Checking out different off-leash play areas for my giant-breed pup and today's adventure was to…read moreBlue Heron. It's a fairly short ride from my home, and the description sounded nice. The good points: easy access off of River Road, adequate parking, nice sally port setup for both small dog and large dog enclosures, water bowls and fountains for both people and pets, umbrella-shaded seating areas in both enclosures, and waste bags and disposal bins in both areas. As for the not-so-good points, while there are the above-mentioned shaded seating areas for people, there really are none for dogs, nor are there any trees in or near the large dog enclosure at all. (I don't recall seeing any in the small dog enclosure either, but I may just not have looked carefully enough.) If it's anything but early morning or late evening, your dog has no choice but to be in full sun at this park. And the second detractor from this little park is that while the walking paths around the enclosures are wide and well kept, and are paved with shell in areas, they also all traverse pretty dense underbrush on both sides in some areas, and next to perfectly suited gator habitat ponds in others. Don't get me wrong - I'm not an anti-gator person AT ALL: I have always said since I first stepped foot in Florida 16 years ago that alligators (along with Florida's other apex predators, venomous snakes, disease-carriers like armadillos, venomous spiders, and protected species like burrowing owls and gopher tortoises) were in Florida long before I or anyone reading this was, and they belong here. I'm of the opinion that it is up to **US** to stay away from and leave **THEM** alone, not the other way around. That said, though, to see signs warning about gators and snakes along the walking paths is one thing if humans are the most prevalent non-native species to visit it. We take our own risks and unless they're very large, gators are USUALLY not interested in prey as large as a person. It's a different situation, however, when dogs are as likely as humans to be on that path, and that just seems like a very unwise idea to me, especially with all the stories we hear in the news about people walking their dogs too close to alligator habitat and losing their pets to a hungry gator as a result. After letting my puppy explore the large dog enclosure for a bit I started to walk him around the park, but after only a few yards, eyeing up the water (3 separate, large, unfenced ponds that I could see - not that fencing will necessarily stop a gator as they ARE known to climb them), the sluices, and the dense underbrush around, I decided it wasn't really a good idea, and we returned home.
So a pretty park, and if it's just you and you want to walk the perimeter as well, probably a good place for those morning or evening laps. If it's you and your dog, probably wiser to stay in one of the enclosures, and with no trees for your dog to lie and relax under between play bouts, avoid high sun hours altogether.