Fort Cooper SP

Birding / Hiking / Adventuring Roadtrip Info

ROUGH DRAFT

Andrew Thoreson
Jan 2022

What's It Like
Kind of Birds
Wildlife
Ammenities
Time Needs
Directions
Dear Ranger
Experience

Typical view [?]

Photo Galleries

Typical View (18)

Snapshots! (13)

GRADES: Click each for info, = Note*
How Big	Not Rated
Importance	Not Rated
Revisit?	A
Birding	B
Wildlife	B
Summer Heat	B
Terrain	B
Fun Hike	A
Maintained	A *
Mosquitos	C
Biting Files	D
Ticks	D

NOTE: Very nice rangers

LOCATION: Accuracy: Read me

On Big Map: Click map (or on google maps). Address: 3100 South Old Floral City Road, Inverness, FL, Citrus, USA, 34450

5 CLOSEST (Map)

Miles	Location
1.9	Paige's Rootbeer - Inverness, FL
2.3	Flying Eagle Preserve
3.1	Cooter Pond Park
3.6	Floral City
4.9	Trilby Road

OFFICIAL INFO:

1) What It's Like

Easy to get to and near other interesting places in Inverness and Floral City and scenic drive. Huge pretty pond/lake/beach and some interesting well maintained trails. We tend to come back often.

2) Kinds of Birds

Not a great diversity of birds but a good view of what's there. Pileated woodpecker, turkey, bobwhite. In lake a lot of red winged blackbird, grackle, whistling duck, gallinule, anhinga, etc.

3) Wildlife

More than should be around this close to people. Lots of deer to be seen, gopher tortoises.

4) Amenities

Great setup for large BBQs - bathrooms, shelters, playground, etc. Trails have good signage. No RV camping but I believe there's a youth primitive campground.

5) Directions

You have to drive through the edge of a residential neighborhood to get there but the signs are ample.

6) Dear Ranger

They are unusually nice rangers. Except Larry. Fuck Larry. Just kidding - no idea if there is a Larry.

7) Time Requirements

Good in that you can do several miles of trail or just pull up for 20 minutes on the beach.

Experience

Fort Cooper is a state park that feels like the deep woods although it isn't. It's on the edge of Inverness as you come from Floral city - both are pleasant cities to visit on their own - so we come back here fairly often.

To sum up the park it's more or less some nice forest with more wildlife than one should expect and a large lake with a nice beach on it. I don't think anyone swims in it but it's a great scenic spot and fun for kids. There are several trails and we've seen deer on all of them but if you follow the lake around to the right - that's were we've seen turkey and deer intimately. Eventually you reach an amphitheater of oaks where they do recreations from one of the Seminole wars.

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