Florida campground opinions needed

[mary and bob]

We are taking our Uhaul south for a few months this coming winter to be Yankee snowbirds. The month of February we plan to go down the east coast of Florida to the Keys, then up the west coast. We have already reserved sites at Fort Clinch, Anastasia, Gamble Rogers, Sebastian Inlet, Jonathan Dickinson, Long Key, and Collier Seminole state parks. Anyone have recommendations for the west coast? We are thinking of trying Rainbow Springs, St George, St Joseph, and Topsail Hill state parks. Thanks

[Firesurfer30]

You have some good ones chosen for the way down, if you make it into the keys I recommend curry hammock sp, on the west little manatee and the others you are looking at are great! Go fl state parks!

[theresa p]

wow! your east coast planning has encompassed ALL of our favourites! on the west side, the two saints are excellent choices...haven't any experience with the others. don't forget to also investigate fort desoto park south of st. pete's. it's a municipal park.
ask melissa, she lives in florida.

[mary and bob]

Florida Keys are impossible to get reservations. The only way we managed to get into Long Key state park is they were doing construction and reservations couldn't be made until last Friday, 7/13. We were online at 8AM when the booking opened and all sites were reserved by 8:15!! Fort DeSoto has a 6 month in advance booking window so we have to wait on that. Are there any other municipal or county parks in Florida, the state has a good website but I can't find anything on the county parks as a whole, have to do it by individual countys if I can figure out what they are. We are spending two months on Jekyll Island GA prior to touring Florida.

[Alistair Camelford]

Army Corps parks at: William P Franklin, Ortona Locks, and Port ST Lucie are clean, spacious and cheap...all on the Caloosahatchee river. The parks have a six months in advance booking policy and are well worth while.
If you want the Keys, keep trolling on Reserve America as people drop their ressies...sometimes as late as Dec /Jan!
Big Pine Fishing Camp has a "primitive ' ie dry camping facility that is usually available...and you can watch the Key Deer wander through the campground.
KoA in the lower keys has a special for first timers for a week at reduced prices.
Knights Key - a commercial site- has sites on the water and is close to 7 mile bridge.
Fiesta Key- across from Long Key has sites for long term stays that, though pricey, are still a bargain in the Keys.
Happy camping, Mary and Bob...we'll be there for Jan thru March...mebbe we'll see you down there!
There's always sites in Flamingo in Everglades N P
Alistair & Inge in The Road Toad

[hellsbay]

Myakka State Park east of Sarasota is excellent. Do not miss Ft. Desoto if you can get in. Here is a site in Ft. DeSoto. There is lots of wildlife in both parks.

[mary and bob]

We have site 10 at fort desoto for 3 nights, then on to Rainbow Springs, Ochlockonee River, St George, Topsail, and Henderson. then working our way up to Hunting Island SP in SC and back home. Too many choices, too little time!

[Bill MacDermod]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

We have site 10 at fort desoto for 3 nights, then on to Rainbow Springs, Ochlockonee River, St George, Topsail, and Henderson. then working our way up to Hunting Island SP in SC and back home. Too many choices, too little time!

There is also Oscar Sherer about 2 miles south of Sarasota and also in Estero there is Koreshan State Historic Site which is an over looked by many campground and very interesting. Topsail is one of our favorites but very pricey for a state park as is Desoto County park. On St George you may want to look into St Josephs instead. St George is ok but is old and the baths are dated. We stayed at Hunting Island SP last year, very nice park and the locals love it as well, its one of the best we have stayed in in SC. Have a great trip

[mary and bob]

Bill: We were back & forth between choosing St George or St Joseph, ended up with St George for no good reason. Thought about Koreshan, some camping friends have stayed there, Oscar Sherer may have been booked up. I know we looked at a lot of the state parks and it was tough deciding. Last year we did one night each at four of the SC state parks, Myrtle Beach, Huntington Beach, Edisto, and Hunting Island. Our favorites were Huntington and Hunting, so doing 3 nights at those two this trip. We were able to find some youtube videos on some of the parks that helped, a couple of them were done well and showed many of the sites.

[Ed Harris]

You should consider spending a few days right in the middle at Scamp Camp in Sebring!

I promise it will be a good time.

Ed