Found a free tents only campground florida

[swebob]

I went scouting for a free campground this past weekend about 80 miles north of me and 4 miles east of lake Okeechobee and got this cool picture of the sunset looking over the Lake.

The free campground is at DePuis management area which allows hunting in season and has fishing, hiking, esquestrian campground, primative campsites, so much more.. The family campground has 16 sites which are free with picnic table and fire ring and composte toilets, esquestrian campgrounds has showers and bathrooms. This place just asks for a donation when you leave.

Im heading up this weekend to camp and do some fishing. I will post some pictures when i get back. Enjoy the sunset..

 

[Sagebrusher]

I went scouting for a free campground this past weekend about 80 miles north of me and 4 miles east of lake Okeechobee and got this cool picture of the sunset looking over the Lake.

The free campground is at DePuis management area which allows hunting in season and has fishing, hiking, esquestrian campground, primative campsites, so much more.. The family campground has 16 sites which are free with picnic table and fire ring and composte toilets, esquestrian campgrounds has showers and bathrooms. This place just asks for a donation when you leave.

Im heading up this weekend to camp and do some fishing. I will post some pictures when i get back. Enjoy the sunset..

I recently found a good website for finding free or cheap camping...and look, they have that site listed!

DuPuis - Canal Point, Florida | Free Campsites

 

[swebob]

I recently found a good website for finding free or cheap camping...and look, they have that site listed!

DuPuis - Canal Point, Florida | Free Campsites

Yep thats the site i found it on..

 

[Sagebrusher]

Yep thats the site i found it on..

Amazing, showers and restroom at the equestrian campground and still free. I wonder if that was stipulated by the previous landowner when it was turned over to the state?

http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/pg_grp_sfwmd_landresources/pg_sfwmd_landresources_recopps_se_dupuis/portlet_dupuis_act/camping.pdf

 

[woodsman]

Looks great, the only issues I had with free and easily accessible campgrounds are that they attract all the wrong people. By this I mean people who leave their garbage all over the place and make the whole campground listen to music till 4 am.

 

[swebob]

Looks great, the only issues I had with free and easily accessible campgrounds are that they attract all the wrong people. By this I mean people who leave their garbage all over the place and make the whole campground listen to music till 4 am.

Thats the one reason i went to check it out before getting a surprize.. Actually i was rather surprized how tidy (No trash anywhere) the campgrounds were and also the campers that i saw there. It was a sunday when i went and i expected it to be full and the campers were mostly family. The one family told me when they go its never full and quiet at night. I also expected your off the grid homelss maybe down on there luck but not so. Im gonna stay this weekend and check it out. One camper told me it was one of the counties best kept secrets..

 

[ppine]

We have lots of free camping. Its called the National Forest system.

 

[Sagebrusher]

We have lots of free camping. Its called the National Forest system.

Dispersed camping, yes, but there are very few free developed campgrounds.

I also found a website about National Forest camping, the owners visited all the campgrounds with 10 or more campsites...

National Forest Community • Index page

Also, they compiled a list of free campgrounds...

http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/suzi/articles/around/no-charge-cgs.pdf

 

[swebob]

We have lots of free camping. Its called the National Forest system.

Only one nation forest in Florida and that Ocala national forest and they have bears. I think i wouldn't get too much sleep knowing their out there. But i do plan on getting the heck out of Florida at some point to do some camping..

 

[ppine]

After you move you will find plenty of bears at the new location. Might as well get used to them now.

There are thousands of good places to camp in National Forests that are not campgrounds. There are hundreds of free NF campgrounds, especially the older, smaller ones. Maybe a trip to Georgia or TN would be interesting.

 

[Penelope]

I would love to visit one of these campgrounds. While the National Forests sound interesting, however, I think I would have to start at an actual campground. I have a nine-year-old daughter and will have to get her used to 'roughing it' before venturing out to an entirely secluded and live off the land area. I figure I can ease her into it. I am hopeful that we will eventually graduate to the National Forests as ppine suggests. Happy Camping! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[Grandpa]

Dispersed camping, yes, but there are very few free developed campgrounds.

I also found a website about National Forest camping, the owners visited all the campgrounds with 10 or more campsites...

