Hontoon Island: Take a ferry to state park in St. Johns River for weekend picnics & hikes

Last updated on November 28th, 2024 at 07:34 pm

Hontoon Island is a beautiful wild island in the St. Johns River full of wildlife and surrounded by undeveloped wetlands.

Before Hurricane Ian in 2022, we loved its campground and rustic cabins, accessible only by boat, and the free ferry service that shuttled visitors on and off the island.

Ian’s floods did great damage and now, more than two years later, the park’s ferry finally returns on weekends. But the campground and cabins are not yet open.

Still, it’s a great place to hike or have a picnic. Kayaking on the waterways surrounding this island provides excellent scenery and lots of birds, alligators and sometimes manatees.

Hontoon Island State Park is located in the St. Johns River; no more than 500 feet of water separate it from “the mainland.” Yet that separation makes Hontoon Island State Park a bit more remote and romantic and has helped keep it from blending into the nearby town of Deland.

The paddle around the island is 10 miles filled with birds and wildlife, past ancient cypress and oak trees. There’s also a playground for kids and a small museum.

With the ferry back, Hontoon Island State Park, in Central Florida just outside Deland, is easy to reach. A free electric ferry buzzes back and forth, carrying hikers and fishermen and all their gear.

Kayaking and canoeing at Hontoon Island State Park

Circumnavigating Hontoon Island in a canoe or kayak is a perfect day’s paddle.

There are maps of the route at the park and the helpful ranger suggested we start counter-clockwise around the Island. This took us first along the scenic Hontoon Dead River. It is anything but dead: It was full of wildlife and lined with a thick forest. What its name denotes is that it ends in a dead end, but many miles away. It probably was an earlier route of the St. Johns River.

From there, a left turn took us on the narrower, twisty Snake Creek, which meets up with the St. Johns River at Blue Spring State Park.

We had a picnic at Blue Spring and admired some manatees in the spring run. Then we paddled the last two or three miles on the wider St. Johns River back to Hontoon Island State Park.

It’s all scenic and full of wildlife, but the best section is the Snake Creek. The least appealing part – and we were also just tired – is the last few miles on the wide St. Johns.

An alternative route leaving from Blue Spring State Park could skip the main river and go directly to the Snake Creek. There are other lagoons, canals and channels in that area that look promising to explore.

On our paddling trip we were continually surrounded by the sight and sounds of birds. The island has an active eagle nest and we saw a nesting blue heron with its chick. We also spotted osprey, ibis, heron, egrets, kingfishers, limpkin, sandhill cranes and cardinals. Other wildlife included turtles, alligators – including 10-inch babies — and, happily, manatees.

Along the way, we admired the trees with so many air plants that they were positively fuzzy, knobby cypress knees and the tangled mats of aquatic plants in vivid greens.

There was never a piece of trash and we saw little sign of man’s encroachment.  The whole route is open to motorized boats but there were just a few fishermen present. On the St. Johns, an enormous barge passed while we had lunch, so it is possible to see substantial boat traffic on that leg. When we paddled the St. Johns portion, however, we were passed by only three motor boats.

We loved this kayak trip – it was long enough to be a challenge;  it included a great picnic spot where we could stretch and explore, and it was full of all the beauty and wildlife we always hope to experience.

Hiking at Hontoon Island State Park

Hontoon is also a great place for hikers. The three-mile-long Hammock Hiking Nature Trail takes you through a thick hardwood forest with lots of sprawling live oaks draped with Spanish moss. On a previous visit we saw deer; this time we spotted only an armadillo shuffling along. The path ends at a huge Indian shell mound, a hill about 20 feet high and 400 feet long. The midden is thousands of years old so on its top you’ll find some of the biggest oak trees in the park.

There are miles of other trails that are actually sandy roads. These pass through more open pine and palmetto palm forests. Spurs of these trails go to overlooks and landings on the river. If you like hiking, you have lots of possible routes. The trails are also open to mountain bikes.

History on Hontoon Island State Park

The park has an interesting small museum devoted to its history, particularly to the Native American Indians who gathered shellfish from the St. Johns River and left that midden some 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. The museum also includes artifacts found on the island.  Near the playground is a replica of a large wooden owl totem that was found by a dragline operator near the park’s parking lot in 1955.

Camping and cabins at Hontoon Island State Park

As of November 2024, the campground and cabins have been closed for two years. There is no word on when they will reopen.

Because there are no cars and parking lots, the camp and cabin sites are among the prettiest you’ll find. They are situated in a shady hammock secluded from the busy waterfront.

There are 12 campsites and six very basic cabins clustered around a central bath facility with hot showers and flush toilets.

These aren’t luxury cabins; they are just one step above camping. There’s no heat or air conditioning, no kitchen and, like the campers, you walk to the central bathroom. The cabins have bunk beds with vinyl-covered mattresses and you bring your own sleeping bag (or linens.)

The cabins are inexpensive  — $30 a night for a four-bunk cabin; $35 for six bunks. The six-bunk cabin with additional fees and tax comes to $101.20 a night.

For us, these cabins are a perfect option: The fun of being in the woods and cooking over a campfire, while guaranteeing we’d stay dry in a storm and being able to avoid mosquitoes. (In March, there were none.)

The cabins have a screen porch with a table and chairs – perfect if we had bad weather. They also have ceiling fans in the bedroom and porch, lights in both rooms and a single electric outlet. The cabins come with a fire ring with a grill and a picnic table, like the campsites.

Campsites and cabins fill up on weekends, so you must plan ahead. If you can visit on a weekday, it is easy to get a reservation, even at the height of the spring break season in March.

Planning a visit to Hontoon Island State Park

When cabin or camping facilities reopen, you make reservations at reserve.floridastateparks.org or call 1-800-326-3521, Monday-Friday, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. up to 11 months in advance. 

If you want a bit more comfort, you can have the whole Hontoon Island experience by staying at the Hontoon Landing Resort, which is almost adjacent to the state park’s parking lot. The resort also operates a river nature cruise and rents pontoon and fishing boats. If you stay at Hontoon Landing Resort, you can take the ferry over to Hontoon Island for hiking and launch your canoe or kayak for the paddling trip.

Hontoon Island State Park website

Nearby Blue Spring State Park

Wekiva River Basin.