Withlacoochee River Park — Attraction in Dade City

In Florida it is rare for a park to exceed the mundane. Right out of the 2nd parking lot is a view of the river on a canoe launch dock.

Going to the furthestmost primitive campaign was pretty smooth and well marked. Florida's deadliest snake, coral, in the first mile! Bring a blanket for lunch at the campsite where there is a cleared area but zero amenities.

Headed west from the campsite is only for the experienced hiker. Hurricane Milton left numerous huge trees down over the trail and haven't been cleared. Got lost three times trying to get to the primitive campsite near the observation tower.

In December 2024 the multiple trails in the middle of the park are completely underwater from record setting rains this year. You cannot make it to the boardwalk from the west or southern trails without wading in 1-2 foot water (we didn't even try). It would be helpful if someone put a sign somewhere near the parking lot that indicate this. Also note there are no park maps from the parking lot we left from, so try to find one in a guidebook, online or use the free Strava app (which is what saved us when we missed several turns at double marks on trees).

There is a playground near one parking lot. Big pavilion for picnics too. Bathrooms only near the one parking lot, but the trail from the first parking lot goes near it.

We hiked for six hours, covering about 8.5 miles. Lots of trees to protect you from the sun. Numerous ecosystems. The amount of animals you see during your day are impressive. Coral snake, wild boar (pack of 3), vultures, hawks, frogs, armadillos (2), fish & alligators. Signs along the nature trail are difficult to read and need updating. There are several buildings you come across during your hike. No mosquitos or ticks in December.

Lack of cleaning downed trees and poorly maintained signage takes this from...

A large park along the river with many bathrooms, playgrounds for children and trails. While we enjoyed hiking the upland area trails and the one by the river, there were a few things that didn't quite hit the mark.

The observation tower is just above the tree line so you can climb up and look out, but all we could see were the tops of trees. We could make out what seems to be the nearby landfill that had buzzards circling and a certain smell when the wind was blowing. From the tower we followed signs to a boardwalk - it is closed and looks doubtful it will ever open again. This is not along the river and only follow this if you just want a bit of a hike. All the trails seem to connect one way or the other. We did not have a map and just wandered till we got back to the parking area.

The trails are quite nice, you can do dirt trails through the upland. A very rustic trail along the river, which I liked very much, and there are several paved trails that seem to go through the whole park. A good spot to get some walking in.

There is a small area to fish from a dock and I'm guessing you could put in a small boat - check on that before taking my word for it. The river was loaded up with cypress trees and all the swampy good stuff I enjoy. It was certainly a nice spot to get right down to the water and be able to hike along the shore.

For wildlife we only saw a few deer. I think with the campground and all the trails it might be a bit busy for any animals to stay in this area too much. I saw very few birds.

This is a good park if you just want to get out into nature. There seemed to be several types of camping available too. The kids seemed quite happy with the trails and playgrounds that were available. We saw several smiling away as...

Just did an overnight here in primitive camping for my wife's birthday. Very pretty park. Deer, armadillos, and excellent primitive camping. Wife walked was on a trail and saw a whole pack of white tailed deer run off. Staff are excellent and really seem to care.

Sleeping might not be recommended during the primitive camping. Trains come through the park every 15 minute interval from midnight to 8am and are not willing to obey the park quiet hours. There was a stretch between 3am and 3:45am where the train horns stopped and no trains came through.

Try to ask the staff when they are there during the day if there might be a college drinking party going on at one of the nearby camp sites. Around 10pm we had several new cars get into the park and the party swelled until around 2am. Some party goers came to our camp-site with a flash light and started shining the light down into our tent. We had the top off to look at the stars. Had to start the fire back up and sleep in my chair by the fire until dawn. It was too dark to comfortably break camp. We were stuck. Between 2am and 3am everything seemed to wind down as a couple of people loudly wretched for a few minutes and the people who came in cars left. The trains persisted however. Spent the remainder of the night staring away from the fire looking for the reflections of the firelight in the eyes of our captors.

Very...