Lake Griffin State Park in Fruitland Park, FL is a small Florida State Park and small campground as well. There are only 40 campsites. The good part of the small number of campsites is less traffic through the campground. An interesting fact about Lake Griffin State Park is that it’s not on Lake Griffin. It has a boat ramp and kayak launch site on the Dead River which leads out to Lake Griffin.
There are so many Florida State Park campgrounds that we may not be back to Lake Griffin soon. But when we do come back, we will make sure we use our newfound knowledge to pick the right campsite. Two items are important when choosing a campsite at Lake Griffin State Park. The sun/shade factor and the slope of the terrain in the campground. All sites at Lake Griffin State Park have water and electricity. Some have 30 amp and some have 50 amp electric. A few of the sites have sewer.
The bathrooms and showers were clean and well supplied. The campground and park, in general, were also very clean and well attended. The Park Rangers at the gate were very friendly and helpful at check-in and thereafter. Once there, we added a 3rd night via the Reserve America website. The next day we told the Ranger on duty about it but that was not communicated to the Ranger on duty that 3rd night. But it was very nice that she called us as she thought we hadn’t checked in yet.
The downside of Lake Griffin State Park being small isn't that there is much to do. This is perhaps why we saw very few children here. There are just a few miles of hiking trails in the park. Other than riding around the campground itself and down to the boat ramp, there aren’t any accessible biking trails. The hiking trails are off-limits to bikes. 
A must-see is the 2nd oldest oak tree in the state of Florida. Estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old it is also massive. I walked off the trunk and estimate it to be about 15 feet in diameter.
Dead River kayaking, canoeing, and boating are the highlights here. There is a boat ramp and ample trailer parking so you can launch your boat into the Dead River and out to Lake Griffin. Kayak, paddle, and life vest rentals are available from the Park Ranger. The Dead River is black water. You cannot see below the surface at all. In the Reserve America description of the park, it warns against swimming as there is a “healthy alligator population”. My wife wasn’t comfortable with kayaking in this river, and it was close to 100 degrees, so we opted out of Lake Griffin State Park kayaking. But we did talk with other campers that had kayaked in the river and they didn’t see but a few gators.

To see our full review visit https://lifestyleover50.com/lake-griffin-state-park-camping-review/