We spent a few days camping at Silver Springs State Park with our two little kids. In this article, I summarize what you can expect to find, activities you cannot miss, and some tips to get the most out of your stay!
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Our general camping strategy is to camp in parks with springs in the summertime. Surely, the reason for that is obvious: summers in Florida are simply too hot for us to go to places where swimming is not an option.
This is one of the reasons we had also avoided this park. Even though there is a freshwater spring, swimming is not allowed here during the whole year. For that reason, we waited until the Florida “winter” time to check this place out.
Things to Do at Silver Springs State Park
Hiking
This park offers a multitude of short, hiking trails. You can see on the map that the longest trail is only 2.2 miles long. With the exception of the Sandhill Trail, you can access most of these directly from the campground. With the exception of the River Trail and the Sandhill Trail, we were unable to explore most of these trails because of the limited amount of time we had available.
River Trail
We were able to access this trail from our campsite through the shortcut that takes you to the playground. Past the playground, you run into the Museum (more on that below), and then you see the entrance to the River Trail.
It starts as a nice, shady walk lined with pines. For the most part, it remains an easy trail. Even though it is called the river trail, you do not really see the river except in two points midway around the loop. Near those areas, you can expect muddy ground, brushy vegetation, and little shade. After stopping for a snack at the second river viewing point, we turned back.
Sandhill Trail
You can access this trail near the entrance of the park. A bit farther to walk from the campground, so we just biked to it. It is quite a beautiful trail. As the name says, it consists of sandy trails lined with extensive pine forests. On the ground, we noticed small piles of sand. For a while, we could not tell what they were until we saw a beetle digging some of the sand out.
Ross Allen Island
This is a short boardwalk loop that we explored after the glass bottom boat tour (see below). It features bridges that cross the river and beautiful overlooks of the Fort King Paddling Trail. If you are lucky, like we were, you will be able to observe monkeys!
Biking
There is a 4.5-mile loop for biking, but we did not have time to explore it. Mountain bike trails do not work for us yet because I am still pulling two kids! We did bike around the campground and park roads. We also took the opportunity to check out the park cabins that way.
Paddling Trails
This was new for us. We own two small kayaks from our pre-kids days. We do not take them out anymore because the kids lose their patience sitting on the kayaks. For that reason, we have not gone paddling in years!
We knew Silver Springs was a prime spot for paddling, but we still decided not to bring the kayaks. Instead, we decided we would rent a canoe where we could all fit in to see if that worked better.
Canoe and kayak rentals are done at the main entrance of the park. You can access this area if you hike or bike through the Springs Connector Trail, but we drove instead. The canoe rental process was actually quite simple.
I sat in the front, Dan in the back, and the kids in the middle. Being a kayaker for years, I was surprised at how difficult it was to steer the canoe! In retrospect, we probably should have done some research ahead of time about how to paddle in the canoe.
Even so, it actually went very well! The river is slow-moving, which makes it ideal for first-timers. For the most part, it is wide and there are not many places with tight turns.
We went to see the mainspring near the glass bottom boat launch, and then we leisurely explored the Fort King Paddling Trail. This trail offers the opportunity to observe alligators, turtles, and wading birds from a close distance. As we continued exploring the main river, we found manatees! They were resting at the bottom, so we stayed near to watch them come up for air every few minutes. I was also able to snap a couple of photos with my underwater camera.
Kids Activities
In addition to the playground, the paved roads allow kids to go biking on their own or bringing their scooters. At the rangers office, the office a lending library for children.
Unique Experiences
Glass Bottom Boat Tour
We generally avoid large tour activities like this one for two reasons. First, it helps keep trips on a manageable budget. Secondly, we prefer avoiding crowds. However, we made the exception this time after a close acquaintance recommended the tour.
Entering the main park area feels like a natural amusement park. Indeed, Silver Springs is known as Nature’s Theme Park! The entrance fee is waived for people camping in the park, so all we needed to do was pick up our tickets. After making it inside, you will encounter an area by the boat launch with shops and restaurants.
Originally, we were going to do the short 30-minute tour but those were sold out. We ended up purchasing the extended 90-minute tour that departed in the mid-afternoon. I was nervous about this because the attention span of little children is much shorter than that. However, other than a couple of mild meltdowns, they did very well! I just wish I had remembered to bring their binoculars.
The shimmering river floor, that affords the Silver River its name, is easy to observe through the glass. As the boat moves, watching the river floor zoom by feels like watching a movie in high definition. The boat took us over to see multiple springs that feed the Silver River. I was unaware that there were so many!
From the boat, we were able to observe multiple wading birds, turtles, and big alligators. Because this was the winter season, we were also able to observe manatees actively feeding on the river bottom. Indeed, the great thing about this activity is being able to observe these endangered animals in their natural habitat without getting into their space.
Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center
Another surprising feature that we did not expect was the museum. It is a program specifically for the public schools of Marion County. During the school year, it is closed to the public during school hours in order to prioritize school field trips. The museum can only be accessed by the public in the late afternoon and on weekends. While this may seem inconvenient, I thought that this is a fantastic idea. It encourages learning and education while ensuring safety, and I was happy to see such an emphasis on education.
