Lovely park in Inverness, Florida! Parking was easy and we…read morewere in search of geocaches. We completed an adventure lab ( free app) walking tour of the park and one conventional geocache. The views were gorgeous, real Florida views. We saw one gator but no cooters( turtles). We even saw a water bulldozer type thing for clearing out weeds in the pond.

My friend and I decided to explore some of the local beauty on our lunch break and found this cute…read morepark. Cooter Pond Park is the perfect place for a walk, picnic or even to exercise in. At the entrance to the park and along the walkway, there are several tables with benches to enjoy a meal or just catch up with your friends and family. The tables near the entrance are shaded so you can take a break from the hot sun! The walkway in this park is expansive and has several informational plaques to teach its visitors about the local wildlife that they love. There are also these boxes with various colored lights. I'm not sure what they do but they look cool. If you are lucky, you'll spot and alligator or two but don't worry, the walkway is plenty high above the water. The gators should not cause you any trouble!

Silver Springs State Park was an amazing experience. I came out with a group to kayak, and it ended…read moreup being one of the highlights of the trip. The water is absolutely beautiful and crystal clear, and we saw wildlife pretty much the entire time. We spotted tons of birds, turtles, fish, and even the famous monkeys! Kayaking was a great way to explore the park because you can get surprisingly close to the wildlife while still just enjoying the scenery. Seeing the monkeys out there in the wild was definitely something I won't forget. Beautiful park, plenty to see, and a great place to spend a few hours on the water. I'd absolutely come back.

My parents were reminiscing about when they were middle school aged and came here for field trips…read more I was surprised to find out that Silver Springs State Park and the glass bottom boat tours have been around for that long! It was about a 1.5 hour ride from Orlando. Woke up real early on a Saturday (on honestly one of the coldest days of the year) to arrive at the park around 8am. I highly suggest purchasing glass bottom boat tour tickets online about a week in advance atleast since time slots fill up! We purchased the 1.5 hour tour on the boats. Our tour guide was incredible and shared so much knowledge and facts about the wildlife and park. I got to see tons of manatees! Plus getting to see gators, turtles, birds, and even monkeys! The glass bottom gives such a cool perspective on viewing the wildlife and plants underwater. Aside from the tour, we walked several trails to enjoy the great outdoors. Also, we had coffee in the morning when we first got here and lunch after the tour. The food was pretty good and filling. At the gift shop I made sure to leave with a magnet and Christmas ornament to remember such a great day here.

Birds & Insects speaking in a chorus…read more Such a wonderful one of a kind experience ! Can't believe we have this resource at our fingertips and FREE to enjoy. Not gate keeping this one. Try an alternative to Disney and experience nature up close... for FREE.

This park is such a peaceful, scenic escape. The walking trails are beautifully maintained, and the…read moreboardwalks give you the perfect view of the wetlands, birds, and wildlife. It's a great spot for a relaxing walk, photography, or just sitting quietly to soak in the view. There's educational signage throughout the park, which I loved, it's fascinating to learn how this place is helping the environment while also being so beautiful. It's super clean, safe, and free to visit. I would love if they had planted some flowers around and some plants so it has a better landscape. For a bit of the walk it felt like a desert land and like that had ripped out a lot of the plants and natural flowers but that's just my assumption. Whether you want a mindful stroll or just some fresh air and a gorgeous sunset, this place is a must-see. I'm already planning my next visit!

Snooky Park is named for Atticus "Snooky" Blanton, a Lady Lake, Florida resident who lost his life…read morewhile serving in the Navy un Pearl Harbor on the fateful day that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the United States States of America into World War II. Snooky Park is an amazingly tranquil park and I enjoyed my time at this park. It is a shame that the namesake of this particular park had to lay his life down for this country, but I hope his family finds solace in such a beautiful park named for this incredible young man.

Pretty place. Lots of big trees. Walking path all around. Picnic tables with electric hookups,…read morebathrooms.

My family and I love this park. This place is always extremely clean and very welcoming. They have…read morea pool that you can pay for a very inexpensive yearly membership or a one time day pass - they have disc golf, basketball courts, a splash pad, camping grounds, beautiful trails, baseball fields, and even more! Everything is really well kept and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. I definitely recommend coming here for a really nice day. Kids, adults, and dogs will have so much fun and it's a very inexpensive place to enjoy nature and spend quality time with family and friends!

Lovely park, picnic areas, playground, tot splash pad, pool. We've visited several times.read more

I hike, kayak and fish there there quite often as I only live a few blocks away. Never crowded and…read moresome great hiking trails. I recommend having a GPS as there isn't cell signal and you can get turned around.

Silver Springs Conservation Area is a nice place to go for a walk/hike/run with another by yourself…read morebe cautious. It is dog friendly ( leashed ) and it isn't the kind of place that has all the frills. The conservation area is 330 acres and it's the largest intact property that is privately owned undeveloped adjacent to Silver Springs and had been purchased to protect our ground water and Silver Springs by preserving this recharge site. The conservation area consists of three types of natural communities ; Sandhill, Upland Mixed Forest, & Wet Prairie. Some of the wildlife seen here are Whitetail deer, Sherman's fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, black racer, yellow rat snake, northern cardinal, towhee, pileated woodpeckers. Today I had seen a beautiful butterfly but it was too fast for me. Unsupervised recreation and I did not see a bathroom. Some of this may come from someone being 60 and a little leery ( or maybe wise lol ) .

This is a forest area in the truest sense of the word with dense tall trees and a narrow rock trail…read morethat should be taken seriously. It's for hikers, bikers & 1 of the 3 entrances is for horses to enter. Though their website says it is good for fishing all I've found is a dried up creek bed. There are always things to remember when on a trail like this: always yield to the equestrian; be prepared with extra fluids; you can never take enough protection & make sure your cell is fully charged. It's a huge 4,600 acres so please also tell others where y'all are going - just from a common sense point of view. This only opened a few months ago and so far is very rudimentary. There's no doubt about it that this is back country trails. There is only 1 small shelter and in the heat of an intense summer there is no other shade though there's all types of wildlife. I've yet to see any wildlife and I'm thinking they were also taking shade behind trees. ;) Enjoy but keep in mind that this is a conservation area. Leave no footprints.

This place is adorable and a nice quiet retreat from the rest. It doesn't appear to be quite large…read morebut it actually is fairly big having its own Pickleball court, tennis courts, basketball courts, racquetball and volleyball courts! It has a born learning trail (courtesy of "Success by 6" ) natured themed play area which is wonderful. There are walking/hiking trails, picnic pavilions and pavilions you can rent for private gatherings. The main trail in the park is 2.1 miles long and it is suitable for biking, running and walking as the path is rather flat. Coehadjoe Park is dog friendly leash required. You can metal detected license required. There are plenty of shady areas in this park and there are bathrooms available. Address: 4225 NE 35 St Ocala Florida 34479 Phone: (352)671-8560 Hours: 8 Am - 8 Pm

While we were touring around the city of Ocala, the hubs and I stumbled upon this oddly named park…read more There are courts for everything; basketball, tennis, racquet ball and more. None were busy at the time of my visit. Nice clean area too