in the bathroom. Cleaning the toilet, both inside the bathroom and inside the cassette compartment with our vinegar solution seemed to solve the issue. For our vinegar solution, we use one part distilled vinegar to one part water. It’s the same thing we use to clean our bathrooms at home. We’ll keep on eye on the cassette toilet to make sure we do not continue to have issues.

Tuesday, we pulled out the e-bikes and explored part of the park. First stop was the Visitor Center. We picked up a hiking and biking map and talked to the park ranger. She said that paddle boarding was allowed, but not recommended. According to her, there are a thousand gators that live in the lake. She recommended renting a kayak or canoe if we wanted to paddle in the lake or river. Many of the trails do not allow bicycles, but they are allowed on the roads, both paved and dirt.

From the Visitor Center, we rode up the park road to Upper Myakka Lake. Along the way, we stopped at the bridge over the river to check out the dozen or so alligators hanging out in the water. The lake has boat tours, tram tours, bike and boat rentals, a café and a gift shop. However, the boat tours were not operating due to the low water levels. This was the dry season, and it was extremely dry this year. The café was operating out of a food truck as they were trying to repair the building from Hurricane Ian that hit the area the previous fall. We also didn’t see where the boat and bike rentals were, perhaps they were not operating as well. There were no boats out on the lake or the river, none that we saw anyway, but that may have been partially due to the low water levels. We heard that sections of the river can disappear during the dry season.

We ordered lunch from the food truck and enjoyed our food in the nearby picnic shelter, out of the sun. It was a hot day, in the low 90’s. We were finally getting the summer weather that we missed during Season Four: Alaska Bound. We both had the pulled pork sandwich and split an order of Gator Bites. The food was OK. The pork was a little dry and we’re assuming the Gator Bites were alligator meat, but it was hard to tell them apart from chicken nuggets.

We bought tickets for the 2:30 pm tram tour. Since we had about an hour to kill before the tour, we walked along the lake shore over to the river. There were a large variety of birds along with plenty of alligators. The gators seemed to be gathered at the mouth of the river.

The tram tour goes through three different eco systems. Our driver not only explained the three different systems along with their different characteristics, plants, and animals, she also provided a good history of the area, including information about Bertha Palmer, whose ranch became Myakka River State Park.

The tram tour is supposed to last an hour, but we got a late start and then stayed out longer, so we didn’t get back until 4 pm. Along our tour, we stopped for a while to watch a few baby alligators and their mama who returned while we were there. The tram driver thought the mother alligator was getting ready to move the babies. As water was drying up and it was mating season, the gators were on the move, some to find more water, some to find mates.

After our tour, we rode our bikes back to the campground. We’ll explore more of the park in the following days.

Since none of the trails start at the campground and there was no rain in the forecast, we left our e-bikes out, locking them to the bumper of Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). Even if we want to mainly hike the next day, we’ll want to ride our bikes to get to the trailheads.

We turned the air conditioner on in Red Tail when we returned from our bike ride, to cool the rig back down. We also tried to put the awning out to shade the rig. It would only go a couple of inches before getting stuck. We retracted it and tried again, several times. No luck. Was the awning sticking due to the heat and humidity? Keith asked the Facebook group for help. The awning will have to wait until another day.

As we were sitting inside after dark, we could hear a light rain falling on the roof. Wait, we didn’t think it was going to rain! We grabbed the tarp from the generator compartment, draped it over our bikes, and secured it with a bungee cord. So the tarp comes in handy for more than just keeping us dry and clean when crawling under the rig. However, the rain did not last long, so we probably didn’t even need the tarp, but it made us sleep easier that night.

Wednesday, we hopped on our bikes and rode to the end of the park road, The main road is seven miles long. On the way out, we stopped a couple of times. First we stopped at the bridge, but there were not as many gators out as there were the day before. The next stop was at the Canopy Walk and Nature Trail. The Canopy Walk is two tall towers connected by a short hanging bridge, so you can view the wildlife in the tree tops. However, the Canopy Walk was damaged in the hurricane so it was closed, waiting to be repaired. Instead, we walked the Nature Trail, just a little over a mile long, mostly in the shade of palm trees and live oaks.

