Thursday March 14th 2024

I like staying at Lake Manatee State Park because of its location near Bradenton Florida. When I first stayed here in 2016 the area along state route 64 east of Interstate 75 wasn’t as built up as it is today. The second half of the eight mile stretch of road was mostly dedicated to agriculture. The section of road now has two traffic circles, new gas stations, a Publix Supermarket and new housing developments. The last mile or so of road leading to the state park entrance used to be cultivated fields on both sides. Today it is under development as town homes and tightly packed housing.

All of the development diminishes the value of staying at this park. While it has plenty of trails, they aren’t filled with interesting wildlife and vegetation. It doesn’t make multiple walks along the same trail that enjoyable. The value of this state park is its proximity to other recreation opportunities. The increased development and resulting traffic congestion makes visiting those locations more difficult.

Today I was heading for Robinson Preserve. It is located west of downtown Bradenton along the south shore of the mouth of Tampa Bay where the Manatee River empties into the bay and gulf. It contains trails and salt marsh waterways. To get there from here it is necessary to go through the middle of the downtown Bradenton. It is always a slow drive filled with traffic. Today I didn’t even make it to the middle of downtown. Traffic was backed up beyond my tolerance level. I gave up after spending twenty minutes to go the equivalent of five minute in normal traffic. There was probably an accident, but it might just be spring break visitor traffic. I stopped at Tom Bennett park on my way back to get some exercise and my wildlife fix.