Lake Louisa State Park

I’ve been here a few times now and love the trails. We try and keep at a steady pace of 3.7 over a two hour period and it allows for a great cardio session. Challenging but fun. And it helps it’s only 5 mins from my house. Win win.

I was here the other day for a lovely hiking adventure with my new camera. It cost me $ 4 since I was alone to get into the park. I started my hiking journey in the far back near the beach entrance. I was once here years ago with my parents. I remember it being ok, not the best.
The parking lot was empty since it was a weekday and cold out. I started at Mile Marker #21 near the Trail head. From here I walked to #24 to #17 on the map. I walked around to #19 to #2 around Bear Lake. From here I decided to go back since I was getting bored. I walked from #2 to #16 on the map.
ATTENTION: The trail from #2 to #16 or vice versa, the trail is covered in swamp water!!! I was brave to walk around the water, but at one point it is completely surrounded by water. Unless you want to walk through the water, skip this trail.
I didn’t see any wildlife here in my hike. There was a nice plastic dock near mile marker # 19. The trails were mostly covered in sand, so it was difficult to walk on. Think of walking on a sandy beach for a long time. The sand is nice to avoid water, but it takes away the all-​natural hiking experience in the woods.
Of course this park offers more than hiking. You can camp, stay in a cabin, check out the beach at Lake Louisa, or take a nice day to picnic. This park does offer numerous trails to hike around the property. I will be back soon to explore the other trails since I love hiking.
I gave it 4 Stars because of the sand on the trails and not much to see from my current trip. I’ll update my review the next time around. I do recommend coming here for a day or some hours.

We wanted a natural place to stay while visiting the Disney parks and stumbled upon this lovely state park. For $ 70/​night, this was a great deal. Our cabin, #7, was clean and had everything we needed. It had the most wonderful screened-​in porch with three rocking chairs and incredible views of the lake (given my choice, I would have spent the vacation sitting on the porch reading and enjoying the peace and quiet). It was ~25 mins from our cabin to the Magic Kingdom parking lot (hwy 27 to 192).
Two bedrooms, each with it’s own full bathroom; one living room, and one well-​stocked kitchen: fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, dishes, silverware, pots, pans, glass mixing bowls, measuring cups, colander, can opener, etc… — we made meals such as pancakes and pasta (and saved lots of money compared to the theme parks).
The cabin had central A/​C and heat. There is also an gas fireplace for the winter months. It was cold when we visited in January and the heater was a blessing.
I enjoyed the hiking trails and the wildlife — Sand Hill Cranes flying overhead, big trees dripping with Spanish moss, and wild tangerine (from a former farm?) next to the trails — very peaceful.
Another Unilocal reviewer complained about the beds — nope they are not luxurious but they were not much different from beds we encountered at hotels three times the price. The sheets did slip off the covered mattresses — a minor annoyance.
We would definitely stay here again.
_​Tips_​
*For a late arrival, call the rangers. They will provide you with a code for the electric gate and leave the keys in your cabin.
*There is a laundromat in the Publix shopping center (NE corner of the intersection of 27 and 192).

I love this State Park, they have excellent Customer service, it is very clean with clean restrooms and excellent nature, Animals, places to exercise with your family and dogs, can ride horses, fish, go to the ponds, stay on a cabin, ect! I will recommend this place without hesitation!

Will not rent kayak or canoe to anyone under 18… even if and adult is with them and kayaking too. WILL NOT refund the cost of admission to the park since all we came for was kayak. Nowhere on the website does it state that rentals are 18+ only. My kids are great swimmers and 15 and 16. Responsible enough to pilot a kayak solo. Buyer beware!

Pros: Bathrooms were clean, like some other reviews mentioned, and that was nice, especially after a sunny hike.
Cons: Wish the primitive camping was open, but staff told us those areas were not open for camping. Instead we tent-​camped in the tent/​RV section, but were not allowed to put the tent on the grass. Instead, we set up on the designated gravel area. Felt like camping in a drive-​way, a bit of a bummer, but oh well.
Did not expect the park to lack trees/​shaded hikes. There are a lot of multi-​use, sandy trails in open sun — would be okay in cooler months, but not ideal for summer.

