SP Campground Review – Silver Springs State Park, Ocala, FL
A relaxing stop along the Silver River in North-Central Florida
Link to campground here: Silver Springs State Park
Link to map here: Silver Springs State Park
- Site Quality = 4.5/5
This is a newer park and the sites are lovely. Very large (huge in fact), perfectly flat, packed dirt pads with tons of separation between campers and a nice “sitting area” with picnic table, fire-pit and grill. All sites are surrounded by forest, have 30 Amp (a few with 50 Amp) and water. There’s a selection of back-in as well as huge pull-throughs. - Facilities = 5/5
Lovely, new facilities here. Bathrooms are huge with large showers, good water pressure and kept nicely clean. Laundry and dump station on-site too. The campground itself also has picnic areas, a museum, and rentable canoes. - Location = 2.5/5
North-Central FL is not really a “destination” location, but given the area the campground is really nicely located. It’s close to the “city” (Ocala and Silver River), but feels very remote and natural. A good selection of hiking trails, biking and even kayaking/canoeing along the river. - Pet Friendliness = 5/5
Good place for pets. Plenty of space in the sites plus lovely hiking trails all around.
Overall Rating = 4.25
BONUS ALERT = Canoe along the pretty Silver River (and maybe spot a gator)!
Summary: This is one of the newer Florida State Parks and I consider it a bit of a hidden gem. The sites are huge (enormous), perfectly flat and with wonderful separation and all the roads are large, paved and with easy access even for the biggest rigs. The park is set alongside the very pretty Silver River which provides canoeing, hiking and biking (no swimming because of the gators however). It’s only a few miles to Ocala and the surrounding towns & shopping yet it feels very remote and peaceful. The only negative is that the area (North-Central FL) doesn’t have alot of attractions so it’s not exactly a destination locaton. The lack of people does, however, mean the campground is pretty empty most of the time. We spent a nice quiet few days here exploring the park, hiking the trails and visiting the on-site museum. A very nice stop and we’d definitely stay here again if we were driving by.
Extra Info: Verizon data and AT&T cellphones both worked here. Sites are reservable, $24/night for electric/water with selection of back-in and pull-through. On-site laundry and dump station.
Hey you guys,
I was looking at your post in Irv2 about the GFCI outlet, when I noticed your blog link, first it’s not uncommon for a GFCI to fail, the GFCI won’t be at the end of the line other outlets are fed from it, but your an elect eng so I’m sure you know all that. Home Depot, GFCI outlet failed, my .02 cents. WOW very cool travels you all have been up to, living the dream. Could spend hours reading. Have to catch up on it, but it struct me and wanted to drop you all a line. We have an 03 HR Vacationer and really enjoy being retired every weekend, lol. I’m 48 and my wife Linda is 52 and though the thoughts of retirement are awesome and I know we’ll be good at it, we will be working for another 10 years for sure, God willing, I must admit I’m totally jealous in a good way of your travels, mostly due to the fact our rig is parked and covered for the winter for the first time sense owning it. I’m going in for knee replacement surgery in Jan. We are in NH, and I’m a big winter sports fan, ie snowmobiling, and we have winter camped at Bull Moose Campground on Lake Umbagog in northern NH on the boarder with Maine for the last 3 years so I’m bummed to be not set up there right now. We’ve had our trials up there over the years and to be truthful this may be all for the best, last year Linda had a freak accident on the lake and broke her shoulder and pelvis, she is fully recovered, the year before I went through the ice on my birthday with my wife and daughter with me. I’m lucky to be alive, heck the story made it to I Survived and aired this summer. lol Life is funny sometimes and everything happens for a reason. It really does look like you guys are having the time of your lives and I wish you the best, our family blog spot is here. http://www.morancy-adventures.blogspot.com with the facebook world coming into the picture I don’t keep it up to date but the Ice Story is in there. I have to get back to work but I’m glad I came across your post. Please let me know if you already fixed the outlet and if it is just a bad gfci.
Warm Regards,
Al Morancy
Hi Al, lovely to “meet” you here! We did replace the GFCI w/ a new one but no-go, unfortunately. Looks like it’s a bad connection somewhere on the line so will have to trace it back. We’re still working on it 🙂 Can’t believe the accident! Thank goodness your wife made it through OK and recovered completely. NH is one of those places we’d love to visit and we’ve talked about doing an extended trip along the East Coast sometime…maybe in a few years. Thanks so much for your blog. Will definitely spend some time reading & admiring the area. By the way your rig looks sweet…very similar to ours internally w/ just a few years difference. I do like what you did w/ the floor. We do love the HR!
This is freaky.
I saw your blog link on a thread @ IRV this morning and started reading your blog entries (excellent blog btw). And then I get to this entry. Coincidentally we have this very campsite (#22) reserved for this weekend. It’s going to be our maiden voyage in our new (well actually used) fifth wheel. I hope the heater works as they’re expecting ridiculous cold weather this weekend.
I bookmarked your blog and will be keeping up with it.
I love those kind of freaky coincidences! Lovely to meet you on the blog. Stay warm! Nina
I used to go to silver springs and camp in a tent. They have expanded because it’s very popular. That was 2016. Not sure how many sites they added. As I now live in texas.