The entrance station on State Road 72 — the addressable start of a drive into one of Florida's oldest and largest state parks, a vast wilderness of river, lake, prairie, and alligators.
Welcome to Myakka River State Park — and welcome aboard. I'm Ranger Quinn, and I'll drive you up into this wild country, telling you what you're seeing and how to see it safely. Because this is a place with teeth — literally. And riding along with me is Ranger Boone Merrick — he carries the tales, and you'll be hearing plenty from him along the way.
You're at the entrance to one of the oldest and largest state parks in all of Florida — thirty-seven thousand acres of river and lake and prairie and forest, wild the way Florida used to be everywhere. This is one of the very best places in the whole state to see two things up close: alligators, lots of them, and wading birds by the thousands. You'll pay a small entry fee here at the station — just a few dollars a car — and then this whole wilderness is yours to drive through slowly.
Here's the plan: we'll roll up Park Drive, the road the Depression-era work crews laid down, past an old stone weir where the alligators love to gather, along the wild Myakka River, up to a walkway that climbs right into the treetops, and out to the shore of Upper Myakka Lake, where the birds put on a show. Go slow — the speed limits are low for good reason, because wildlife crosses this road, and you want time to see it all. When you stop and shut the engine off, the tour pauses; tap play to pick it back up. One rule above all others, and I mean it: never, ever feed an alligator, and keep well back from the water's edge. All set? Then roll on in, and let's go see some Florida wild.
Photo: Mx. Granger · CC0