Great park to visit regularly. They have great hiking trails, primitive camping, fishing, canoes, kayaks, etc… I visit here often to run on the trails or take my dog to the lake. There is a small sandy beach on lake Louisa with bathrooms, grills, and picnic tables close by. I’ve never been here and seen it crowded.
The only drawback to this park is the lack of mountain bike specific trails. Most of the trails are multi use meaning bikes are allowed, however this also makes them incredibly sandy, especially where the horses like to go. This still hasn’t stopped me from riding my bike out there. If you do plan on riding a mountain bike be prepared for a leg burner of a workout.

5 stars. Love the cabins and the condition they are in. Great hiking trails! Haven’t gone kayaking yet (too windy). This is my 3^rd time staying here for 2 nights.

This was a fun park. At the guard stand, you pay a minimal fee to enter the park and the ranger gives you a map of the vast propriety. I drive all the way to the back to Lake Louisa beach. There, you will find a bathhouse, picnic tables, park and a little beach, though no one was swimming.
From there, I drove back the way I came and stopped at a little hut marking a trail head. I walked in the orange and blue rectangle trails and thought the Orange one was gorgeous, since it was near Big Creek.
After hiking for a few hours, I got back in my car and headed to a smaller lake where you can rent kayaks. While you get the kayaks here, you have to go to the ranger house where you entered to get the keys, paddles, and life jackets.
There are places to camp, bike and ride horses, but I didn’t do those.

Park is great but we tried to get primitive camping and we were told they were all occupied. We went to the camping sites just to see how they looked like at around 5 pm and the 3 campsites were all EMPTY. Called the office but according to them they were reserved. I felt I was given the round around, not sure why they are not allowing people there

Man, I am SO happy we found this State Park! We’ve always felt we had to drive all the way to Ocala for a decent primitive camping adventure but Lake Louisa offers the trails, views, and lakes that Ocala has without the crazy drive or the overcrowding (yes, Ocala can get a bit too crowded).
If you are a hiker, Louisa offers miles and miles of shaded trails. If you a bicyclist, it looks like you could ride the hiking trail on your bike (some are too sandy). In addition, the hilly terrain can make your on-​road bicycle ride a bit of a challenge (come on .we are in FL, we are not used to riding any hills taller than three feet). If you are a camper, they offer primitive camp sites and fancy cabins. The cabins are facing a lake and the hills, which can seriously bring you some awesome chillaxing time. And if you are an aquatic person, you can rent kayaks and canoes. What more could you ask for???
I can’t wait until a cold front comes in so we can go camping!

Wir wählten diesen State Park mit Campground für die letzten beiden Nächte unseres Urlaubes, da er nahe der Abgabestation des Vermieters liegt (Orlando).
Welch Treffer! Der State Park ist geprägt durch mehrere Seen, zwischen zweien liegt der Campground. Er hat nur 60 Sites, die alle großzügig bemessen sind und reichlich Abstand voneinander haben. Alle sind sie sehr eben mit Kiesgrund, das liebt der Camper, erspart es doch das unbeliebte Ausgleichen. Neben dem Stellplatz für das Wohnmobil ein Privacy-​Bereich mit Grill– und Feuerstelle sowie großer Holzbank und –tisch. Alle Plätze haben Strom– und Wasseranschluss, einige wenige full hook-​up. Die zentrale Dumpstation hat zwei Dumpster.
Die zwei Restroom-​Gebäude sind sehr gepflegt, haben ausreichend Duschen und WC, sowie eine Laundry. Ein wesentlichere Teil der Energie wird aus Solarkraft gewonnen.
Beim CG-​Host gibt es Brennholz in Selbstbedienung: $ 5 in eine Box und man nimmt sich sechs Scheite.
Im Park gibt es viele gekennzeichnete Trails. An den Seen kann man nicht nur Vögel gut beobachten, sondern auch Alligatoren. Vorsorglich wird vor dem Schwimmen in den Seen gewarnt. Wie halt in Amerika vor allen möglichen Lebensrisiken gewarnt wird.
Ein vorbildlicher, ruhiger Campground, man kann es kaum glauben, dass gleich beim Verlassen des State Park die Verkehrshektik auf vierspurigen Straßen der Metropole Orlando einem den Atem nimmt.

Loved this park! The hiking trails are amazing. Such great views, and nature all around you. The hilltop trail was one of my favorites as the views are breathtaking. Came here for a casual hike not realizing the distance these trails hold and ended up walking 6 miles. Definitely will visit this park again.

