Crystal River Preserve State Park
June 21st, 2008
Crystal River Preserve State Park – Crystal River, Florida
The Crystal River Preserve State Park is a great place to enjoy nature at it's best. The estuarine system gets water from 7 of the counties rivers and feeds an abundance of wildlife. Good news for us nature lovers and photographers!
To truly appreciate this park, you're going to need a boat which unfortunately we do not have access to but the park does offer boat tours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Unlike the Crystal River Archaeological State Park, we did see the tour boats here and this is probably where you go to take the tours offered by that park since it is pretty much right in the middle of this one.
The park has clean restrooms and has some beautiful gardens out front of the visitor center for you to admire and also has little plaques telling you what the plants are in the 
gardens. Pretty interesting learning what some of the plants and trees are really named and also learning a little bit about them at the same time. There is also a nice little waterfall in the garden that makes for a pleasant and peaceful experience. Along the boat docks are a few picnic tables for you to enjoy a nice lunch or something at but unfortunately they're not in the shade or anything so it would probably be better to use these in the evenings when it's not so hot out.
Aside from the area around the visitor center, there is also a kayak and canoe launch as well as the Crystal Cove day fishing area that has been dubbed "The Mullet Hole". I assume the fishing here is pretty good but i cant say for sure. There were a couple people out there fishing though. I should also mention that this park is is a national gold metal winner. It is also America's first two time winner of this award as well. Unfortunately we're not quite sure what the parks are judged on so we really dont know why it's a national gold metal winner or anything but it is worth mentioning. Perhaps one of you may be aware of judging criteria and will let us know.
For more photos from Crystal River Preserve State Park, please visit the Crystal River Preserve State Park Photo Gallery
Map of Crystal River Preserve State Park
Activities available at Crystal River Preserve State Park
Bicycling
Boat Tours
Canoeing
Fishing
Nature Trails
Pets
Visitor Center
Wildlife Viewing
Parks within 20 Miles of Crystal River Preserve State Park
- Crystal River Archaeological State Park (3.57 miles)
- Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park (10.95 miles)
- Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park (12.03 miles)
- Rainbow Springs State Park (14.05 miles)
- Waccasassa Bay State Park (16.66 miles)
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