Estero RiverPark Opened in Eagle Season. Here's How to Spend a Morning on the River.

The turn is easy to miss. Head east onto County Road just north of Estero River Outfitters, where the fire station sits, and follow it to the end. A small sign points you right into a new parking lot. From there you walk the rest of the way, across a 10-foot-wide pedestrian bridge over the Estero River, and you're in Estero RiverPark. Estero Life magazine calls it the Village's first conservation and recreation project.

Estero RiverPark is in a soft opening, with hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The timing matters. The park opened just ahead of October 1, the start of nesting season for a pair of bald eagles that have lived on the property since 2022. The season runs through May 15. For its first winter, the open stretch of RiverPark is small and the eagles set the schedule. The best way to use it is as the starting point for a longer morning on the river.

The North Bank Is Where Everything Starts

Everything you need for a visit is on the north side of the river. According to Engage Estero's RiverPark page, the lot has 85 spaces and a few of them are shaded. It also has bike racks and a set of Old Florida-style restrooms. The bridge replaced an old swing bridge. On the south side it connects to an 8-foot, ADA-accessible multi-use path with a porous surface.

The Estero Forever Foundation is running activities and operations during the soft opening. The Foundation has also managed the Happehatchee Center on the Village's behalf since November 26, 2024. The Village hasn't published park rules for dogs, bikes on the trails or fishing. Check with the Foundation before you bring anything beyond walking shoes.

Less Than Six Acres Open, Most of the Property Waiting

The first phase was always meant to be modest. Engage Estero reports that Phase 1 covered less than 6 acres of the roughly 64-acre property at the northeast corner of Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41. The Village sizes the whole site at about 62.5 acres. A bald eagle management plan covers the nest, which sits in the southwestern part of the property. Estero Life magazine puts it plainly: "All activities are limited near the nest during nesting season, Oct. 1 through May 15." The magazine adds that these protections have shaped the project's schedule.

Phase 2 is the work that changes this. On September 9, the Village Council approved a $244,075 contract, plus a $24,000 contingency, with Honc Industries to build the Phase 2 paths. Lee County's Tourist Development Council awarded the Village a $163,100 grant for more trails south of the river. The Village plans Phase 2 to add more paths south of the river, a fence around the land south of the river and a path along the north side of Corkscrew Road. Engage Estero says these paths "will allow people to walk through the area during the eagle's nesting season." That makes Phase 2 the piece that brings the larger property into nesting-season walks. The public sources don't say when it will be finished.

The same September meeting approved a five-year contract with Earth Balance to treat non-native plants along the RiverPark trails, at $90,895 plus a $9,000 contingency. The first treatment is due within 45 days of the purchase order. After that, treatments come about every six months for two years, then once a year. If you visit this fall, you may see that crew working the edges of the paths.

What the Loop Holds Right Now

The open trail is short, and it holds a lot of Estero history. The local newsletter The Squeeze SWFL describes the route: cross the bridge, pass Ellen's River House and follow an easy trail past a heritage oak near U.S. 41, with a view toward the wetlands where the eagles nest. The newsletter's writer walked the loop with family in September and called it "an easy 20-minute stroll from end to end." They reported a compact path that a jogging stroller handles easily, a dry trail and plenty of mosquitoes after rain. Pack repellent.

The buildings along the way explain why this land is a park at all. Girl Scouts of the USA set up a campsite here in the 1940s, and the historic Girl Scout House still stands. A local troop gathered there in August. In 1972, environmentalist Ellen Peterson bought riverside acreage as a retreat and made it the Happehatchee Center in 2006. The Village credits Peterson with saving Fisheating Creek and with winning Outstanding Florida Waters designations for several local rivers. The Happehatchee Center was donated to the Village in December 2019.

The trail could easily have been a parking lot. Before the Village bought the property in January 2019 for $24.5 million, it was approved for 530 housing units and 300,000 square feet of commercial space. At the time, the price was about three times the Village's annual revenue. The Village then rezoned about 35 acres as permanent open space and natural preserve.

Where the River Takes the Rest of the Morning

A 20-minute loop gets you to the water. To spend more time on it, this half-mile of U.S. 41 lines up a full morning. Estero River Outfitters is next to the RiverPark entrance road. From its dock, the river runs past Koreshan State Park and the Estero Bay Buffer Preserve for about 4.5 miles to Estero Bay, and paddlers come back the same way.

Estero River Outfitters lists a tandem kayak at $45 for two hours, with extra charges for three-hour and all-day rentals. It also offers guided eco-tours on the river's ecosystems, wildlife and history, though it doesn't publish a schedule or price for them. RiverPark opens at 7 a.m. and the outfitter's first rental launch is also at 7 a.m. That leaves time for the loop and a paddle before the afternoon heat.

The October Saturdays at Koreshan are the easiest fit. The Friends of Koreshan run Guided Historic Tours of the Koreshan Unity settlement, its buildings and its gardens on October 17, 24 and 31, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The group lists the price at $10, with children under 13 free. The state park fee page puts the $10 charge at age 12, so ask about ages when you book.

Two notes on Koreshan before you plan around it. The park's notice says the campground has been temporarily closed since October 31, 2025, with no reopening date given. The park describes a boat ramp where visitors can launch their own canoes or kayaks, and it doesn't rent boats. Its online listings don't confirm whether the ramp is open right now, so call the park at (239) 992-0311 before you bring a boat.

The Pieces Still on the Way

Some of what's next sits inside the park. In late September, Estero Forever Foundation volunteers told The Squeeze SWFL that a full program lineup is in the works and that the historic buildings and the park's kayak launch will open to visitors "soon." No official date has followed. When the launch opens, the walk and the paddle will start from the same lot.

Other plans are further out. On August 10, the Village asked for proposals from a development partner to master plan, finance, build and run a 32-acre Village-owned site north of the river. The plan is a walkable mixed-use riverfront district linked to the future Bonita Estero Rail Trail. The trail is planned as an 11.4-mile corridor that would pass Estero River Park. As of an August update from Engage Estero, construction was roughly two to three years away, after the railroad tracks are removed.

Until then, the eagles set the calendar through May 15, and the Village's RiverPark page is the place to check for Phase 2 progress. Weekend hours run Friday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., during the soft opening and may change, so check before you drive over.

Our family has watched this stretch of the Estero River for four generations, and a new public trail on it is worth celebrating. If you're weighing a home near the river and want to know how RiverPark, the outfitter and Koreshan fit into an ordinary week, Owens Jablonski | Gulf Coast Advisors would be glad to help. Request a Concierge Consultation.