Candid Florida

North Loop boardwalk at John Chesnut Park

Two shores, two parks: Lake Tarpon’s a big place that most visitors don’t even know exists, hidden as it is by businesses and residential areas along US 19 north of Clearwater. On the western shore, in Tarpon Springs, A.L. Anderson County Park is a large county park where you can drop a boat or kayak in to putter around the lake, or enjoy a picnic under the cypresses along the shoreline.

For more extensive recreation opportunities, John Chesnut Sr. County Park in Oldsmar grabs a large chunk of the eastern shoreline and offers it up as a wild place to play. I revisited the park to update “50 Hikes in Central Florida”  to discover efforts in progress to replace all of the boardwalks along the lakeshore. The birding is superb here thanks to a screen of natural floodplain forest along the shoreline.

The Peggy Park Nature Trail is at the south end of the park, offering up a quiet walk under the cypress and a stroll along Brooker Creek. Nearby, boardwalks lead from the boat ramp along the shoreline to hidden niches with picnic tables,  a tall observation tower, and covered decks along the lakeshore, perfect for catching a breeze while reading a book or watching the gallinules in the shallows. Thanks to Barbara Bowen, who met me for this visit, I discovered a whole section of the park I’d missed on my first visit, complete with dog park and large playground, picnic pavillions around a large pond, and another hiking loop with a boardwalk through a floodplain forest where birds are bountiful.

Picnic pad at A.L. Anderson Park

Along US 19 in Tarpon Springs, A.L. Anderson is one of those parks that thousands of people whiz by every day and probably never stop to see what it’s all about. I was going to a meeting a couple of miles away and thought hey, why not stop! I’m glad I did. The park hugs the western shore of Lake Tarpon, offering plenty of picnic pavilions for big groups. On a weekday, it was rather quiet, save for the boaters putting in and taking out at the slip. I was delighted to find a marked nature trail that starts at the first pavilion on the left and leads you through a cypress swamp festooned with non-native but cheery philodendron along a boardwalk to the shores of a cove on the lake. I scared up two osprey pretty quick, and saw a young alligator cruising the shallows. The walk continues near the lakeshore, with side trails to private picnic pads amid the cypress, reminiscent of the ones I encountered at John Chesnut Park years ago on the far shore. Grab one for solitude and enjoy your lunch!