Lake Talquin State Park

The construction of Jackson Bluff Dam on the Ochlockonee River in 1927 created the reservoir of Lake Talquin. In 1971, Florida Power Corpoartion (owners of the hydroelectric facility) donated about 10,000 acres of lake bottom and another 20,000 acres of uplands to Florida to create Lake Talquin State Park. Much of the lake's southern and southwestern shoreline is contained within the state park. For boaters: you need to know that most of the old floodplain here is quite shallow (except along the former river channel) and the dead trees and stumps that were left at the bottom of the lake are still there, just below the water's surface, especially on the eastern end of the lake.

This is an area of rolling hills and deep ravines that still harbor forests of pines and hardwoods like oak and sweetgum. Bald eagles build their nests up high on the bluffs that overlook the lake.

Lake Talquin State Park offers a large, rustic picnic pavilion with a big outdoor grill. There are also nature trails and a walkway that winds along beside the lake. Boating, canoeing, kayaking and fishing are available, too. Fishermen are pretty lucky looking for bream, largemouth bass, shellcracker and speckled perch. Among the treed areas you might also find wild turkey, osprey and white-tailed deer.

This park is day use only and day use hours run from 8 am to sunset, 365 days a year.

Admission fees: $3 per vehicle with up to 8 occupants, $2 for pedestrians, bicyclists and extra passengers. You'll want exact change because you'll be paying into an honor box. The Picnic Pavilion: the whole thing for $100 per day (plus tax), half the thing: $50 per day (plus tax). Reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance.