Hillsborough River State Park

Unreal park, great guests. Park advises picnics to hand out leftovers to hikers and passerby to limit animal reliance on human food. Ate great Cuban food. Happy birthday kiddo!

Nice campground. They are updating fences and picnic tables. The river is great for kayaking but we did see 6 alligators on our paddle. Money must be tight because the road into the campground was full of potholes and a lot of structures had caution tape wrapped around them. The campground is huge so it is a long walk, bike or drive to get to the playground, trails and river. There are nice looking yurts in addition to rv sites. Loop 2 was a little more spacious than loops 1 and 3. It was cold during our visit and we had to ask for bathroom fans to be turned off. Bathroom was freezing but water was warm in the shower.

I recently visited Hillsborough River State Park and really enjoyed spending time outdoors there. The trails were easy to follow, and the river views were beautiful and peaceful. It felt like a great spot to relax, take a walk, and enjoy nature without any crowds.

Absolutely beautiful nature! A tragedy of mismanagement! The bridge from the picnic area across the river is closed due to damage from Hurricane Irma. Irma? That was in 2017! I didn't see a restroom just a few porta potties. Most trails are closed and the wetland trail is pretty boring and has no access to the river. The wetland trail continues into to the adjacent Dead River county park that seems to have river access but that county park is closed for quite some time. $6 to access very short trails is crazy but if they would put the money into the park I would gladly be paying. What is wrong with the state park system?

This is a really nice park. I wish I wouldn't have waited so long to visit it. The campground was clean with nice facilities. Laundry, dish washing sink, clean showers, vending machine for laundry soaps, electric and water hook ups. The sites are close together but each one is spacious. There are lots of nice trails to hike and walk along the river. The only downsides really were that 2 of the main trails were still closed from the hurricanes. Seems like it's been long enough that they would have them reopened by now. The two trails on the south side of the park, which could be connected by walk into a neighboring park to form a nice 6 mile loop, were opened. However, the connecting park and the adjoining road to it is also closed. So you end up doing two out and back hikes instead and never actually make it to the river. You can walk along the river in the north part of the park, but this is more of an easy public walking trail and it's not very long. Also they have a little store and you can rent kayaks and canoes, but unfortunately, not on Tuesday or Wednesday, as they are closed these days. Which seemed odd but I guess they are cutting costs and those are likely their slowest days(which is exactly why it a better to go on these days, but I guess the trade off is you won't be able to rent a canoe or kayak). So just a few minor issues but overall a beautiful park. Hopefully the trails will open up soon.