National Forest Community • Index page

Also, they compiled a list of free campgrounds...

http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/suzi/articles/around/no-charge-cgs.pdf

Actually, I have found several old USFS campgrounds that the FS has abandoned. These are usually so far back on the edge of the remote wilderness that upkeep became too costly. Of course, they start to deteriorate badly due to vandalism etc.

 

[Sagebrusher]

Actually, I have found several old USFS campgrounds that the FS has abandoned. These are usually so far back on the edge of the remote wilderness that upkeep became too costly. Of course, they start to deteriorate badly due to vandalism etc.

Cool! If one could find some old USFS maps*, it would be pretty fun to try to find them.
Did these still have firegrates, etc?


*Edit: there's a bunch on E-bay!

 

[Grandpa]

Cool! If one could find some old USFS maps*, it would be pretty fun to try to find them.
Did these still have firegrates, etc?
!

Dog and I stopped over at one a couple years ago near the confluence of Silver Creek and Camas Creek. (Adjacent to Frank Church wilderness) It had an excellent large pit toilet, A long, good condition table and a double grilled firepit. The concrete on the firepit was starting to crumble but was still very serviceable. This site originally had about 8 sites. The one I used was the best, others had various features remaining down to not much left. This was an active, heavily used, maintained campground in the '70's. I was surprised to see it fallen into disuse. Two excellent fly fishing streams, remote location. End of the road location with horse loading, corrals, and tie racks available, and at a junction with 3 separate entries into the Wilderness.

Not Far away is another with several sites that are in good condition, situated on a beautiful small lake, two latrines and adjacent also to the Frank Church. I'm taking grandma back to this one this summer so I'll give a little report on the trip. I know of two others in the general area but havn't been there myself. There are also two not far from where I live. Both of these were upgraded in the '80s' then federal cutbacks took them off the maintainence schedules. (Start taking "multiple use" out of the forests and the revenue drops drastically as does the upkeep, but thats another can of worms)

 

[TroyS]

Thats the one reason i went to check it out before getting a surprize.. Actually i was rather surprized how tidy (No trash anywhere) the campgrounds were and also the campers that i saw there. It was a sunday when i went and i expected it to be full and the campers were mostly family. The one family told me when they go its never full and quiet at night. I also expected your off the grid homelss maybe down on there luck but not so. Im gonna stay this weekend and check it out. One camper told me it was one of the counties best kept secrets..

We've usually gone camping using our Motorhome, but we're planning to do a bit more tent camping this year for a change. This sounds like a great place to start teaching and getting the kids used to roughing it out more.

 

[ejdixon]

Looks great, the only issues I had with free and easily accessible campgrounds are that they attract all the wrong people. By this I mean people who leave their garbage all over the place and make the whole campground listen to music till 4 am.

Have to agree with woodsman about that part. Still, I wouldn't mind giving this place a try. Who knows, right?

 

[swebob]

Have to agree with woodsman about that part. Still, I wouldn't mind giving this place a try. Who knows, right?

I just got back from camping there monday and tuesday and i was real surprized how well maintained this place was. I will be posting pics tomorrow.

The campgrounds were clean and the campers were friendly and quiet also, every camper was in their tent by 9 pm and all you could hear was the coyotes. Had to be about 5 campsites taken. the compost toilets were cleaned daily and they even had running water that was filtered through a well.

Im going back for a few days of hiking the following weekend. This is a must see campground. And the best part its free.. here is a view of my tent from the lake. I will post more pics tomorrow.

 

[jamHaltingdude]

thanks for the heads up. I am relatively new to camping.

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


Welcome aboard, jam. You're looking fine today. Hope you stay and chat with us for a while.

 

[TroyS]

I would love to visit one of these campgrounds. While the National Forests sound interesting, however, I think I would have to start at an actual campground. I have a nine-year-old daughter and will have to get her used to 'roughing it' before venturing out to an entirely secluded and live off the land area. I figure I can ease her into it. I am hopeful that we will eventually graduate to the National Forests as ppine suggests. Happy Camping! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

Same here. It would be great to bring my boys out there and really get to experience camping the way how I used to with my dad and grandfather.