Ortona South Campground, ACE campground in Moore Haven, FL. We absolutely love staying here. There are no trails nearby (The unofficial trail near site 21 is closed off due to construction up river.)but a nice walk on the access road out to the highway is a 4 mile round trip from the back of the campground. Lots of dump truck traffic on this road from the nearby gravel yard.
(Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good
(71yr olds in a 17’ trailer. Our rating of a campground is influenced by the following: The general ambiance- sort of wilderness feel the campground gives us. Also, a selection of campsites which offer some visual privacy and/or scenic view is valuable. Cleanliness of the facilities that are offered is important and usually noted in my review. ))
Overall Rating: 4 for the spectacular views in most sites.
Price 2023: $ 15 w interagency pass
Usage during visit: Full
Site Privacy: Open. In our corner site , #21, we were able to swing our 17’ trailer around to offer much more privacy with the water view. This could be done with a small van as well or an RV pulling in nose first. # 20 is the most private site.
Site Views: Some sites have very nice water views, others nice open grassland views. Noted below.
Site Spacing: Good
Site surface: Concrete
Reservations: Yes. Sites in this campground is in high demand.
Campground Noise: Quiet.
Road Noise: None
Through Traffic in campground: None
Electric Hookup: Yes
Sewer Hookup: No
Dump Station: Yes
Potable Water Available: At sites
Bathroom: One in each loop. Flush toilets. Old. Reasonably clean.
Showers: Two showers in each bathroom with curtains which share a dressing area.
Pull Throughs: Some - in the first of two loops. Pull throughs all are in the first loop and include a double site.
Cell Service (AT&T): 3 to 4 bars
Setting: Campground runs along a the Caloosahatchee River. Open grass land with scattered palm trees on the other side. The campground road runs between the campground and grass land in the first loop only.
Recent Weather: 80’s for 5 of our days. Then it cooled off with some rain.
Bugs: Mosquitoes are around in the evening, especially .
Solar: Would be available in all sites.
Host: Sites are near the entrance
Rig size: Large rigs are fine in most if not all sites.
Sites: First Loop, just after the entry station (31-50): SITES ALONG CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER but view is limited : 32-39. 23 ,24 have a nice view up a waterway.
Largest site occupying largest area is on the corner (no real view): 31.
Fishing dock, access is between site, 32 and 33, and across from site 51. 44 and 43 are pull throughs, and do not offer as much as other sites regarding location/view. Same with the double back in sites,45 and 46.
SECOND LOOP, furthest from entry station: (1 - 30): #29 has a palm barrier giving picnic side nicer privacy. Sites 21 - 30 are right along the river, all with nice water views. #24- 30 , are the best water view sites. 21,22 and 23 water views up the river are a bit limited due to vegetation on the riverbank up the river. All these sites view the river down to the dam. Sites on the river side have more space between sites than the grassland side, 1-20. Maybe that is so sites on the grassland side can still see the river in between the more spacious sites on the river side. Across from #2,3,4 sites is the access to the dam crossing which accesses the fishing dock on the other side. The corner site, #20, offers the absolute most privacy of any site with a grassland view. (I liked the grassland view sites, but I prefer the water views.)
#1 has a building right behind it which detracts from, but does not eliminate the grassland view.
There are fishing docks on both sides of the Calossahatchee, but I have been told that the fishing on the other side of the river is better. The dam crossing to access the other side is open from 7:30AM untill 4:30PM.
All sites have a covered picnic table .
