When I arrived at Ponce de Leon Springs I was a reminded why you want to show up early on a holiday weekend to a spring you can swim in. There were people everywhere & the parking lot was small. Swimming in the springs is not on my to do list which makes traveling with a dog much easier but there is not a special parking pass for someone just interested in walking around the park. I still had to deal with the masses.
I drove around the tiny lot and found the last spots available. I am not even sure it was a spot but my car fit so that’s where I put it. Casey and I walked through the crowd of people to get to the spring. It was beautiful there; a swimming hole on each side of the bridge and a nice walkway all around the spring. The front part of the spring was very popular, filled with swimmers. The back part was more shallow & didn’t have a lot of activity.
I did not want to even walk in the shallow part of the water and neither did Casey, 68 degrees is too cold for us to enjoy. We walked on the land and took in the different aspects of the spring & woods around it. There were a ton on trees knocked down and just lying across like natural bridges from one side to the other. Simple reminders of just how fierce and majestic mother nature can be.
Ponce was a great park to explore. Even though it was crowded there was still plenty of room to get away from the crowds & play in the wild.
Before you visit, make sure you check out the parks website for all of the up-to-date park information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/ponce-de-leon-springs-state-park