We were able to go in during a weekday in the morning because schools were not in session yet. It includes a museum of natural history and classrooms. The outside grounds feature a replica of a 19th-century village, complete with log cabins, carriages, and even a pottery kiln.
Wild Monkeys!
That’s right! We have free-roaming rhesus macaques in this park. They are the descendants of a group of six monkeys that were released on the island to be part of the attraction. It was little known back then that rhesus macaques are fantastic swimmers, which resulted in the monkeys quickly settling and starting a growing population in most of the park.
While they constitute a huge attraction for a lot of people, they are also starting to become a big problem. Not only are they an exotic species, but they are also quickly reproducing and becoming invasive. The other big issue is that they carry a rare, but deadly Herpes B virus. While transmission to humans is rare, it can still happen and results in severe brain inflammation and death.
As the monkey population grows, the concern for public health safety is becoming more of a consideration. Leading wildlife management agencies are trying to come up with plans to control the growing population for those environmental and public safety reasons. Measures of population control, such as the removal of adults and sterilization of females, has been met with resistance by the public. This is a great example of public sentiment towards a charismatic species like these monkeys. Other exotic and invasive species that are not as charismatic, such as Burmese Pythons and feral hogs, that can be legally hunted to reduce the population.
Silver Springs State Park Camping Guide
Feel free to use the code below to share this infographic on your website!
<p><strong>Please include attribution to APragmaticLens.com/ with this graphic.</strong><br /><br /><a href='https://apragmaticlens.com/silver-springs-state-park/'><img src='https://ml0cur3zhy5j.i.optimole.com/w:791/h:1024/q:mauto/ig:avif/f:best/https://apragmaticlens.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Silver-Springs-State-Park-Info.jpg' alt='Silver Springs State Park infographic with summary of camping amenities' width='700px' border='0' /></a></p>Directions
Because most people rely on google maps – as we do – I normally would not include information on this. I do need to point out, however, that you need to set your directions right. If you simply input “Silver Springs State Park”, the directions will take you to the entrance off of East Silver Springs Blvd. This is the kayak launch and glass boat tour section, and it is entirely separate from the campground. It is not fun turning around when pulling a trailer!
Make sure you are searching for “Silver Springs State Park Campground” and that the directions take you to the entrance off of NE 58th Ave. The address is 1425 NE 58th Ave, Ocala, FL 34470. Feel free to use the map below as reference:
The campsites
There are two camping areas relatively close to each other. The Sharpes Ferry Camping Area is closest to the entrance. There are 30 sites, many of which are pull-throughs. Also, six out of the 30 sites have full 50-amp and sewer hookups. Fort King Camping Area has 29 sites. Twelves of those sites are pull-throughs, and seven have full hookups.
The sites in this campground are well laid out and quite spacious, comfortably accommodating anything from small tents to large motorcoaches. There is some vegetation between the sites, which provides a decent amount of shade and privacy. While the ground on the sites is packed gravel, they are not level. We certainly had to put in some work to level our camper. Pull-through sites seemed to be a bit worse in that regard.
Best and worst sites
We stayed in # 11, which is part of the Sharpes Ferry Camping Area. It is a very large site, to the point that we could not get a good picture of it! It does not have full hookups, but it is close to the bathhouse and it has direct access to the trails and a shortcut to the playground.
Sites 3 through 11 would be best for families with little children because of the access to the trails and playground. At the very least, I would suggest staying in the Sharpes Ferry Camping Area.
If you are going with a group, I would suggest sites 12 and 13 or sites 40 and 41. Those sites are basically together and right next to the bathhouse. If you are not in a group, avoid those sites because they are the least private ones.
Site 58 is, by far, the best combination of privacy, shade, ease of parking, and full-hookups. The only disadvantage is being far from the playground and the nearest bathhouse. However, with full hookups, a bathhouse may not be needed at all!
The bathhouse
Each loop has its own bathhouse. There are a washer and dryer, as well as a sink for dishwashing. The only thing I did not like, is that there was a large countertop area right in front of the sink. It made it difficult to wash dishes because I had to lean over quite a bit to reach it – not the greatest set up for my aging lower back or for short people!
Cabins
For those not ready to take on camping, most state parks offer fully stocked, well-kept cabins. There are 10 cabins to choose from in this park and they looked very similar to the one we stayed at in Fanning Springs. From what I could tell from the outside, cabin #2 seemed to be the best in terms of privacy.
To wrap it up
Other than the issues with leveling our camper, the campground offers a great combination of space, privacy, shade, and quick access to the trails. This park was a new experience for us in many ways. It was our first time canoeing, first time on a glass-bottom boat, and first time observing wild monkeys in Florida. We left the park with many unexplored trails and features that warrant a return trip in the near future.
Additional Resources
If you will be doing a family road trip in Florida, get the most out of it by checking out this fantastic Florida Itinerary 10 Days!
Have you been to Silver Springs State Park? What information am I missing? If you are planning a trip there, are there other questions you have about it? Let me know in the comments below!
