Located just outside of Hastings in north central Florida, you’ll discover 4 Lakes Campgrounds lives up to its name with 4 little catch & release lakes that are all within the same vicinity. This RV parking lot comes complete with key coded gates that you’ll need to access after first checking in and securing your spot at the front office. Opposite the office is a propane tank refilling station and beyond the office in the other direction is the laundry. You’ll find that this very organized parking arrangement has all of the RV slots in a slight diagonal configuration with back-in and pull-through sites.
As for amenities, one huge downside to 4 Lakes is that there are no bathhouses to speak of, so really, this place only works for RVers who have a shower in their unit. Obviously, this means that this place is a ‘no-go’ for tent campers. That said, there is a mini-store on the premises (back at the office), where they’ll sell you fire wood and a few other odds and ends, but not a whole lot. There is basic cable as well as WiFi. Near the primary lake, you’ll find a nice stretch of man-made beach with some of those plastic Adirondack chairs. There’s a pickleball court and dog park as well as a few scattered fire rings, bocce ball court and horseshoes as well as a handful of trails.
For the most part, unless you are looking to get away from it all, most of the attractions out in this area point one back to either St. Augustine and Daytona, where you’ll discover the country’s most ‘Ancient City,’ amazing beaches and even some great natural highlights such as the Intracoastal, Princess Place Park and Faver-Dyke SP. Out here though, you’re near to Palatka, which is a nice small town that has a few areas of historic significance. Other than this, enjoy the peace, quiet and solitude.
Insider’s Tips? Here’s a few: (1) This place is not a destination, but rather, a very nice (and affordable) layover to somewhere else. Unless you come equipped with your own bathroom facilities and don’t mind a nice place in the middle of nowhere, I’d likely recommend ‘arrive late and leave early’; (2) While the on-site country store is a nice feature, it really doesn’t offer up a whole lot, but thankfully, just behind 4 Lakes Campground is Buzz Mart, which will not only fuel you up, but is a proper convenience store, so they’ll have basically everything you might be looking for in case you’ve forgotten anything. Oh, and recently they opened up a Dollar General down the road, so no worries; and (3) Let me ‘set the table’ properly - there is ABSOLUTELY no decent restaurants anywhere near this place, so you’ll either have to bring everything with you, or go for a small jaunt (not the easiest if you are coming in heavy with a large RV), but if you are up for it and are looking, I highly recommend Michoacana Bacana right off the 204 running adjacent to I95, but I’ll warn you, it’s just a small taco shop - and I generally avoid any restaurant that combines 2 different languages (Michoacan is a Mexican state just due south of Guadalajara that is known for its cooking (and proximity to the ocean), but Bacana is the Portuguese (and actually, Brasilian Portuguese) word for ‘cool’, so I guess you can expect ‘cool’ Mexican food here). And if Mexican isn’t on your mind, give either Sweet Smokey BBQ or Smokin D’s BBQ a try, but both are, again, quite a bit out of the way.
Happy Camping!
