Besides Shingle Creek Regional Park, another “urban wilderness” area that I love is Twin Oaks Conservation Area. Located on an eastern arm of Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee, it offers a number of recreation opportunities for simple folks like me.

First, I enjoy fishing there. To be honest, I’ve never actually caught a fish, or even had a nibble, in Florida. When we were in Nevada for three years, I used to fish at several locations there and would almost always catch fish (trout). But not in Florida. I attribute that to two things:

1. The population in north-central Nevada is tiny compared to the population in Osceola County. Hence, there’s more competition for the fish.
2. My idea of fishing is driven by my own comfort and convenience, not the actual pursuit of fish. I like easy access, middle of the day weather, dog company (MacKenzie), and shore fishing. None of these really contributes to helping me catch any fish. But I don’t care. I enjoy the outing, when I can get it (which is actually not very often).

Twin Oaks has a wonderful fishing pier with shaded benches, lots of space, and slots in which to rest your fishing pole.

In addition to fishing access, there are covered picnic tables and decent pit toilets nearby.

The area seems popular with local equestrians. There is a horse and foot trail that winds through the scrublands.

The trail system leads to a couple of nice backcountry campsites which can be reserved on the website above.

Every time I’ve been there I’ve enjoyed looking for wildlife (of which I’ve mainly seen birds).

I also love driving through the oaks along the entrance/exit road. There are so many houses being built in this area that it’s quite a surprise to see such a canopy of limbs still covering the road.