Lake Park

This is a great park with trails, restrooms, boating, a fun playground, nice picnic areas, volleyball, BMX, and more. The updated website is https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/locations/lake-conservation-park

Unfortunately you can only camp here with an organized nonprofit youth group. See  https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/residents/recreation-and-culture/outdoor-recreation/camping

I live in an adjacent neighborhood (2 years) and walk this park daily with my doggos. I’ve biked all the trails and been here from sunrise to sunset. The connecting trail (from my neighborhood) has a parking lot, and there are a few throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. There are lots of little loops in the woods, sometimes flooded out, but just be prepared during rainy season. One section is an old grove and during citrus season, there are oranges available for snacking, while exploring. There is a few large clearings set for tent camping, with fire pits and some small built gazebos for shelter. Not sure if you can drive in, but they are located at the end of an easy, few mile, walk. There are a few ponds surrounding the large lake and I’ve seen gators in several of them. If you live nearby, definitely take advantage of the free parking and miles of trails, paved and non!!

This park is less than a five minute drive from me and for that reason alone, I've spent a lot of time there. Overall, the park needs a lot of TLC. The roads that are paved are in terrible shape as they are riddled with pot holes. During the rainy season, half of the park is closed off due to the road being flooded. I'm told you can access the other side form a nother entrance, but I've never found it and could never get good directions. There are some amenities available for peaople such as restrooms that are actually pretty decent, a park type are for kids, a gazibo that overlooks a lake, and picnic areas equipped with standard public grills. I have seen some grounds keepers keeping up the property, but aside from keeping it clean, which it is, they can't do much about pot holes or the closed of dangerous areas that get flooded. It has an archery range which is cool, but I believe its a bring your own equipment kind of affair, they don't rent gear out. I could be wrong, but that's what it appeared to be. I would recomend this place if you just want to grill out or generally be in nature for a few hours. Maybe they'll offer more in the future.