Big Lagoon State Park — Loop 3

Natural communities, ranging from saltwater tidal marshes to pine flatwoods, attract a wide variety of birds, especially during the spring and fall migrations. Think of Big Lagoon State Park as a gateway. It not only offers swimming, boating, fishing, camping, hiking and paddling, but adventurers also can begin or end a 1,515-mile sea kayaking journey on the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail around the entire state. The park is also a gateway for the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail and is a stopover for more than 23 species of warblers and a variety of ducks, sandpipers and black-bellied plovers. Bring binoculars or borrow a pair from the ranger station and roam the shore and extensive coastal forest or climb the three-story observation tower for a bird's-eye view.