Kissimmee River

The Kissimmee River is a river in south-central Florida that forms the northern part of the Everglades system. It begins as the outflow of East Lake Tohopekaliga in Osceola County and passes through a chain of lakes that includes Lake Kissimmee. It then flows south into Lake Okeechobee, forming the boundaries between Osceola and Polk, Highlands and Okeechobee, and Glades and Okeechobee counties. The river was originally 134 miles long, and 103 of those miles lay between Lake Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. Between 1962 and 1971 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged it into the C-38 canal, a straight channel 30 feet deep, for flood control. A restoration project, authorized in 1992 and sponsored by the Corps and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), was completed in July 2021. It restored about 44 miles of the historic river channel and roughly 20,000 acres of wetlands.

The Kissimmee River Public Use Area covers more than 30,000 acres from State Road 60 south to Lake Okeechobee and is reached mainly by boat. SFWMD sites include the S-65 North and South ramps at State Road 60, the S-65D ramp, the Starvation Slough airboat launch, the Bluff Hammock access and the 4E's non-motorized ramp at Cornwell Marsh. Okeechobee County runs Platt's Bluff and Okee-Tantie, which sits at the river's mouth. Boats pass through the SFWMD navigation locks S-65, S-65A, S-65D and S-65E. These locks run 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and keep longer seasonal hours on weekends. Camping requires an SFWMD Special Use License and is limited to eight days in a row.

Fishing is allowed year-round with a Florida license.