Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Lake Okeechobee

I stopped here because I needed a place to sleep and the nearby campgrounds were full. I was pleased to find that St. Lucie South was not only a good place to spend the night, but an enjoyable experience in its own right. This is a COE campground built adjacent to a lock. The waterway is a canal that connects Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic. The campground isn't particularly large, but it is very nicely landscaped. Plenty of grass and tall trees.

I stayed in one of the three primitive tent sites. Each of these comes with a tree, a gravel tent pad, and a small picnic shelter. There is a water spigot nearby, and bathrooms with flushing toilets, hot and cold running water, and showers are located up the road a ways. These were fairly clean when I visited.

There were lots of interesting animals to observe here, including flying fish, big tree lizards, big frogs that hopped out of the canal and onto my tent at night, and something that I'm fairly certain was a gator but never got a good look at. Unfortunately, there was also a large mosquito population that made things not so fun after nightfall.

My neighbors here were also a bit distracting. They were a very loud family who appeared to be living at the tent site next to mine.

We camped here in June. Yes it was hot and sweaty but thats what the lake is for. This is very sweet free camping. Theres maybe 10 sites here and you can't quite literally take a boat to the campsite. There other boats that come and go throughout the day and can be really noisy. Whatever were camping by boat.

Lake Okeechobee is pretty sweet there are tons of little inlets and outlets all over the place to explore and fish. We actually caught a gator. Ive been looking for the pictures but haven't been able to find them. If you arrive here by boat you need (absolutely need) to go the fresh water spring near by. Its incredible.You leave the out and head up a little creek and arrive at an oasis. i can't remember the name of the spring but its a bass and manatee frenzy there. I wish i could find the rest of pictures and the name of the spring...ask around I'm sure someone will know.

Cheers!

This campground is a large field where you can pick any spot and is managed by the SW Florida Water Mgmt District. We were able to get a nice spot near the camp host that was perfect for solar. This is an equestrian campground, but there is a section for non-equestrian campers. You do have to get a permit (called a Special Use License) ahead of time to stay. It is a very easy process on the website https://www.sfwmd.gov/community-residents/recreation/sul. The approval will come within minutes. You don’t have to have the permit printed, but make sure you have electronic access to it to show it to the camp hosts. I also wrote the pertinent information on a sheet of paper to leave in the truck, but we never had it out and nobody asked about it. I believe the max stay is 8 days. Make sure you check the website for closures due to hunting and other reasons before you book. We stayed 5 nights in early January 2019.

There are no hook-ups at this camping area, but there is a dump station near the entrance and there are potable water spigots placed around the camping area. Upon arrival, the camp host informed us not to drink the water. I found that advice ironic since this is managed by the water district. There was a sign near the front of the campground that said the water was fine to drink and did not need to be boiled, but we heeded his advice and only used the water for showers and used bottled water to drink. It did have a sulfur smell and a tint to it. 

The campground is at Gate 3. There is a gate with a chain at the entrance, but there is no lock. You just move the gate and close it behind you. Most of the area is level and like I said, you can pick anywhere to camp. There are several trees that provide good shade if you want that. We have solar so needed fully sun and were able to find a great spot for that. We didn’t check them out, but they do have restrooms and possible showers. Overall the campground was well maintained and there was no trash. It did get busy for the weekend with locals and got a bit louder, but overall it was nice and quiet. You are close to a highway that large dump trucks drive down so there is some road noise, but nothing too bad. It quiets down at night. There are several walking trails next to the campground and there is a driving nature trail at Gate 1 and more walking trails at Gate 2. The campground is also close to Lake Okeechobee.

We had no trouble with connectivity as we had 3-4 bars on Verizon and AT&T hotspots without booster. The camp host said there was a small town nearby, Indiantown, where you can get a few essentials and bottled water. We ended up going to Walmart because we needed specific items. There are several about 40 minutes away. 

Overall it was a nice place to stay for a few days. Great service that the FL Water Mgmt District provides, and we are thankful for it. If ever in the area, we would stay here again.

We stayed here August-January. I did enjoyed staying here, however, I took 2 stars for the fact that we could BARELY get our camper in and out of the waterfront site (had to use some machine they luckily had because it was impossible with a vehicle) and an additional star for the fact that we had to ask for a month for them to trim the tree (that was scratching the roof of the camper, had purple berries that stained the camper, and were extremely loud falling on the roof constantly, and had 200 birds in it that were LOUD). Parking is also a NIGHTMARE, we were told we had a “parking space” right in front of our camper, and we did, until a person came back from up north and we had to park 3 campsites away. The staff was EXTREMELY friendly! I would stay here again if I could get a waterfront site on the end but I believe they are purchased year round. You are on the canals around Lake Okeechobee! The fishing is nice!