Established campgrounds that welcome vehicle-based travelers, from public campgrounds on the way to somewhere to private camps worth a stay of their own.
Buffalo National River, Arkansas
We’re working on adding the latest campgrounds in Florida here.
In the meantime, BLM campgrounds are already on the public land map, with the fees and stay limits the agency publishes and a link to each one.
13.1 percent of Florida. The Park Service holds the largest share at 2,491,692 acres, the Forest Service 1,217,769, Defense 521,943, Fish and Wildlife 306,892 and the BLM 2,345
Established October 11, 1974 as the first national preserve in the country. It burns roughly 60,000 acres a year under its own fire programme
A year for a Big Cypress off-road vehicle permit 7
$100
Valid through January 31 of the following year whatever month you buy it. One permit covers one vehicle, and the five classifications are UTV, ATV, swamp buggy, street legal and airboat
Walton County. Our own 3DEP query at the USGS point reads 339 feet. The low point is sea level on the Atlantic
Camping on public land in Florida
There are 43 federal campgrounds in Florida a vehicle can drive to: 15 Park Service, 25 Forest Service and 3 Army Corps of Engineers, and 38 of them take reservations. The largest is Flamingo at the end of the Main Park Road with 234 drive-up sites and 41 electric hookups. Big Cypress designates six campgrounds for RVs and caps any party at 120 days in a calendar year.
Dispersed camping is a national forest thing here, capped at 14 days in any 30-day period, kept away from developed sites and 100 feet from water, and closed during the modern-firearm deer season except at developed sites and hunt camps. State forests, water management district land and state parks are all designated-site systems with their own clocks.
Developed campgrounds have numbered sites, toilets, often water, usually a fee and sometimes reservations. They are the easy night on the way to somewhere.
Dispersed camping means no facilities and no fee. It is allowed on much Bureau of Land Management and National Forest land, within local rules on where you can pull off, how long you can stay and whether you can have a fire.
Private campgrounds and ranch stays add showers, laundry and hookups: the reset day in the middle of a long trip.
How to find a good one
The managing agency's own page is the only source for current status.
01Check the agency page for closures, fire restrictions and water before you drive in.
02Check the stay limit. Many public lands use fourteen days within a set period, but it varies by office.
03Check vehicle length limits and the condition of the access road.
04Arrive before dark, and have a second option.
Camp so it stays open
Most closures of dispersed areas follow the same pattern of trash, new fire rings and driving off the track.
01Use sites that already exist rather than making new ones.
02Pack out everything, including human waste where it is required.
03Have fires only where and when they are allowed, and drown them.
04Leave gates as you found them.
Questions people ask
Is dispersed camping legal?
On much BLM and National Forest land, yes, within local rules on where you can pull off, how long you can stay and whether fires are allowed. Rules are set by the local office and change with conditions, so check before you go. The public land map shows who manages the ground.
How long can I stay?
Many public lands use a 14-day limit within a set period, but it varies by office and by area. The campground details on the public land map show the stay limit the BLM publishes for each site.
Do I need a reservation?
For popular developed campgrounds in season, often. Many public campgrounds are first come, first served. Recreation.gov handles reservations for most federal campgrounds that take them.
How high is Florida?
From Everglades City at 1 feet to Britton Hill at 345.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
0
Feet above sea level
Towns
BrooksvilleWithlacoochee State Forest headquarters and the Croom Motorcycle Area, the central Florida state forest riding ground. At 207 feet, high by peninsular standards.207 ft
Lake CityWhere I-10 meets I-75 beside the Osceola National Forest, the one Florida forest whose roads open to OHVs carry no permit and no fee.196 ft
BristolApalachicola Ranger District office on SR 20 in Liberty County, where unmaintained system roads marked with a Jeep symbol are open to 4x4 use during hunting season.167 ft
UmatillaSouth gateway to the Ocala National Forest on SR 19 and the address of the Seminole Ranger District office. The highest of the peninsular towns in this guide at 97 feet.97 ft
OcalaWest end of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway on SR 40 and the way in to the Ocala National Forest from I-75. The Lake George Ranger District office sits east of town at Silver Springs.70 ft
Salt SpringsOn SR 19 inside the Ocala National Forest. The Salt Springs OHV Connector Trail runs in from the southeast corner of the Longleaf Trail.34 ft
ImmokaleeThe nearest town of any size to the Bear Island Unit, which is the one part of Big Cypress a street-legal 4x4 may drive. North on SR 29 from the Tamiami Trail.34 ft
CrawfordvilleWakulla Ranger District office for the Apalachicola National Forest. The Leon County OHV trails and the Silver Lake trailhead are the reason to be here.29 ft
CarrabelleTate’s Hell State Forest headquarters, at the coastal end of the Big Bend Scenic Byway. Over 150 miles of OHV trail start from the forest roads north of town.23 ft
PalatkaNorth of the Ocala National Forest near the Rodman Reservoir, where the Rodman trailhead gives northern access to the Ocala North OHV system.20 ft
Daytona BeachVolusia County beach driving, at 10 mph and by pass, and the east end of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway corridor at Ormond Beach.14 ft
HomesteadMain entrance to Everglades National Park on SR 9336, with Flamingo 38 miles further south, and the mainland address for Biscayne National Park.8 ft
AstorOn the St. Johns River where SR 40 leaves the Ocala National Forest. A river crossing rather than a services town, at 4 feet above sea level.4 ft
NaplesLast city services on the west side before US 41 crosses the swamp. Tyres, fuel and a dealer network within reach of the preserve.4 ft
OchopeeOn the Tamiami Trail at the heart of Big Cypress. The preserve’s headquarters address, and the Loop Road and the Turner River loop both leave the highway within a few miles.4 ft
Everglades CityThe Gulf Coast entrance to Everglades National Park, on the water at the end of SR 29. The lowest town in this guide by the USGS measurement.1 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Britton HillThe highest point in Florida, in Walton County in the western panhandle. Our own 3DEP query at the USGS point reads 339 feet345 ft
Sugarloaf MountainLake County, on the Lake Wales Ridge north of Clermont. Measured for this chart from the 3DEP surface; no agency publishes a figure for it309 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