After the road to the lake splits off, the main road continues alongside the lake. With the lake on one side of the road and trees on the other, there were views out over the lake while still being in the cool shade. At the far end of the park road is the Clay Gully Picnic Area. The picnic area has restrooms and a picnic shelter with a few more picnic tables which had views of the small stream. It was a very peaceful place to sit in the shade and enjoy our snacks.

On the way back, we stopped at the Bird Walk. The Bird Walk is a boardwalk that stretches out into the lake, well, during the wet season anyways. The Bird Walk was also damaged in the hurricane and was closed. However, the lake level was so low that you could walk alongside the Bird Walk out to the end since the ground was dry. However, there wasn’t a view of any birds since the water was so far away and we were so close to the ground.

From there we rode over to the Lake Area, stopping at the gift shop for cold drinks and an ice cream bar. It was another hot day, so our treats were refreshing. As we were leaving the area, we had to stop to let a couple of sandhill cranes walked across the road in front of us. Then one of them went back across the road, to get their chick! Why are baby animals so cute?

On the way back to the campground, we checked out the Fishermen’s Loop. It was a small parking area next to the river. The river at that point was pretty narrow. Ann snapped a couple of pictures of the river before noticing the twelve foot long gator in the water just below the bank, about 25 feet from us. Only his head was visible and he was completely motionless. An insect landed on his head and the gator didn’t even blink an eye.

Thursday we headed for the beach. The closest public beach we could find was Nokomis Beach on Casey Key, Sarasota’s oldest public beach. It was about a half an hour drive from Myakka River State Park.

We arrived just a little after 10 am and had no problem getting a parking spot in the lot. Backing in the spot, we were able to fit in the spot with our back end hanging over the curb. There was a steady stream of cars entering the parking lot and the lot was full about 15 to 20 minutes later. We timed it perfectly. It did look like there was more parking across the street and further down the street, but if you want a spot in the main lot, we would recommend arriving before 10 am, on a weekday. We have no idea how early you need to arrive on a weekend.

The beach was crowded, but nice. The sand was not as sugary fine as Destin Beach, which we visited a couple of weeks prior (Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, Florida - March 22nd to 25th, 2023). However, there were a lot more seashells in the sand. People had small wire baskets on the ends of poles that they were scooping up the shells on the bottom of the surf to look for nice shells.

There is a short boardwalk the runs the length of the public beach. There are bathrooms at each end along with a few covered picnic tables and benches along the boardwalk, with views of the ocean. At the one end is a concession stand.

Not being ones who like to just sit on a beach, we walked the beach for about an hour and half. First we headed south. At the end of the public beach, there are signs posted that it is private. Unlike the signs we saw at Destin Beach, these signs clearly stated that the private area extended to the mean high water line. We weren’t sure where that was, but we guessed it was close to where the signs were installed. Assuming we were fine as long as we stayed close to the water, we continued on. At the south end of the island is another public beach, North Jetty Beach. You could tell where the public beach began since the private beaches were empty and the public beaches were packed with people, chairs, and umbrellas.

We turned around at the inlet and headed back the other direction. After passing through Nokomis Beach, it looked like the beach was lined by private homes, cottages and resorts, but there were no private property signs posted. We continued for a little while. It looked like you could walk along the beach for miles. However, we had enough, our water bottles were empty, so we turned around.

After fixing ourselves lunch inside Red Tail, we took it over to one of the shady picnic tables near the parking lot. Watching a large, black snack make its rounds through the dead leaves kept Ann entertained.

Ann wanted to go for a swim, but Keith is not a beach or water person. So while Ann went into the ocean, Keith camped out at a shady picnic table on the boardwalk, with a view of the ocean. He had his iPad with him, so we’re not sure how much time he was actually taking in the view.

Ann waded out into the water up to her shoulders. The ocean was pretty calm that day, the green flag was out. She laid out on the surface of the water with her feet pointed out to the open water, letting the gentle waves bob her up and down. It was very relaxing. A group of pelicans, off in the distance, were diving down into the water for their food, sending up a ten foot high splash as they hit the surface. Ann could have stayed out there longer, but she felt a little guilty knowing that Keith was just sitting there waiting for her. So she was probably only out in the water less than half an hour.

