Alafia River State Park — Attraction in Riverview

I’m torn between wanting to give this park a three or a five so I settled for four. We went there horseback riding for the first time last weekend. They have a fantastic parking area and if you are there early enough you can park in the shaded areas which is great in Florida anytime you can get shade. I stupidly assumed that they would have water for the horses. And they do have a big trough and an old pitcher pump. The problem with the pitcher pump is that you need water to prime it to get it pumping. If I had enough water to get it primed to get water I wouldn’t need water. So that was extremely disappointing to have such a well cared for entrance but no water readily available. They also had no trail maps there. Actually I should rephrase that. There was a trail map on the board but none for you to take with you. It was empty and any boards we came up upon throughout the park also had empty slots for the maps. I pulled the equestrian Trail map up on my phone which helped a little but there were some very confusing areas. Mostly where all the trails intersected. Where you had bike trails, hiking trails and equestrian trails all crossing over each other or sharing the trail for a short stretch. In those areas it was extremely difficult to tell where to go. Made more so by the fact that the map you’re looking at doesn’t actually show all the trails it’s only showing equestrian trails So you’re kind of second-guessing yourself trying to figure out what’s what. They also have a closed section that has been closed for quite some time because it shows closed on their trail map but it’s not like they show a detour or anything it’s just you’re riding along looking for the spot where the horses turn off and you come to it and it’s just closed. No indication of where you should go from there. I found the trails beautiful, well maintained with a lot of markers just very hard to make sense of markers. I’m sure if I go there enough times I’ll figure them all out and it won’t be an issue but for your first time good luck! And don’t forget to bring water for your horses or water to prime the pump. There were deer everywhere. They also had some fun jumps for the horses beside the trail. I will be going back to check out the trails we didn’t see and I’m hoping more of them are in the woods because there was a lot of trail that we were fully exposed to the nice hot Florida sun and again we had no water so I’m not really sure why I even gave this four stars it should really be three at this point. Pretty much every other park I go to has not only water troughs but water that you can use to bathe your horse before you leave. I’d rather go through a main gate, pay a fee and have...

Today was to be my first visit to this very beautiful park, we were going mountain biking. Our total party consisted of three cars, two of which were inside the park, our third vehicle (which of course was carrying the needed bikes) arrived 15 minutes after us and was greeted to a closed gate, no signage as to why. Us, in the park already, witnessed the gentleman park ranger taking his atv into the trails with a stretcher attached, figuring their was an accident we continued to wait. As our party out of the gate continued to wait an ambulance pulled in... And was NOT able to pass through the gate either!! They proceeded to drive further down 39 to attempt access elsewhere!?!? Now understanding there is in fact an emergency, we drove to the gate and waited with the locked out party, us still in, them still out. Thirty minutes later a park truck accessed the gate with a broken bike in the bed and an injured passenger. We asked the female driver if she knew when they may begin reopening, to which we were told there was an accident and she did not know when they would open the gate. After another 15 minutes or so a member of our inside party went to ask for a time estimation, as the now 10 other cars at the gate were lined up down county road 39. He was greeted by a female ranger with an unnecessary sarcastic response of "I just finished saving someone from an emergency, I do not know." We waited another 30 minutes... Our inside party member went to inquire again, now greeted by an equally rude male park ranger, he was told they would not be opening until 1 pm because they were at capacity (it was currently 10:30 am). Our entire party, now sitting at the gate for more than an hour, witnessed 23 vehicles leave (yes! I counted). Some of our party members (and others who were waiting for access) said they have witnessed both parking lots completely full on multiple occasions which the grass lot was not even close to today. Even with this information we waited a little longer, another party waiting for access decided to hop the fence and ask for information. She returned with a different estimation of "about an hour." We no longer waited... I was excited for this trip, but would not visit again! There is a serious lack of communication and safety issue going on! Let's not forget... The ambulance could not access the...

Great park for biking! Trails made and maintained by volunteers (thank you volunteers) If you don't like biking, it may boring for you. It is relaxing but you have to leave the park to do anything other than biking. Including swimming. There are a few trails used in conjunction with biking for hiking. There are also a few bike trails considered to be expert level rated diamond (something or other) I’m defiantly the easy green trails- not diamond or middle.

There are NO washer and dryers- rare for a state park that offers camping. All of the SP that I’ve been too have had this capability...so don't plan on washing any clothes on this trip.

The staff were all Very friendly and helpful; the ranger at the front gate and the ranger in the back by the day use area and lastly the campground host. Very welcoming.

I'd most definitely like to come back maybe then we can actually enjoy the park and trails. We got rained out. It rained All 3 days we were there we ended up leaving a day early because we were out of things to do.

Summing it up: I’m coming back one day.Especially because of the trails. Great park for biking! If you don't like biking, it might be boring. It's very relaxing but you have to leave the park to go swimming. There is a spot to launch your canoes etc. just watch out for the Hugh gators!! No joke. So If you like quiet and wildlife, biking and camping this is for you.

There are times where you want to catch up on maintenance RV camper stuff this trip would have been great to get some of the indoor projects completed- we just did not remember any of these items in our excitement to come here and try our bikes on the trails. Last bit of advise. DO NOT FORGET YOUR BIKE HELMETS. they are required here posted...