The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Lettuce Lake Park offers beauty, bird watching and fun

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If you’re looking for a place to commune with nature, spend some time exercising, or gather with family and friends — Lettuce Lake Park may be just the spot for you.

A woman is silhouetted in the setting sun as she views the sights from the Lettuce Lake tower. The observation tower has several levels, with lower vantage points for those who don’t want to climb to the top. (Fred Bellet/Photos)
A woman is silhouetted in the setting sun as she views the sights from the Lettuce Lake tower. The observation tower has several levels, with lower vantage points for those who don’t want to climb to the top.
(Fred Bellet/Photos)

The 240-acre park offers wooded picnic areas, a playground, an interpretive center, an observation tower, and a 1.25-mile bicycle and jogging trail, complete with a fitness course, according to the park’s website.

There’s also a 3,500-foot boardwalk, rental canoes and kayaks, and plenty of places to sit back and enjoy nature’s splendor, including the park’s wildlife, its hardwood hammocks and its pine flatwood plant communities.

Lettuce Lake is not actually a lake, the park’s website says. Lettuce Lake is a shallow, finger-like body of water that is connected to the Hillsborough River, which originates in the Green Swamp, roughly 25 miles to the northeast.

More than half of Lettuce Lake Park’s property lies in the natural floodplain of the Hillsborough River and consists of hardwood swamp forest, the park’s website says.

A pair of fishermen stream across Lettuce Lake en route to a connection with the Hillsborough River
A pair of fishermen stream across Lettuce Lake en route to a connection with the Hillsborough River

The park, at 6920 E. Fletcher Ave., also features an Audubon Resource Center. The center hosts programs aimed at connecting people with nature. The focus of the center’s program is to help visitors better understand the Hillsborough River ecosystem.

Bird watching tours are held a couple of times each month, with times and dates available at the visitor’s desk. For more information, visit TampaAudubon.org.

Lettuce Lake Park
What: A 240-acre Hillsborough County Park, offering places to walk, bicycle, canoe, kayak, picnic and commune with nature.
Where: 6920 E. Fletcher Ave., Tampa
When: Winter, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Spring, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Summer, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fall, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
How much: Entry is $2 per vehicle, up to eight people, and $1 for each additional person.
For more information, call (813) 987-6204.

Published January 6, 2016

They heard there were good fishing spots at Lettuce Lake Park, but Philip Conner, front, and his dad, Fred Conner of Bedford, Virginia, did not have any luck. They plan to return anyway. This was the men’s first visit to the park.
They heard there were good fishing spots at Lettuce Lake Park, but Philip Conner, front, and his dad, Fred Conner of Bedford, Virginia, did not have any luck. They plan to return anyway. This was the men’s first visit to the park.

 

 

A 5-foot alligator shares a log with a turtle, near the water’s edge at Lettuce Lake Park.
A 5-foot alligator shares a log with a turtle, near the water’s edge at Lettuce Lake Park.
Isabel Magnano, left, and Felisha Dicks, both of Tampa, stroll out along the Lettuce Lake Park boardwalk, while others walk in. The boardwalk winds through the hardwood swamp forest where visitors can see vegetation and wildlife that are indigenous to this area.
Isabel Magnano, left, and Felisha Dicks, both of Tampa, stroll out along the Lettuce Lake Park boardwalk, while others walk in. The boardwalk winds through the hardwood swamp forest where visitors can see vegetation and wildlife that are indigenous to this area.

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