Had a great camping experience earlier this year (March) at Fort De Soto Campground. We love and…read moreenjoy camping, and this was our first camping experience in the state of Florida after moving to the state the previous year.
Let's begin with the reservation and securing your actual camp site. Reservations are HIGHLY recommended. Like most other public (federal, state, or county) campgrounds, having a reservation is arguably the best way to secure your camp site. I believe I reserved the site about 6 months ahead of time. Fort De Soto is fairly competitive when it comes to site selection - so if you're looking for a waterfront site, make sure you give yourself ample time to reserve your site based on your camping trip date.
We've been to Fort De Soto before, visiting the beaches and what not, so we know that it's a great location. We didn't really know what to expect when it comes to the campground itself as the reservation site doesn't really provide extensive images that help you with the site selection. We find that using Google Maps help to a certain degree, although the foliage and tree canopies tend to obscure any sort of overhead recon.
On the day of our trip, we traveled from Lutz at the time. The journey was fairly easy and without much trouble or traffic. You have to officially enter the park first before getting to the campgrounds (requires you cross at least one bridge). The entrance to the campgrounds is not too far from park entrance.
What's neat about the Fort De Soto Campground is that it's sort of its own mini-peninsula off the main road leading to the rest of the park. Depending on which part of the land you're on, you essentially have your own "private" bay.
The check-in was relatively smooth and fast. Like other campgrounds, there were a list of rules and guidelines for your stay; general rule of thumb is just not be an asshat and you'll be fine. During the time we were there, there were no ground campfires allowed - all fires needed to be contained in an above ground grill (using the one on the site, or one that you bring). Not sure if this was a year round policy, or during the burn-ban that impacted both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
We stayed on Site 061 after thoroughly reviewing the available sites as best we could. We selected this site, even though it was not waterfront, due to it's relative vicinity to the water, less going through some mangroves.
Overall, the site was pretty clean, save for the lingering smell of urine. We also had the privilege of staying next to a Camp Host, who was super quiet and did not really bother us in any way. We were able to backup our Chevy Silverado into the site, and throw up our tent and other camping furniture with ease.
We found that we had a great access point to the water. There was a hiking path of sorts behind our site, but it's a clear shot to the mangroves from the site. The mangroves had an opening that allowed us to walk into the shallow bay. We took advantage of this, and did some light fishing from here which was awesome. When it came to pests, we didn't really have an issue with them.
From this site, you can easily walk to the hard-stand restrooms and showers. The rest of the campers were friendly and kept to themselves, which made this camp trip super relaxing and enjoyable as it should be.
Overall, a great campground if you are looking for a bit of a unique camping experience in the Tampa Bay region. I would highly recommend this site to any camper interested!