While she was letting her suit dry out, she bought an ice cream cup from the concession stand and joined Keith at the picnic table. Shark Tooth Beach Concessions serves a limited number of flavors of Lickity Splits Ice Cream in cups. Lickity Splits is a local ice cream shop. The flavors available the day we were there were vanilla, chocolate brownie, and mint chocolate chip. Yep, you guessed it. Ann chose the mint chocolate chip. It had a very strong mint flavor, very refreshing on a hot day. After that, we called it a day, and headed back to the campground.

Friday morning, we rode our bikes again to the Upper Myakka Lake area, stopping along the way at the bridge and Fisherman’s Loop to check out the gators. At the lake, we walked the shoreline again to view the birds and gators. On our ride back to the campground, we spotted a family of feral pigs, at a small watering hole where a large gator lived.

Feral pigs are a nuisance in Florida. They were brought over by the Spaniards and have been here ever since. The wild boars can be quite aggressive and dangerous to people. The park does their best at trying to remove them from the area. We noticed a pig trap not far from the park road during our bike ride on Wednesday.

We met a Florida couple who was interested in learning about our e-bikes, as they are considering buying one. We had an enjoyable chat with Mike and Tonya for quite a while. They seemed like a lovely couple. It is so much fun meeting new people and learning about their lives.

After lunch back at the campground, we just hung out inside Red Tail, in the air conditioning. We took the time to take care of some things, like laundry and showers. Keith installed the handle on the inside of the screen door, now that he had all the parts he needed.

He also fixed the awning. Forcing the awning out by pulling on it revealed that a small twig had been rolled up with the awning. The twig must have caused the awning to bind up. It left some stretch marks in the fabric of the awning. Checking for items on top of the awning before we retract it will be added to our routine.

We noticed earlier that there was a sign at the ranger station indicating there was a concert Friday evening. We asked about it when we came back from the beach the day before. The concert is a fundraiser put on by the Friends of Myakka River. It sounds like it is a monthly event. The entertainment for the evening was The Wandering Hours, a local bluegrass band. That sounded interesting, so after dinner, we walked over to the South Pavilion Lawn, near the ranger station, just half a mile from our campground, with our camp chairs in our hands.

The concert tickets were $25 per person, with all the proceeds directly benefitting Myakka River State Park. There was a nice stage, picnic pavilion, playground, and restrooms all conveniently located at the venue. We were surprised about how many people attended, several hundred of them. It looked like most of them were local and this was a big social event for them. Despite there being a concession stand available, many people brought elaborate spreads of food with them.

Since Keith doesn’t like music too loud, we picked out a spot near the back. However, the amplifiers were not turned up too loud and the people around us were enjoying their conversations with each other more than listening to the band. So we moved up a little closer to the stage at intermission.

Keith bought a beer from the concession while Ann enjoyed a brownie. The brownies were another fundraiser. Ann thought brownies were very appropriate, since legend has it that Bertha Palmer invented the chocolate brownie.

As the sun set and it started getting dark, they lighted the tiki torches surrounding the pavilion lawn along with a handful of fire pits. The fire pits were nicely vented on the bottom, so the smoke mainly rose straight up. However, it was a warm evening and the fires were a little warm if you were sitting too close to them. Both the torches and the fires created a wonderful ambience.

The concert started at 7 pm and continued until 9:30 pm. We don’t know how long they intended the concert to last, because it seemed they stopped early due to the light rain that was starting to fall. We seemed to be the only ones there from the campgrounds. All the parked cars were heading out of the park, which left the empty, dark road for us to walk along back to the campground. We had brought our headlamps, so it was a rather peaceful walk back in the dark, with our lights showing us the way.

Yes, we saw lots of alligators in Myakka River State park, but it also had a lot more to offer. We loved the variety during our stay. A little biking, a little hiking, a variety of birds, feral pigs, a music concert, and a beautiful beach not too far away. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Check out our related video: Myakka River State Park, Florida

(Ann)