Camping at Trimble Park, Mount Dora, Florida

We headed over to Trimble Park just 11 minutes from downtown Mount Dora located in central Florida.  This is a small Orange County campground, but definitely a gem.  We enjoyed our stay here and visiting Mount Dora.  I will mention, this isn’t an easy park to get reservations for camping especially if you want to stay for more than 1 or 2 nights.  This is one of a few Orange County, Florida parks that has online reservations and allowed dogs.

Campsite before we move in....

Park Details

Address: 5802 Trimble Park Rd, Mt Dora, FL 32757

Phone: (407) 254-1982

Open 8am – 6pm (NOV-FEB)  (8am-8pm MAR-OCT )

Recreational vehicles cannot exceed a maximum length of 35 ft or a maximum height of 12 ft.

Campsite Details

We stayed in campsite #3.  This campsite was very spacious – we enjoyed having a little more space than we often have when camping.

Water/Electric (has dump station)

30 and 50 amp electric

Picnic table with pavers underneath (nice touch!), Fire ring with 2 benches to sit and enjoy

Back in sites

Some shade/pea gravel area for the RV

Bathrooms/showers

Check-in is 2pm

Checkout is 12pm

Quiet hours I believe were from 10pm till 8am (This is a quiet campground)

Gate code is provided when checking in

Our site was pretty much level making that part easy

Emeralda Marsh Conservation Area Wildlife Drive

We initially decided to take this short trip over to Mount Dora because it was the closest campground I could find to this wildlife drive.  This area is open for a short period every year to allow people to come in and drive through to view wildlife.  It is only available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday – we were able to get a campsite for Sunday – so we drove over and then headed off to check this out (about 30 minutes from our campground).

Unfortunately for us, we didn’t see much in terms of wildlife – so it turned into more of a drive through a marsh.  We did find a couple of birds that were enjoying dinner.  I suspect time of day plays a large role in what you will see, but getting a campground site also played a large role for us.

Osprey stopped for a minute and looked up at us before continuing on with eating -looks like a snail or something in the shellfish family.

Early Morning walk

We all decided to check out some of the trails and hike over to ‘the point’.  This is a fairly shady hike and takes you through a lot of Florida’s natural environment.  Along the area by the water a portion of the trail is a ‘boardwalk’.  Now, having said this, when we went to watch the sunset a fellow camper told me about one time when she was walking this trail and when she got to the boardwalk she heard that scary but loud sound that indicates “gator!” – the boardwalk was vibrating a bit from the loud noise and that’s when she figured out it was under the boardwalk.  If I had heard this story first….I don’t know that I would have walked this portion especially once we get to mating season for those big reptiles.  Our walk though, was quiet and enjoyable.

Look at the palm trees for signs that will give you 'directions'.....

The Hawk

When we were completing our walk, Jim spotted a hawk hanging out – so I started taking photographs while he hung onto the dogs and kept them from barking.

Sunset over Lake Carlton

The campground itself and some of the sites are bordering one of the lakes in this park so there is opportunity to watch the sunset.  If you’re an early riser, you can go to the other lake and watch the sun rise – your choice.  We watched the sun set.

Morning walk along Lake Beauclair

The dogs and I decided to check out some more sites on another trail in this park along Lake Beauclair.  Along the way we spotted a few turtles, a great blue heron and enjoyed the walk stopping just short of the boat ramp at one of the pavilions in the day use areas.

Abby finds the boat ramp….

Abby loves the water – she doesn’t want to swim, she just wants to get all wet and perhaps sit in the water.  We walked over to see what the boat ramp was like and before we knew it, Abby said “Finally!!!!” and was in the water.  Happy Dog! (and yes, I was keeping an eye out for that little predator, the gator).

Downtown Mount Dora – The Yardery restaurant

We decided to head into town and see about grabbing some lunch.  Mount Dora has several different dog friendly places to eat, so you’ll have a few choices.  We decided on this place and there was free nearby parking which made it even nicer.  They have a dog menu should your dog like to eat with you.  Ours got a chicken meal which included chicken, rice and veggies.

Palm Island Park, Mount Dora, Florida

This park is located at 411 S. Tremain Street, Mount Dora, Florida 32757

This nice wandering trail which does have a boardwalk along parts of it is located along the lake edge of Lake Dora .  Dogs are allowed at this park and on the boardwalk.  We walked some of the boardwalk and then dropped off to walk along the natural surface which our dogs prefer.  There was several different types of wildlife to view along this path.

One thing to note – if you use Google to find the entrance to this park – at least at the time we used it – it’s wrong – you’re going to end up in a private neighborhood with this sign at the location Google takes you to.

We found the park kinda by accident, and it was a happy accident as we enjoyed the walk.

Green water....looks like algae colored water across this portion of the lake.

We saw this alligator directly below the boardwalk very close to the beginning - this is Florida folks.  This one was about 5-6 feet in length.  The boardwalk is pretty high up so I wasn't concerned, nor was this alligator showing any sign of aggression.

Great Blue Heron very busy looking for it's next meal - totally ignored us - took a while before we could get a photo of anything besides the back of the bird's head.

Bumble bees on the pickerel weed flowers along the boardwalk.

Female anhinga on alert as she sits in a tree branch near the boardwalk.

Yellow bellied turtle floating in the water - this turtle wasn't full grown, so took a bit of looking to find.

Near the covered area on the boardwalk, we glanced down and noticed the fish, looks like gar fish, hanging in the shade.

A baby alligator about 3 feet long hanging out in the shallows of the lake.

We actually saw a lot of wildlife on this walk at about the same time that we had taken the wildlife drive on the previous day.

Hanging at the campsite
 

Pretty sad face there huh?

Nice pavers under the picnic table and nearby....(not laying in the dirt!)

Sisters snuggle....

Maps

To view all photographs from this camping trip, click here.