Just up the US27 only ten miles beyond the city of Clermont is a beautiful state park of Lake Louisa. This park actually has six lakes, Lake Louisa being the biggest in a chain of 13 lakes connected by the Palatlakaha River (I just love that name! )
It is a really huge park, over 4, 000 acres in all and an area of outstanding natural beauty and hikers can walk the trails where they will be able to see an abundance of wildlife and birds.
On Lake Louisa, Lake Hammond and Dixie Lake there is provision for fishing (largemouth bass and speck live in the lakes ) canoeing and kayaking. There is a boat ramp between Lake Louisa and Lake Susan. There is also swimming with a bathhouse with showers so that you can freshen up afterwards.
Horse riders can bring their own horses as there are several miles of marked trails where they can ride in safety.
On the day that we visited there was a special event taking place down by one of the lakes-it was well signposted to it from the main entrance. I am pleased that there was something special on that day-it was to with wildlife and children so the beach area was very lively. . It was an exceptionally hot day in September and we were on a lovely little beach with white sand and thankfully the organisers had brought along food and drinks to buy because as is so typical of Florida State Parks-there are no fast food outlets (thankfully) so refreshments are a bit hit and miss. I don’t think there was anything at this one-apart from what was brought by the organisers. Someone was cooking burgers and hot dogs and there were cold drinks and that was it. I think the message is-bring a cool bag with a picnic. We as a family need to be a bit more organised when we go off the beaten track-as on that very hot day we really could have suffered without a cold drink. It was lovely just having a few hours chilling out and it was so pretty there. My little grandson who was 2 just loved playing in the sand and trotting down to the water’s edge.
When we had decided we had really enough of the heat (it was about 95 that day) we got back into our air conditioned car and had a little drive around.
They do not allow camping in this park-but they have just recently opened some lovely new cabins right on the edge of Lake Dixie and they look fabulous. I’ve seen pictures of the insides of them and they are beautiful. They are very state of the art with dishwashers, air conditioning, a master suite, a screened porch (essential to keep away the biting bugs from the lake), a barbecue grill and really everything to give you that home from home feel in a country setting. Cabin rentals are $110per night plus tax and are very popular with wedding parties.
Over the other side of the lake is a 60 site RV park with plans to open more.
Also ear-marked for the future are more trails and connecting paths and a children’s playground which will be lovely for my little grandsons.
Wheelchair access was pretty good down to the little beach-of course you cannot get right up to the water’s edge on account of the sand. Do bear in mind though to bring a cool box with cold drinks as there is no air conditioned places to get away from the heat. There was a toilet down there but facilities are basic.
All state parks open from 8am until sundown and the price to visit is minimal-something like $6-$8 per car.
It is a really huge park, over 4, 000 acres in all and an area of outstanding natural beauty and hikers can walk the trails where they will be able to see an abundance of wildlife and birds.
On Lake Louisa, Lake Hammond and Dixie Lake there is provision for fishing (largemouth bass and speck live in the lakes ) canoeing and kayaking. There is a boat ramp between Lake Louisa and Lake Susan. There is also swimming with a bathhouse with showers so that you can freshen up afterwards.
Horse riders can bring their own horses as there are several miles of marked trails where they can ride in safety.
On the day that we visited there was a special event taking place down by one of the lakes-it was well signposted to it from the main entrance. I am pleased that there was something special on that day-it was to with wildlife and children so the beach area was very lively. . It was an exceptionally hot day in September and we were on a lovely little beach with white sand and thankfully the organisers had brought along food and drinks to buy because as is so typical of Florida State Parks-there are no fast food outlets (thankfully) so refreshments are a bit hit and miss. I don’t think there was anything at this one-apart from what was brought by the organisers. Someone was cooking burgers and hot dogs and there were cold drinks and that was it. I think the message is-bring a cool bag with a picnic. We as a family need to be a bit more organised when we go off the beaten track-as on that very hot day we really could have suffered without a cold drink. It was lovely just having a few hours chilling out and it was so pretty there. My little grandson who was 2 just loved playing in the sand and trotting down to the water’s edge.
When we had decided we had really enough of the heat (it was about 95 that day) we got back into our air conditioned car and had a little drive around.
They do not allow camping in this park-but they have just recently opened some lovely new cabins right on the edge of Lake Dixie and they look fabulous. I’ve seen pictures of the insides of them and they are beautiful. They are very state of the art with dishwashers, air conditioning, a master suite, a screened porch (essential to keep away the biting bugs from the lake), a barbecue grill and really everything to give you that home from home feel in a country setting. Cabin rentals are $110per night plus tax and are very popular with wedding parties.
Over the other side of the lake is a 60 site RV park with plans to open more.
Also ear-marked for the future are more trails and connecting paths and a children’s playground which will be lovely for my little grandsons.
Wheelchair access was pretty good down to the little beach-of course you cannot get right up to the water’s edge on account of the sand. Do bear in mind though to bring a cool box with cold drinks as there is no air conditioned places to get away from the heat. There was a toilet down there but facilities are basic.
All state parks open from 8am until sundown and the price to visit is minimal-something like $6-$8 per car.