Hillsborough River State Park — Attraction in Zephyrhills

Update Oct 2025: We already LOVE this park but last night we got to experience the Haunted Woods Halloween event for the first time. WOW!!! The quality of the main trail, clown house, and the scare actors performances were professional grade! They had A TON of decorative props around the whole event as well as on the trail, we loved the disco hearse! There was something to look at everywhere you turned. The scares were legit, I screamed multiple times. I was expecting to enjoy myself of course, but I absolutely did not expect the quality I experienced! Also the main trail is really long and you could do both haunts multiple times if you wanted to, no limit. We did the main trail 3 times, it was SO cool! The forest provided natural spookiness which was better than any fake haunted house backdrop could be. I enjoyed this more than any other haunt I’ve been to this season or last-and I do most of the haunts in Tampa and surrounding areas. DO NOT sleep on this event next year, it was absolutely a blast! And the best part is it supports our favorite park! Thank you to all the volunteers and staff that made this possible! Detail stuff-tickets were $15, they had plenty of free parking, they also had multiple food trucks for food and treats! I wasn’t expecting food so wasn’t hungry but my hubs had corn from a truck and said it was delicious. Lots of clean restrooms, some portable some the normal park ones. They also had really cool and reasonably priced event specific souvenirs, I got a sticker (I put it on a blank magnet) and a mug-see pics.

Original review of the park: Thank you rangers! We love HRSP, it is so important for our quality of life. We walk our dogs there or kayak there I swear sometimes 5-7 times a week. Every ranger we have ever met there has been so kind and friendly and seems genuinely passionate about what they do. The park and the vibe are from another time. We feel at peace when we are there. I have seen some less than respectable guest behavior, so if you’re visiting, please be respectful. Littering is very unnecessary, there are recycling cans and trash cans all over. Please please please don’t feed the gators, not even leftover bait! This is the number one cause of gator attacks on humans, look it up if you don’t believe me. We kayak often and the only gators we are really scared of are the ones near fishing spots. And a personal pet peeve is music from speakers in public parks. Some of us are trying to...

One of my biggest issues with Tampa is the lack of places to hike that feel disconnected from the city. There are a lot of parks, but none that seem to take me away from life for a few hours and immerse me in the tranquility of nature. When I visited Hillsborough River State Park (HRSP) I was expecting more of the same, but was very mistaken.

I live just north of downtown Tampa. The drive out to HRSP because with the typical Tampa congestion but then eased into a two lane highway that seemed to ease me into the nature I was about to experience. After around 45 minutes of driving, we arrived at the park. There is a $6 fee to enter and you pay that to the ranger. From what I can tell, it’s cash only. After paying, the drive through the park is one way, with forest and brush on either side. We stopped at a small parking lot which was the entrance to a trail. There are only a few spots here, so if it’s full you’ll have to go further down the road to one of the larger lots.

Trails are well worn and there are boardwalks in other areas so you most likely won’t get lost. There are also maps occasionally around the trail, with some paper maps to take. I wouldn’t rely too heavily on these though as they’re lacking a lot of basic information. There isn’t much of an elevation change (it’s FL, what do you expect?) but there are a lot of areas with significant exposed roots. Tucked back on one of the trails is a primitive camping area if you’re in to “just-the-basics” camping. For others who need a little more accommodations, there is also a campground which looked big enough for tents and RVs.

During the warmer months, there is a large pool with café. The café was open when we visited so we stopped in for a snack. The menu was larger than I was expecting and included: smoothies, ice cream, sandwiches, etc. They also sell items for camping and some souvenirs. Food prices seemed fair for what you get. The only complaint I have about the café is there weren’t many options for small packaged snacks.

The park closes at sundown, so make sure to plan accordingly. This is a place I am hesitant to recommend. And that’s only because I’m selfish and want to keep it quiet! But if you’re looking for a nice place to get away from town for a bit, or go camping without getting too far away, I would...

I could write a novel about our stay, but I’ll try to keep it short. The post-storm restoration work is incredible and we want to extend a huge thank you to all the rangers and employees who have worked so hard to get this park reopened! The bathrooms and all facilities we used were pristine. We kayaked from Hillsborough Park down to the beginning of Dead River (sign advises that you’re leaving Hillsborough Park) and turned around before Seventeen Runs. The land was immaculately maintained and we saw around 10 alligators, some that were HUGE! Very exciting, relaxing paddle, and honestly the best kayak run we’ve been on. 10/10 it’s on our re-do list. The Rapids Trail was also beautiful. A small part of it was still closed for restoration work, but we were able to see the rapids through a different route. They were beautiful - hard to believe we have beauty like that in Florida! The really special part of our trip were the park rangers. While we were cooking dinner over the fire on our first night, a ranger stopped in a truck and we thought we were getting in trouble for some rule we didn’t know we had broken. That couldn’t have been further from the experience. James the Ranger was stopping to see if we’d been to the park before and could compare experiences before and after the storm. When we told him it was our first time, he shared a ton of valuable information and recommendations. Every time he saw us during the trip he checked in to make sure we were having a good time and to kindly remind us of park rules and recommendations. We also had an incident where our car battery died just as we were leaving for a paddle, but a friendly ranger happened to be driving by and offered to give us a jump. He really saved the day, I wish we had asked his name! It was clear that James and all of the other rangers care so much about this amazing natural resource and live for their work. Their passion has added fuel to our fire - we will continue to fight and vote to keep these resources funded so everyone can have an amazing trip like we did.

Believe it or not, this was just a brief summary of the great experience we had. We highly encourage you to go see this park for yourself!

Thank you James and thank you to every friendly Park Ranger that helped to make our...