Doe Lake Group Site
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 15:21 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Doe Lake is a group campsite with a variety of activities. Centered around a historic lodge with a large group kitchen, it's an ideal place for major outdoor gatherings of up to 250 people. The site is a favorite among equestrian groups, but can also accommodate weddings and other social events. Please read before making reservations Doe Lake Rules and Regulations Agreement For reservations or refund request please call (877) 444-6777 Recreation Equestrian camping, canoeing, boating and fishing are some of the popular activities around Doe Lake, and can be enjoyed exclusively by visitors with a group reservation. Campers can launch a canoe or low-powered boat and drop a line in the middle of Doe Lake for an afternoon of fishing. Keep reading
Facilities
This site is centered around a classic 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps dining hall that has been historically restored. Tent camping is most common at this facility. RVs and horse trailers are allowed, but limited to specific areas that do not offer hookups. Restrooms with flush toilets and showers are provided, as are hitching posts for horses.
Natural Features
Located in north central Florida, 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. The camping area sits beneath a shady grove of oaks and pines overlooking Doe Lake, and the dining hall sits atop a grassy hill with a view of the water.
Nearby Attractions
The Ocala National Forest is notable for its extensive off-road trail system catering to both ATV enthusiasts and Jeeps, as well as being a traditional destination for deer hunters. These opportunities are available in designated areas throughout the forest.
What the agency tells you
Please read Doe Lake Rules and Regulations Agreement before making reservations
This location is a group-use campground and is operated accordingly by the USDA Forest Service. If using this location for an event, such as a wedding, you will need to bring your own chairs, tables, and other items. Please contact the Ocala National Forest at 352-625-2520 for location specific questions.
Due to the historic nature of the facility A/C units are prohibited and please do not use staples, nails, or screws to hang or display anything in the Dining Hall. Doing so is a violation of code 36 CFR 291.9(a) and is a finable Federal offense.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Pets are not allowed inside buildings
Bands and DJs are permitted
Alcohol is permitted
Off-road vehicles are not permitted
The reservation holder is responsible for cleaning/straightening up the Doe Lake dining hall, kitchen and bathrooms, main bathhouse, and the grounds prior to departure.
Sleeping overnight is prohibited in the dining hall.
Entrance gate is to be closed/locked at all times for safety of visitors, volunteers and facility.
Check-in time is no earlier than 3:00 p.m.; check out time is no later than 11:00 a.m. We cannot accommodate early arrivals.
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)
Reservations only; no walk-ins. To schedule a time to visit the Doe Lake Group Site prior to your reservation, contact Lake George Office at (352) 625-2520. An unscheduled visit to Doe Lake Group Site is disruptive to those that have reserved the facility.
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
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- 1 electric, 1 water
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…areas that do not offer hookups. Restrooms with flush toilets and showers are provided, as are hitching posts for…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Restrooms with flush toilets and showers are provided, as are hitching posts for horses.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Fishing
- Horseback riding
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 15:21 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
11 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:21 UTC. See them
OpenBookedNot reservable
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Tue, Oct 20. read 15:21 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 12
What you actually pay
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 11
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 11. read 15:21 UTC
- Big Scrub CampgroundOcala National Forest · 3.6 mi · 38 of 46 site-nights open
- Big Bass Campground (FL)Ocala National Forest · 4.5 mi · 19 of 19 site-nights open
- Lake Dorr CampgroundOcala National Forest · 11 mi · 28 of 34 site-nights open
- Juniper Springs Rec AreaOcala National Game Refuge · 12 mi · 34 of 76 site-nights open
- Alexander Springs Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 15 mi · 27 of 58 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:21 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA DOE LAKE GROUP SITE | 001 | group standard area electric | 413 ft | $350 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Big Scrub CampgroundOcala National Forest · 3.6 mi
Big Bass Campground (FL)Ocala National Forest · 4.5 mi
Mill Dam Group CampOcala National Forest · 9.6 mi
Buck Lake Group CampgroundOcala National Forest · 11 mi
Lake Dorr CampgroundOcala National Forest · 11 miLake Dorr Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 11 miDoe Lake Recreation Area is between Moss Bluff and Umatilla, Florida.
From I-75, west of Ocala, Florida, take the exit for State Route 40 east. Continue 11 miles to Forest Corners, then turn right on County Road 314-A. After about 9 miles, pass through a blinking light at Moss Bluff. Take the next major right at an old country store. Drive for 3.6 miles, passing entrances for Sunnyhill Restoration Area on the left, and turn left on Forest Road 14, also known as Cross Road or Big Scrub Road. Continue nearly a mile and bear right, then turn right into the recreation area.
Physical Address:
Doe Lake Campground
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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Doe Lake Group Site 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyRandy FineU.S. Representative · Florida’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAshley MoodyU.S. Senator · Florida
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRick ScottU.S. Senator · Florida
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Randy Fine, I’m a constituent in Florida’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Doe Lake Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Doe Lake Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Doe Lake Group Site. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Doe Lake Group Site (Ocala National Forest, Florida) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Ashley Moody, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Doe Lake Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Doe Lake Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Doe Lake Group Site. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Doe Lake Group Site (Ocala National Forest, Florida) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Rick Scott, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at Doe Lake Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Doe Lake Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Doe Lake Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Doe Lake Group Site. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Doe Lake Group Site (Ocala National Forest, Florida) via campanac.com