Myakka River trip, day 3
Oscar Scherer State Park
Today, I made plans to explore a couple of local state parks and then go snorkeling in Sarasota. My first stop was at Oscar Scherer State Park. This was the other park that I was deciding between for my camping trip. While it’s a nice little park with very pretty little camp sites, I definitely chose well with the Myakka River State Park and the campsite location – I loved it so much that I hope to stay there again for a weekend next year during birding/flower season. Today ended up being more about flower and bug pictures than landscapes, so get ready!
There was also a big festival going on this morning that was just getting going as I was emerging from my walk.
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After wandering the fair for a little bit, I headed north to Sarasota hoping to catch some good snorkeling along the beach at high tide. I was aiming for Point of Rocks on Crescent Beach in Siesta Key. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any parking anywhere close to where I wanted to be. Traffic was awful, the slim parking lots were full, and all of the nearby businesses had “NO PARKING” signs out front. I was super disappointed to have wasted a couple of hours in inching traffic without reward. Note to self – get to the beach sunrise early to get parking the next time I try this!
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Little Manatee River State Park
I headed further north to Little Manatee River State Park for my next adventure. The park is small, quiet, but once you get into the hammock a little, it was cool and had some very pretty woodland areas. I walked a loop along the river and looked for a couple of geocaches while I was at it.
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Lake Manatee State Park
I moved on to Lake Manatee State Park since it was on the way back down to camp. This looks like a very nice place for a day of fishing and drifting along the blue lake. Today, I didn’t spend too much time here since it was very hot and there was very little shade.
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After a hot and sweaty day, I decided to head back to camp to clean up and relax a little bit. I sat to read for a little bit until the light was running out.
The sun was sinking low and casting a beautiful golden color over everything so I put the book down a little early to take some more meadow pictures with about 50 other photographers (most with much more impressive equipment than mine!).
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Tonight is the last night before I head home tomorrow. I had a tasty fire-pit dinner with Nutella for dessert and I went to bed luxuriously early. The fireflies were flickering against my tent as I drifted to sleep.
Tags: Lake Manatee State Park, Myakka River State Park, Oscar Scherer State Park