Big Shoals State Park was a mystery to me. I did not do any research before I arrived so I didn’t really know what to expect. I put the address of the park I got from the booklet and followed the GPS on a very strange route to the entrance.
I drove for miles through the woods on a very narrow paved road that was well kept. It was winding me through the forest when finally I reached the end, a dead end, right before the entrance of the park. I could see the gate but there was no way I was going to be able to get my car over to that entrance. The only thing I could do was turn my car back around and proceed to drive miles back out the way I came.
I looked for the road that would lead me to the entrance. I was not going to rely on the GPS again during this excursion. I finally found my way and drove into the park to check it out. Casey and I walked to the picnic area and was led to a walkway. We were so high up and I had no idea. As I looked down I could see the water and white caps! Whitewater rapids in Florida? Who knew? Those just so happen to be the largest ones in the state. They did not look too big from where we were so I had to take the pamphlets word on that.
I was interested in hiking down to get a closer look but I had Casey with me and she is not much of a hiker. The shortest hike was two miles and she really only likes to walk a few feet. We did manage to take short sprints and enjoyed the park in our own way, knowing I would need to return without her and with someone that would make that hike a lot of fun.
Oh, remember that road the GPS took me on? Well, that happened to be the Woodpecker Trail, a three mile multi-purpose paved trail that connects the shoals. Not a road for driving my car. Ugh! I am just so happy there was no one around that day hiking through the woods. They may have thought they were in a horror movie about to get run down by a maniac!
Before you visit, make sure you check out the parks website for all of the up-to-date park information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/index.php/parks-and-trails/big-shoals-state-park
