Lake Griffin State Park is a Florida State Park

Florida State Parks

The Florida State Parks encompass the majority of the lands that fall under the authority of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There are 160 such entities, including nature reserves, recreation areas, and historic sites, which can be found in every corner of the state...

 located two miles (3 km) north of Leesburg

Leesburg, Florida

Leesburg is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 15,956 at the 2000 census. As of 2005, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 19,086.. Leesburg is located in central Florida, between Lake Harris and Lake Griffin, at the head of the Oklawaha River system....

, in Fruitland Park and 30 miles (48 km) south of Ocala

Ocala, Florida

Ocala is a city in Marion County, Florida. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 53,491. It is the county seat of Marion County, and the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated 2007 population of 324,857.-History:Ocala...

 on U.S. Highway 441. It is home to one of the state's largest live oak

Live oak

Live oak , also known as the southern live oak, is a normally evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States...

 trees. The park is unique in connecting to Lake Griffin, the Ocklawaha River

Ocklawaha River

The Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is a corruption of ak-lowahe, Creek for "muddy"....

 and thence to the Harris Chain of Lakes, and is made up of 577.63 acres (2.33758 km²) of swampland

Swampland

In physics, the term swampland is used in contrast to the term "landscape," to indicate physical theories or aspects of such theories which could be true if gravity wasn't an issue, but which are not compatible with string theory...

 and hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 upland.

Activities include boating and canoeing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, camping, and wildlife viewing. Among the wildlife of the park are Osprey

Osprey

The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...

, Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

, Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...

, Anhinga

Anhinga

The Anhinga , sometimes called Snakebird, Darter, American Darter, or Water Turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word "anhinga" comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird.It is a cormorant-like bird with an average body length of , a...

, Ibis

Ibis

The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....

, American Alligator

Alligator

An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....

, and River Otter

River Otter

    Not to be confused with the animal Otter or the River Ottery in CornwallThe River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of...

.

Amenities include a full-facility campground, a half-mile nature trail, a boat ramp that provides access to the Dead River

Dead River (Lake County, Florida)

Found in Lake County, Florida, the Dead River serves as the division between the cities of Tavares and Leesburg.It received its name due to lack of a current; studies have shown that a simple john boat can remain in nearly same position if left on the river overnight with less than five feet of...

, and a playground for small children as well as kayak and canoe rentals, a forty (40) site campground, and a picnic area. The park is open from 8:00 am until sundown year round.