We stayed at Lake Lousia State Park in Clermont, FL at the family campsite for a night. We only live 3 hrs away but wanted to try camping for the night.
The campsite is shared with RVs and people who have cars and want to pitch a tent. They had an electrical hook up, a water pipe and a fire pit/​grill at our site. The sites are a little close to each other but there are plenty of bushes and trees to offer some privacy. Each sites are a little different.
There are three «family campsites» each containing about 15 individual sites each. The first two family campsites share a man and woman’s bathroom with hot water and a shower. And the third family campsite has it’s own man and woman’s bathroom with hot water and shower. The bathroom/​shower rooms were VERY clean!
The staff/​Rangers were so nice and helpful. They are in the ranger station till about 5pm but they provide you with a gate code to get into and out of the state park in the event you need to go out a get anything. About three miles from the park there is a Publix groceries store, a Walmart and a few restaurants (If need be).
There are two places with the family campsites that you can purchase fire wood, but beware… it’s just a pile of wood sitting out on a cart and you put your money ($ 5) in a lock box. BUT because it had rained the night before and I guess the wood had been sitting in the rain, when we got the fire wood, it seem dry but it DID NOT light! We had to run out to Publix and get lighter fluid/​flue and that still DID NOT WORK! This was our first time camping in general so its safe to say we had no idea about choosing wood and starting a campfire.
Also there is a beach that you can go swimming in and about 2 fishing pries. There are a few hiking trails, a backpacking campsite and you can also rent cabins.
The park is fairly big, so bikes or vehicles are best to get around from one end to the other.
All in all it was a great trip!

This is a really great place to go hiking/​biking and the paths are marked very clearly. The nature trails are very peaceful, and there is even a fitness course and a creek that runs thru one trail. There are also places you can have a picnic by the lake, or sit on the beach. Watch out for biting bugs, there are many out there. Will continue to come back and recommend it to anyone who likes the great outdoors.

Love this park, always friendly staff, very quite atmosphere, great roads for bicycles, only 4 dollars to get in!

Huge state park! We came here for a day of geocaching. I was surprised at how large it was. We drove around the entire park looking for different geocaches. We often hiked different trails, went down to the lake and also braved it through some woods. But be careful when off of the trails. I didn’t look where I was walking and got a cactus stuck in my leg! Ouch!

They offer cabins that are very nicely priced for what you receive. All of the necessities are included — linens, towels, kitchen supplies. You need to bring your clothing and whatever food you want to eat during your stay.
The cabins have two bedrooms — one has 2 twin beds and the ‘master bedroom’ has a full sized bed. Every cabin is equipped with a gas fireplace that is activated during the winter months. The first cabin we stayed in had a faulty fireplace, and the rangers were not able to fix it during our stay. This was disappointing, but our group had rented three cabins, so we just hung out in the other cabins. The cabins are very clean. They do not have TVs or wifi, so I’d strongly recommend bringing board games to help pass the time in the evening hours.
The lakes are gorgeous. There are plenty of hiking trails that lead around the park. There is some really beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife to photograph. Make sure you bring water!
They have a nice fishing pier on one of the lakes. They also offer kayak/​canoe rentals at a reasonable price.
Overall, it’s a very nice getaway spot.

Nice state park with lots of trails to run. The lake is really pretty and the cabins look very nice from the outside (I didn’t stay overnight.)

This was my first visit to LLS Park and I was really impressed by how beautiful and well kept it was. You can rent a canoe for $ 8 for 2 hours and paddle out onto Dixie Lake, there are trails for horseback riding as well as hiking, a nice beach (although the water is pretty low right now) and incredible wildlife watching. If you are the type of person that likes to just turn off your cell phone and be surrounded by beauty this is the place for you. No frills just nature.

We had a great time. The cabins were clean, and well equipped and comfortable, great place to relax and get focused. The patio was screened in and made sitting outside at night very comfortable. We didn’t get to enjoy the lake as much, it seems as though the water was low. There are more lakes but I didnt get to see them. My friends and I rented most of the cabins that weekend for our reunion. I would not hesitate to visit again. I think it would be great if they had a rec-​room with ping pong or pool tables or card tables or chess/​checker boards tables… and internet access. It seems like something is missing. A rec building the size of the cabins would be fine. There’s so much space they could use a small portion to attract more families. I think if we were there alone I might have wanted more attractions in the park… it’s really quite and serene, but it needs a little something more to be perfect. I know we will be there again. I’ll just bring my fishing gear and a deck of cards… LOL