Known over the years as Jaycee Park, Lock 7, Lakefront Park, and Parrott Avenue Wayside, this waterfront recreation area offers expansive views of Lake Okeechobee.
Some of those are best seen from the Florida Trail, which passes through the recreation area. But you’ll also appreciate the lake’s most significant observation point, the 400-foot fishing pier that anchors this park.
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Overview
Location: Okeechobee
Address: 200 SR 78 West, Okeechobee
Fees: none
Restroom: near the pier
Land manager: Okeechobee County
Phone: 863-763-6950
Open 24 hours. No camping permitted. Leashed dogs welcome.
Directions
From the intersection of US 441 and SR 78 in Okeechobee, turn right on SR 78 and immediately make a left to enter the park. The entrance road goes up and over the dike, crossing the Florida Trail. On the opposite side, paved parking is on the left, and unpaved parking stretches for almost a mile along the lakeshore to the right.
About the Park
Renamed for a county commissioner who helped guide planning for county parks before his untimely death in 2011, this recreation area is one of the best places along the entire shoreline of Lake Okeechobee for visitors to see the lake.
While hikers can gain a lot of great vantage points along the Florida Trail while circling the lake, for folks who drive up to the recreation areas, the views aren’t generally as sweeping as this park provides.
This waterfront recreation area has improved greatly over the decades since we first started visiting it, when it was simply a dirt lot and the pier.
A relatively recent addition in the past five years is the infrastructure adjoining the pier that includes paved parking, picnic tables, and restrooms with potable water.
The pier is for anglers, but even if you’re not here to fish, it’s well worth the walk out along it for views of the shoreline, where you will always see birds.
The sweep of the lake from the end of the pier is pretty sweet, too.
Hiking
Hikers and cyclists will appreciate easy access to the Florida Trail / Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail on the dike up above the recreation area. Use the entrance road or the paved path behind the restrooms for access.
To the east, a paved segment of the Florida Trail stretches nearly 3 miles to Taylor Creek, offering great views and opportunities for birding on both sides of the dike.
To the west, a paved segment of the Florida Trail curves around Eagle Bay to Okee-tantie, nearly 4 mile. This is one of the best spots on the lake for easily accessed birding.
We’ve spotted crested caracara, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, white pelicans, and bald eagles within a short walk of the trailhead. On the unpaved flats of the recreation area, sometimes flocks of gulls or skimmers come to rest.
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Nearby Adventures
Okeechobee Battlefield Historic State Park Okeechobee Battlefield State Park protects a part of the landscape where the Battle of Okeechobee occurred during the Second Seminole War on Christmas Day, 1837.
Taylor Creek STA Encompassing the ancient shoreline of Taylor Creek and man-made marshes, this wetlands park is a gem for birding and wildlife watching just north of Okeechobee. 
Florida Trail, Okeechobee to Okee-Tantie 3.8 miles. On the sweep of Lake Okeechobee shoreline between Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River, expect some of the best birding along the lake as you walk along the dike.
Florida Trail, Henry Creek to Okeechobee 8.6 miles. Along the north shoreline of Lake Okeechobee, this paved segment of the Florida Trail is one of its prettiest, offering sweeping views of the lake.
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