Community Forums

Eddie Foy · 01-20-2009, 11:53 AM

Looking for good sites in Ocala National Forest.

Eddie

Half Dimes · 01-20-2009, 02:55 PM

Check out Salt Springs. We haven't stayed there but drove through it a couple of years ago and it seemed very nice. It is just down the road from an Elite or Encore Resort where we did stay which wasn't so nice.

pemsit · 01-20-2009, 04:54 PM

Salt Spring is a great place and if you just want to camp with no water or Electrical hook ups try Juniper Springs, You can canoe the spring for the cost of a rental canoe.

jayco304 · 01-24-2009, 04:12 PM

Just returned from Juniper Springs. No hookups but the campground is very nice and the bath houses are great as well. Very nice swimming, canoeing, and walking trails. We had site #1 very easy pull thru and very large. Be on the look out each night just after dark at the dumpster near site #1 for "Teddy" the black bear. Becareful taking your trash after dark as you may meet him at the dumpster. You can see some photos here by clicking on Florida 2008 here is the linkFlorida Dec. 2008 Trip http://www.cram-a-lot-inn.embarqspace.com/

Explorer2 · 01-25-2009, 02:19 AM

Great Photos jayco304! I hope to go next year on our two week out in Dec. You gave some great ideals of places to go visit. We have been down to visit Florida many times but we had children so we were hitting the amusement parks. I think now we can enjoy a few different things.

jayco304 · 01-25-2009, 05:40 AM

We had a great trip. We firt went to St. Augustine for a few days and stayed at Faver Dykes State Park just south of St. Augustine. Small but nice campground. Very quiet and about 1.5 down a dirt road (but nice road) but really not that hard to get to. Then we went down near Orange City to Blue Springs State Park. Again a nice part with very private campsites. There were about 180 manatee in the run while we were there. We canoed the St. John. We also drove about 15 miles north to DeLeon Springs, go early and have breakfast at the Old Sugar Mill at the springs. We also canoed while we were at DeLeon Springs. We then moved on to Juniper Springs, spent one day canoing the Juniper Run and one day we went up the road to Glen Silver Springs. I was December and we still were able to go swimming. Be sure to walk all the way to the end of the board walk nature trail at Juniper. At the end you will find Fern Hammock Springs which is really pretty, only about a 10min walk. Moving west we headed near Ocala to Silver River State park, the have HUGE campsite and awesome clean bath-houses. Again since we had our canoe we canoed the Silver River from the state park up to silver springs attraction. We saw lots of Monkeys, Alligators, etc. My wife loved watching the monkeys play in the trees. Lastly we moved to Jacksonville, Fl to Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park. This park has a variety of sites, some very tight and others that can accomidate larger rigs without a problem just get a large or X-large site. We were in town to visit family and for the 2009 Gator Bowl. Hanna Park is huge and has great biking trials and great beach for kids to play or for walking.

Jody & Jeff · 01-27-2009, 06:16 AM

Jayco304,
Do you have any site recommendations for Faver Dykes SP? We will be there maybe the middle of March?
We have a 32 ft fifth wheel!
Thanks,
Jo

jayco304 · 01-27-2009, 01:15 PM

The best sites are 12,14,16,22,25,27,28,29, also #1 just be careful with the sand but saw several large class A have no problems on #1. I was on site #3 with 32ft TT which is a big site but it was a little tight to get in (narrow road, trees, 90degree cut into site) but if I did it with a TT you should be able to do it with a 5th wheel. Faver Dykes is tight but we did fine with 32ft TT and F350 (53ft overall). In case you don't know when you turn to go back to Faver Dykes the paved roads and you are on a single lane dirt road you will begin to wonder where you are going but just keep going all the way to the end and you will end up at the campground. To road is not too bad just take your time and in about 1.5miles you will make it to the end. Watch the trees but they seemed to be pretty well trimmed. I don't recommend arriving with trailer in the dark but coming and going at dark in your truck will be fine.
PM me with an email address and I can send you more photos of Faver Dykes. It is small and tight getting around but the sites I listed are large and I strongly recommend this campground as it is quiet. I think you will enjoy it.

jayco304 · 01-27-2009, 02:50 PM

To see photos of Faver Dykes I have loaded a link on my website. On the left you will see a link to Florida 08 these are general photos if you want to only see the Faver Dykes photos go to "LINKS" then you will see a link to Faver Dykes. They will open in a new htm page. Here is website "Cram-A-Lot-Inn"