Big Scrub Campground
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:37 UTC
- A night
- $20–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4946 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Perennially popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts, Big Scrub Campground sits in the Ocala National Forest in central Florida. A trailhead within the facility offers riders campsite-to-trail access. 14 day stay limit in a 30 day period in ALL Ocala National Forest Campgrounds For reservations or refund request please call (877) 444-6777 Recreation Big Scrub Campground offers direct access to the 47-mile Ocala Adventure Trail. All off-road vehicle riders will enjoy exploring the Tread Lightly Four Wheel Drive Way. A permit is required for use of the trail system. Learn more about off-road vehicle use in Ocala National Forest. Keep reading
Facilities
Big Scrub can accommodate tents, campers and RVs. The campground is equipped with showers, restrooms and drinking water.
Natural Features
The Ocala National Forest spans four counties and 383,000 acres. It is the southernmost and oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and protects the world's largest contiguous sand pine scrub forest. Miles of trails offer plenty of open space and blue skies for off-road vehicles. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (352) 625-2520 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
The warm, turquoise waters of Alexander Springs are a short drive away. Visitors can swim, canoe and dive in a natural spring-fed lake and creek.
What the agency tells you
A copy of the regulations for off-road vehicle use and camping may be obtained from the camp host
Camping fee covers 2 vehicles maximum
14 day stay limit
Everything else this campground posts · 7
No person under 16 shall operate or ride an off-road vehicle without a Department of Transportation approved helmet and eye protection
Off-road vehicle operators must carry proof of registration/ownership for their vehicle and a have valid sticker; photo identification must be carried at all time for operators 16 and older; children under 16 encouraged to carry identification in case they become separated from supervising guardian; copies of identification are acceptable
Check-in time is 3:00 p.m. and check-out time is 11:00 a.m.
Main entrance gate opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 8:00 p.m.
If it is your intent to rent an RV or trailer from a third party entity, please note that the USDA Forest Service does not allow RV or trailer rentals to be pre-placed and/or delivered to the recreation area. The Reservation holder must drive the RV or trailer to the recreation area as it is their sole responsibility and alleviates the FS from any liability. Any commercial business that operates on federal land is required to have a special use permit. 36 CFR 261.10 (K)(L)
Click here for more information about Ocala National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 49 · 10 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 2 of 49
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “The campground is equipped with showers, restrooms and drinking water.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…is equipped with showers, restrooms and drinking water. Natural Features The Ocala National Forest spans…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Picnicking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 45th darkest of 60 in FL
- Bortle 4
79 of 92 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
recreation.gov lists 46 of the 49 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$30 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:37 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
49 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 46 mapped sitesAll 49 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 49 of the 49 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BIG SCRUB | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 97 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 97 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 97 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 66 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 013 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 51 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 014 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 56 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 015 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 51 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 016 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 55 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 49 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 019 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 59 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 49 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 021 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 024 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 025 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 029 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 030 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 031 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 55 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 032 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 033 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 034 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 035 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 84 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 036 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 84 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 037 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 038 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 45 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 45 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 040 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 61 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 62 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 042 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 044 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 045 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| BIG SCRUB | 046 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 67 ft | 2.3 mi | $20 | |
| S&P | S&P Single | type not stated | 40 ft | $20 | |||
| Sites A and B | Site A | type not stated | 40 ft | 50/30 amp | 2.4 mi | $20 | |
| Sites A and B | Site B | type not stated | 40 ft | 50/30 amp | 2.4 mi | $20 |
25 of 49 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Doe Lake Group SiteOcala National Forest · 3.6 mi
Big Bass Campground (FL)Ocala National Forest · 4.7 mi
Buck Lake Group CampgroundOcala National Forest · 7.5 mi
Lake Dorr CampgroundOcala National Forest · 7.9 miLake Dorr Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 7.9 mi
Juniper Springs Rec AreaOcala National Game Refuge · 9.6 miFrom I-75 east, travel on State Route 40 to Forest Road 588. Turn south on 588 and go approximately 8 miles. The campground is on the west side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Silver Springs Shores East, FL
Typical weather
Typical October night 64°F, day 81°F.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Big Scrub Campground is in Florida’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Randy Fine (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →