WATER & COAST
Hardee Lakes Park
Hardee County · Central Florida
Twelve hundred acres of old phosphate pits turned into lakes, given to the county by the mining company that dug them.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Hardee Lakes County Park covers 1,200 acres at 5502 Ollie Roberts Road near Bowling Green. The lakes here are not natural. They are worked-out phosphate pits alongside the floodplain of Paynes Creek, dug from the 1950s onward, reclaimed and then donated to the county by Mosaic. What that leaves is open grassy country with lakes through it and forest along the creek, which is unlike anywhere else in the county and very good for watching birds; sandhill cranes work the open ground. Lake Hardee and Deer Lake both have unpaved loop drives around them. There are fishing piers and a hand launch for small boats, and a current Florida fishing license is needed. Gravel paths circle the lakes for walking and cycling, and separate equestrian trails loop Lake Firefly and Gator Lake from the camping area at the north end. One boardwalk is closed and looks abandoned. The campground holds 60 sites plus a group site and 15 primitive tent sites, with three bathhouses and a dump station. Quiet hours run from 10 at night to 8 in the morning. The park opens at 7 in the morning and closes at 8, there is a charge per vehicle, and leashed pets are welcome
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