Silver Springs State Park, Campground and Museum Entrance

Great park with plenty of wildlife and super clear water. Plenty of birds, gators, fish and sometimes manatees.

My fiancé and I were collecting firewood, having a good time. An older gentleman on a golf cart, cleaning(employee, I assume) yelled at us to say, “that wood won’t burn! You’re wasting your time! “ in a rude manner. We said no, it is burning fine actually lol. He responded, “ whatever you say! Do what you want!”… then walked away in discussed. He was extremely rude and ruined our happy experience. Not quite understanding where he was coming from or why he felt the need to chime in on our experience.

MILES of hiking trails!!!! So many trails and they are so pretty! Shaded trails! There is a kayak launch here but you have to hike 1/2 mile with your vessel! We saw an entire family of monkeys while hiking the river trail! And we saw snake and lots of wild hog damage evidence at the wilderness trail. This is also where the river museum is located as well as the cracker village - open only during the winter (living history museum) - also saw LARGE banana spiders!!! They are as big as my hand!!!!!! There were so many!!!!!

We were looking for a place to take a 2 to 4 mile walk and pulled into Silver Spring and felt like a Disney attraction. Vans of canoes and kayaks, hundreds of cars, very touristy. Popular but not what we were looking for. We asked a canoe van driver if there was another place to hike and was directed here (off Baseline Road (County Road 35). Both parks are in the same area but this one is for walkers, hikers and campers and wasn’t busy at all. This is a beautiful area. At the entrance to the park we asked for a suggestion of where to hike a few miles and were told to try the Swamp Trail. We ended up walking 4 miles on a few different trails and around the Museum & Environmental Education Center property. The trails are mostly wide and can walk side by side but a few areas it’s single file walking. There are a few places to sit and take a break. We got out to the river on two of the trails and enjoyed watching the canoers, kayakers and stand up paddleboarders. The river is beautiful and would be nice to kayak on. I’m sure most people keep within a mile or two from where they put in so it will be quiet once you go a bit further. There were signs about monkeys. We wish we got to see the monkeys. Other hikers were looking for them. The Silver River Museum & Environmental Education Center was not open when we were there. It’s only open on weekends from 10AM to 4PM and costs $2 per person. Outside there is a “late 1800s pioneer Cracker settlement, segregation-era Black American one-room schoolhouse, several log cabins and a wood-fired pottery kiln”. We were lucky that it was open to walk around this area. There is an $8 per vehicle entrance fee.

My wife rented a cabin for the family for two nights. I didn't know what to expect. I've stayed in some State Park cabins before and they were what I would describe as "rustic". This cabin was awesome! Tons of ceiling fans, dishwasher, coffee machine, electric stove, microwave, gas fireplace, and a huge front porch that wrapped around the side and gave access to the porch from the master bedroom. Aside from the excellent cabin, the grounds, facilities, and staff at the State Park were first rate. The hiking trails were well groomed and well marked. The whole family had a great time there and we will definitely be back in the future.