Myakka River State Park Campground

I don't know how we did it, but (IMHO) we camped at one of the best sites in the Palmetto Ridge loop. I wish reviewers would provide more info on the sites they stayed in - especially the disappointed campers. There are three different campsites at Myakka, and they are all different. The PR loop is the only one with sewer I think. There are a lot of different sites, with some mostly shaded and others nearly complete sun. Our site had a nice oak cover, and there are other sites that are similar (be sure to check Google Maps in satellite view).

We did lose power one night (short lived - just lost our coffee pot timer :) ). But everything else was flawless.

Our site was so level, I barely needed to use our leveling chalks to get set up!

Check-in was easy, although they did make us pull up and park, and when I walked back to the shack I had to wait behind a line of 7-8 cars! Why they make the campers wait, when you have a reservation and could take less time than some of the drive-up cars (with questions) I don't understand.

The bathrooms were VERY clean, but a bit warm. I didn't shower there, but it would have been hot & humid I think.

We saw lots of wildlife on our drives and bicycling; alligators, deer, turkey, wild hogs, TONS of birds. While we toted our kayaks, sadly the water was too low to paddle the river; we did see several people paddling on the lake however.

Our Verizon coverage was good enough to stream TV, but our AT&T phone had to hotspot off Verizon.

This was our second visit to Myakka River State Park. We had reservations for site #58 in the Palmetto Ridge Campground, one of 3 campgrounds in the park. Check-in was easy and efficient. Our site was so level that our leveling system made short work of it. The site was a large back in site and it had some good shade, which many of the other sites do not. We had plenty of space between ourselves and campers on either side of us. There was no noise from other campers.

There were full hook-ups: 50 and 30 amp electric, water and sewer. Unfortunately, we had issues with two of the utilities. The sewer pedestal was raised so high that we could not dump using just gravity. As others have commented, we had to manually manipulate our sewer hose to get the discharge from our RV to the sewer connection. I might note that our dump connection is fairly low on our rig, so others with a higher connection may not have this problem. The other problem was the water. The chlorine content was so high that we could not drink the water. We asked a ranger about this and he said that was perfectly normal. I do know that it was not like this on our previous trip. If we do return to this park, we will bring plenty of drinking water with us. I would also note that we had no AT&T connectivity, but that wasn't a big problem for us.

There is plenty to do at this park. It is 58 square miles of great hiking, biking, and water activities. Usually, you can rent bicycles, kayaks or canoes at the park. Fishermen can catch bass, bream and catfish in the lake. We had fun hiking the canopy walkway that had a raised walkway up in the tree canopy. We also found plenty of gators in the river. Swimming is not permitted in the park because of that. During this visit, there was a drought, so no fires were permitted. The river and lake water levels were quite low, and the park concessionaire was closed. When operating, there is a tour boat, the Myakka River Queen, that is quite popular. The cost is $20/adult and $12/child (age 2-12). There is also a 1-hour tram ride available.

Great campsites but bad for AT&T service. 0-1 bars. 30 min to town.

In this video, we provide you a walking tour of Myakka River State Park; video uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. We show you the best campsites at the Myakka River State Park campground and take you to the Myakka Outpost, Tram and Boat Launch Ticket Booth, and the birdwalk overlooking Myakka Lake. We encountered dozens of alligators along and in the Myakka River during our visit. Myakka River State Park is a great RV camping destination. It’s one of those places that is deserving of repeat visits with hiking, biking, kayaking, canoeing, and an abundance of wildlife all meshed into this state park. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 4.38 Mbps download speed and 1.92 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 7.47 Mbps download speed and 0.10 Mbps upload speed. There was no reliable T-Mobile cellular service at the campground.

The above rate reflects the base price plus the reservation fee and taxes divided over a four night stay.
It's too bad we were here shortly after Tropical Storm Elsa dumped about 12 inches of rain in the area. Unfortunately, most of the park was flooded, but Palmetto Ridge campground was dry. It left little to do in the park, but there is enough to do in the area in Sarasota and Siesta Key.
Nice, level gravel spots with plenty of room. Decent separation and privacy with interior roads which are easy to traverse. Big rigs would have no problem in this campground.
Yes, the sewer connection is raised up and you have to manipulate your hose to empty it, but having seen how much this park could flood, I can certainly see why the sewer connections were built this way. Good shower facilities with a handy washer and dryer at each bath house.
All in all a good camping experience.

We are in site 53 which is part of the Palmetto Loop. This section has full hookups. Sites are very well positioned with decent privacy and very level. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and grill. Gravel for parking and patio. There is a $20 boat tour of Myakka Lake. Mixed reviews, although relaxing. There is a swinging bridge and observation tower in the park. Very nice. Shopping is about 10 miles away on hwy. 72. We got our Florida senior discount. This is truly a Florida gem!

This state park was awesome. Very beautiful surroundings, and the campsite we had was perfect. Felt very private, and safe. Each of the campgrounds (there are 3 in all) were very nice but Palmetto Ridge is the newest and nicest. The showers, bathrooms & laundry were nice, very clean.

Enjoyed the park immensely.

Very quiet and large spots. $44 with fees and tax. If you aren’t staying in Big Flats you’ll need to bike or drive to get to boat ride and camp store as that’s 3 miles down the road.Tram was canceled mid week due to lack of drivers and boat was canceled due to wind. You can see alligator at boat ramp.Pink flamingo etc abundant. Our spot faced road but # 7 is nicest

Check in process was easy, though they require you to park and go inside to complete check in. Our site (BF 16) was centrally located to the trails, boat tours, and concessions. Within the Big Flats campground we we close to the bathhouse though it was evident that site 16 was used as a not-so-subtle cut through from the campsite to the road leading to the concessions/boat tours. The bathhouse does have a dump station for portable containers behind it as well as a mess sink inside. The site had great sunset views of the Big Flats (due to the cut through) and had some trees/shrubs between sites. The fire ring was towards the rear of the site (adjacent to the cut through path) with picnic table. Overall a great site with good power and water, would definitely visit again! Google Fi (T-Mobile) was rather spotty switching between 4G and 5G regularly with frequent drop outs. It was fine for the occasional message but definitely not stable enough for regular internet.

If you go with a group of friends and kayak and/or ride bikes, this is a great campground. I went alone and while I could do things doing the day, nighttime was boring bc I had zero cell service. I couldn't read basic news or communicate with family. I have Sprint (TMobile) and it was atrocious, like unusable service. The other bummer was any launch site for my kayak had to be driven to, I couldn't launch near my campsite and since I'm alone, I need help getting my kayak on and off my roof. I can do that at the campground, but at the launch site, who knows who will be there when I arrive and depart.

Each site was really nice and private and quite level. The sewage was elevated which made it a little challenging to pitch correctly. I mean, I couldn't. I emptied tanks and then had to slinky up and down the hose in order to completely empty it. No bid deal. I never entered the restrooms, cannot comment. My site was far too sunny in the evening and made it such that you couldn't sit outside. This was late October when the temps were better but the blazing hot sun still carries a good punch of heat. The site across from me was wonderful bc it had great shade in the evening. You'd have to look at a map to see what number that was.

They were under a no potable water order but NBD, they had gallons of water you could retrieve whenever you wanted.