Bear Lake Campground

This place is great for a weekend getaway, it has new bathrooms with showers on location.

It has nice and easy hiking trails, one of the trails connects to Krul Lake which has a nice lake that you can swim in during the summer.

There is also a 6 mi loop for MTB, very easy route, good for the family and MTB beginners.

For tent camping it is great as well, you may camp near the lake away from the campground but you are from a walking distance of the bathrooms and hiking trails, there are two primitive sites on the north east side of the lake you can hike to it from the campground and it’s about a mile hike. You can drive to it but you have find the dirt road to it.

For RV/Camper, it was good, the pull through sites are better if you have a longer camper, the back in spots are a bit challenging to maneuver around especially if it is a busy weekend at the campground. They do have one dumping station on site.

You can fish on the lake too!

Overall the site is great for the family and friends.

Bear Lake Campground is a little piece of paradise! Nestled within the Blackwater River State Forest, you are surrounded by beautiful nature. The lake is so gorgeous, I kept saying to my husband that I felt like I was in a jigsaw puzzle picture.

I visited in late January, and was unfortunately hit with a rogue cold snap much colder than usual Florida temperatures. We did unfortunately cut the camping short, but really enjoyed the little bit of time we had there. The campground is pretty small, and the RVs are on one side and the tent sites are on another, which I really like as a tent-er. Given the season, we were the only ones on the tent side, so we were right up on the lake and I can't remember ever staying in a more beautiful site anywhere. Sites have a picnic table and a fire pit with a grate. Bare ground here, no rocky tent pads. We were at the furthest site from the (very clean) bath/shower house, but it wasn't far at all.

You are about a half hour to the nearest town, so get your essentials beforehand. There is a small country shop closer, but options are limited.

Great fishing and canoeing available. Highly recommended!

Bear Lake Campground within Bear Lake Recreation Area - Blackwater River State Forest is off the beaten path, high in the Florida Panhandle. Blackwater River State Forest has 210,000 acres of woods, lakes and streams, and further south is the 630 acre Blackwater River State Park. So there is much to choose from...but reserve early...its busy even in the spring and summer.

Bear Lake Campground is a smallish, but nice and clean campground. The tent only loop is beyond the RV/Camper/tent electric sites (32 sites), past the showerhouse/restrooms and beyond the Bear Lake fishing dock and boat ramp to the right. Eight tent only sites are $15 nightly, each site has a water spigot. Tall white pines dot the tent only site area and all sites are visible to each other but are fairly spaced apart. All have a view of 103 acre Bear Lake.

This is mostly a very quiet and tranquil campground, when fighter jets and helicopters from Eglin AFB are buzzing overhead. The Elite Army Ranger School Jungle Phase is conducted 30 or so miles south.

A pine forest surrounds the meandering Bear Lake, which is loaded with bass...drawing electric motor clad aluminum skiffs each day. The 4 mile Sweetwater trail travels around portions of the lake. Frogs bring their delightful chorus most the day and night...the Pig frog's song my favorite. No swimming permitted in the lake...as it is with most Florida lakes...gators. Early morning and late evening paddles would be peaceful, as the tall, long-leaf pines that surround the lake, shelter it from most of the wind.

Bears are prevalent so keep food stored up and out of your tent area. There is no cell service...and no pay phones present. Unplugged and loving it!

Showerhouse with modern restrooms are acceptable but nothing to write home about. There is a picnic shelter and also a pavilion (which remains locked unless rented). An onsite host cares for registration.

With several campgrounds and recreation areas nearby, hiking, mountainbiking, paddling and fishing are the draw and very popular.