If you find yourself meandering down along St. Johns River to where the large birth of this river expanse shrinks to a trickle, but yet are still looking for wide river or large lake vastness, then this is the last ripple of current you will discover before things get quite narrow with this infamous northern Florida ocean-reaching river. It is exactly at this point that you will discover St. Johns Campground, just due south of Palatka, which is essentially the ‘belly button’ of north central Florida where fishermen and boaters alike can still discover a bit of unexploited and uncrowded ‘frackish’ water for fishing, swimming and waking pleasure.
And while northernly Palatka (and surrounding areas) offers substantial offerings to encounter nature without leaving the touchstone of civilization, the moment you turn south on HWY 17 to discover an environ untouched and unrushed, you will come across St. Johns Campground. Sadly, this property has gone through a number of ‘changing of hands’ wherein each successive owner has promised a better experience than its previous owners, only to fail again and again. So, while we will give the current owners the benefit of the doubt, when my party traveled to this particular despot, it was still sadly under-managed and under-manicured leaving one to arrive to the conclusion that this is still a bit of a ‘dump’ and in need of significant refinements before it is restored to the recommendation of ‘stay here now.’ I would definitely caution that the majority of residents seem to be semi-permanent, so bear that in mind.
Despite its dilapidated condition, here’s what you can expect: shady sites everywhere abound with a main building that has attached to it a small, somewhat great little public pool, while in back you will discover an open-air laundry room complete with 3-4 washer / dryer units. There’s hot showers (cleanliness was definitely an issue as there was warped paneling and extremely outdated fixtures), scattered picnic tables and BBQ’s, pull-through slots complete with electric (50 / 30 / 20 / 15), water and sewage. Here, you’ll have direct access to St. Johns River, Dunns Creek, Rodman Dam and Lake George. You are only 30 minutes to St. Augustine and Crescent Beach and further afield (1 hour tops), you’ll have access to Jacksonville, Silver Springs and Gainesville.
Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) This is a ‘layover’ and definitely not a ‘destination,’ so if you don’t have to stay here and have other options (and there’s a decent amount in this area) then I would suggest you stay elsewhere; (2) If you do chose to stay here, make it brief – get in early and leave early; (3) Staying at St. Johns Campground is simple – stay closer to the front of the entrance, otherwise you’ll be back near the forest with more of the permanent residents: and (4) If you are looking for restaurants nearby because you’ve grown tired of cooking up your next meal, then check out Corky Bell’s Seafood at Gator Landing where I would recommend the buffalo style gator tail and crawfish, stewed tomatoes & okra over rice, collard greens and the ‘Frog Leg Dinner.'
Happy Camping!
