Went kayaking with my Ph.D-studying son. Perfect, mellow afternoon making our way upriver, checking…read moreout egrets, herons, ibises, lots of turtles and startled alligators. There is a decent amount of duckweed but it is easy to navigate through or around. The Spanish moss is languidly beautiful, as are the overhanging trees and the price of $5/kayak can't be beat. Great, hidden gem!

Love the park, easy to put our kayak in the water, and it is gorgeous.read more

Beautiful park to visit near Sandhill pine and is next to I-75…read more The park is free to park and there are lot of parking spots available. The park has lot of swings where children can enjoy and can have a picnic with available picnic tables for lunch or gathering. New Tampa Nature Park is popular for bike riders and has a nice trail. There is a small paved bridge also and the nature park is good for biking as well as hiking.

Great park in the heart of New Tampa. If you know where the taco bell is you aren't far from the…read morepark, a bit of a hidden gem. Did some walking and bushwhacking looking for geocaches here with a friend. She even hid one of her own so keep an eye out if you're a seeker :) There is a grwat zipline and little rock and rope area at the front of the park, kids were politely taking turns using the equipment. Park seems really well maintained and has a number of benches and picnic tables. Highly recommend especially if you have younger kids. It does feed into nearby larger parks in the area as well.

You'd never guess this beautiful park is tucked between Tampa and Brandon, right near the highway…read more For just $2, it's an incredible little oasis and a perfect Sunday evening stop. Parking is limited, but it wasn't busy when we visited about an hour before closing. The park features easy walking trails, a 0.3-mile boardwalk, a beautiful botanical garden, and my favorite, the greenhouse. It's amazing how much history and so many rare tropical plants are packed into just 31 acres. You can comfortably see everything in 1 to 2 hours. We spent the last part of our visit chatting with one of the groundskeepers, who was incredibly knowledgeable and clearly passionate about preserving the park's history and keeping everything so well maintained. This hidden gem is absolutely worth a visit.

Such a beautiful place. I would have never thought all that beauty was back there. A really nice…read moreplace to take some photos. And that is what we did. We used this place to take some graduations photos of me. We got some great shots in the different areas they have inside the park. The pergolas. The gazebos. The bridges. They all add a nice background for photos. So many beautiful plants and flowers also. I'm going to take my granddaughter for a walk in there. She will love it too.

Cookie Monster's Canopy Crawl provides a 3 story elaborate netted obstacle course which will…read moreprovide your young child hours of fun at the Sesame Street Safari of Fun Kids Play area in Busch Gardens Tampa Theme Park. There is a vast area of netting that connects kids to many areas of Sesame Street Safari of Fun including Elmo's Treehouse Trek, the Count's Zambezi Rally, and more! Infants are not permitted and adults must be accompanied by a child. Yes it sounds backwards but it is their policy so that the area is mostly occupied by kids. This attraction's Sesame Street mascot is the Cookie Monster, who is a blue furry monster with googly eyes and an insatiable appetite. Cookie Monster's primary craving is cookies, but he can and often does consume anything and everything, from apples and pie to letters, flatware, and hubcaps. When Cookie Monster eats something, he makes a very distinct, loud munching "noise", often interpreted as "OMM-nom-nom-nom..." & says "Me want cookie!" Instead of "I want a cookie". After winning a game show contest, Cookie Monster comically choose 1 cookie over an array of luxurious much more valuable and better prizes.

Found this park down the street from another little park we had discovered. It's shared with a boat…read moreramp and fishing dock. Parking is very limited and there are only two disabled spots. I didn't see any restroom or water fountain facilities. There are swings and slides and a merry go round. There is one area that's covered with benches you can eat or have a birthday party at. But it looks like first come first serve. There are also signs not to feed the wild life and identifying the kinds of wildlife you may encounter in the area.

Great little playground and has beautiful water to walk around but bathroom was really far from the…read moreplayground which is not ideal for kids and a bit of car traffic.

There is a $2 fee that you pay at a machine in the parking lot. Went here to fish and birdwatch but…read moredidnt catch anything since it was the wrong time of day. Saw plenty of other wildlife though such as gators, turtles, and several species of birds. There was very nice scenery of huge cypress trees and palmettos from the boardwalk and there were several places to fish from it without being in the way of walkers. At the fishing spots there were places to put your unusable fishing line so it doesn't accidentally blow into the river. The regular bathrooms were closed but they provided porta-potties which were stocked and of typical cleanliness for a park toilet. The trails were a bit confusing with many options leading to the same places.

I thought I had explored almost all of the Hillsborough County parks so I was quite surprised when…read moreI discovered that Trout Creek Conservation Park existed. I don't know how I missed this one. Once you pull off of Fletcher you continue to drive for way longer than I expected. It's nice that you can be so secluded when you're really not that far from residential and business areas. Unlike several of the other Hillsborough parks you have to pay (two dollars) to make use of this one. I'm assuming that's because it has a full bathroom available? No park is going to have a "nice" restroom and this one certainly didn't BUT it was fully stocked and you didn't have to touch anything to wash your hands. That's a big plus in my book. There are also several picnic pavilions and a launch for canoes. Canoes and gators are a "hell no" for me but you do you. The signage is minimal. Because I had done my homework I knew that there was a boardwalk somewhere here. If I didn't know that we would have easily missed it. The boardwalk isn't particularly long, but it gives you some very nice views of the river. The maps are honestly atrocious. It was hard to decipher where the heck the walking trails were. We eventually found a sign past one of the picnic pavilions that said "nature trail" and started exploring. We encountered several forks in the trail and because there were no signs indicating what was in each direction we were completely guessing at our route. Some of the path was pretty overgrown and also the densely packed tree roots you had to walk over could make tripping pretty easy. If I come back I'm just going to stick to walking on the bike route instead.

A few days ago we checked out Lesley "Les" Miller Jr. All People's Community Park & Life Center…read more It's home to Hillsborough County's largest adaptive playground. The playground has swings for different age groups and abilities. My kids enjoyed going down the slides, the rope- and rock-climbing structures, musical elements, and spinning structure. There's plenty of shade over the playground and benches for parents. The newly opened splash pad was a hit with my kids. Plenty of shaded seating for parents and bathrooms are nearby. Don't forget to pack snacks for the kids (please clean up after your family), sunscreen and reusable water bottles. Not as crowded before 12 pm.

So the great parts of is this is it's free, plenty of parking and there are plenty of places to…read moresit/have elbow room. The part bad is the amount of chlorine that is used at this park. I had to step out after 20 mins as my eyes were burning and were red. That's too bad because I liked the layout of this place. While it says you can't bring in food several folks brought in small snacks and drinks. If you want to wear googles for the chlorine, have at it!!

Great park! Went to the Bruce B Downs entrance. Parking was plentiful and only $2. It's a nice 11…read moremile loop. They offer rest areas and water stations. Very pretty, clean, and well maintained.

Its a very nice park. The riders and walkers are friendly, for the most part. I Propose regulating…read moree-bikes. E bikes on trails should be 100% manual power. Joyriders cruising by at 25 or 30 mph are a hazard. Also please limit ear bud use to 1 ear so you can hear riders overtaking you.