Silver Springs State Park

State Park Florida

Visited February 2008

Entrance sign for Silver Springs State Park

Silver Springs SP is located east of Ocala FL, just a short distance off Fl-40. It boasts a beautiful campground, miles of hiking trails and is host to the Marion County School Department's Silver River Museum and Environmental Center. Silver River State Park has changed its name to Silver Springs State Park, reflecting the incorporation of Silver Springs Attraction and Wild Waters Water Park into the State Park. The former attraction no longer houses captive wildlife, though free-living native wildlife is abundant and magnificent. Glass bottom boats are still operating for separate fees, and events and concerts will continue.

Silver Springs is a popular park, and we just barely managed to get a site upon our early-morning arrival. We were assigned site 29, a nice site with a mix of sun and shade.

Greetings from

Silver Springs State Park

Silver Springs is a popular park, and we just barely managed to get a site upon our early-morning arrival. We were assigned site 29, a nice site with a mix of sun and shade.

Ribbit! The WxToad

Around the campground

Site 18 is typical of the pull-through sites. Most sites offer this pleasant setting of sun and shade.

Sites are really spacious and private - this is site 8.

If you're traveling with friends or family, you might enjoy sites 40-41, a large double site.

Site 47 is another large, sunny pull-through site.

There are two modern bathhouses featuring clean, hot showers and laundry facilities. A nice touch in the shower stalls were infra-red heat lamps in the ceiling.

We enjoyed several walks on the several miles of trails in the park. Trails are wide and smooth. This is the 1.2 mile River Trail.

Needless to say, the River Trail passes along the Silver River.

Lots of birdlife can be found in the park - water birds along the river and other birds inland.

In the early 1920'a glass-bottomed boats such as this carried passengers along the crystal-clear Silver River. This one was found along the river bank about 40 years ago and restored.

A feature of the museum is a replica of a colonial Florida cracker village.

The 2.1-mile Sinkhole Trail covers a variety of landscape, including a large sinkhole.

A rufous-sided towhee sits in a tree along the Sinkhole Trail.

The park includes a day-use area near the museum with a playground and three picnic pavilions.

If you don't want to rough it in the campground, you can rent one of ten cabins in the park.

Nearby campgrounds

Wilderness RV ResortFL · 3 miles away

Ross Prairie State ForestFL · 19 miles away

Lake Griffin State ParkFL · 25 miles away

Blue Spring State ParkFL · 46 miles away

Back on the roadSee all 402 campgrounds