12. Lake Griffin - October 9th and 10th

Probably the quietest park we have attended so far, Lake Griffin State Park is about an hour outside of East Orlando in Fruitland Park. This is a small community with not much other activity. The park itself sits on 520 acres, which is small for a state park. There are only a few short trails, the picture on the left taken at one. We enjoyed the park for its serenity, spending a chunk of our time sitting on a bench next to the Dead River reading "1984," out current camping book.

There are 40 campsites, only $18 each, which is cheaper than many of the parks we normally attend. The one we picked, 26, was probably too close to the bathroom. When we go back, which we intend to do, we will probably book 22, 23, 0r 24.

The day we got there we canoed out to Lake Griffin. The park itself does not have access, but it is a short, probably 25 minute, canoe ride to the lake. I imagine naming the park "Dead River" would not have been as great for PR. We decided to rent canoes rather than bring ours, and it was only $4 an hour. Tom was pretty excited because they were aluminum canoes, which means they are much lighter but also bang up easier. The picture on the right is a reflection of the sky in the water.



There were many birds on the river, I believe we saw a few sandhill cranes and also the type that swim underwater, the anhinga. I had never seen one in person before, so that was fun. When we canoed past them they would often dive right into the water! A gator also swam in front of us in the river, which is always fun. I am suprised at how used to gators I have really gotten.


The park also had a 300 year-old oak tree close to the entrance. It claims to be the fifth-largest oak tree in Florida. The park included pavilions and a playground for children. See my post about "Payne's Creek", as it is the same playground pictured there. We spoke with the park manager and one of the volunteers at the ranger station and learned that a project they are raising funds for is to build a boardwalk that goes farther out into the Dead River, I believe something like what Blue Springs had. It is a $500,000 project and he did not mention how much had been raised so far.

All in all, if you are looking for a quiet place, this is it. We enjoyed our stay.

Until next time,

The camping bug