Gator Head Campground
3Heads up2 park alerts · 1 fire 23 mi away
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 9All of them booked ahead
- Season
- August 15 – April 15Open August 15 through April 15, across the new year
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gator Head Campground is a primitive campground located within the Bear Island Unit of Big Cypress National Preserve. (THIS CAMPGROUND CAN ONLY BE ACCESSED WITH AN ORV PERMIT, FOOT, OR BICYCLE) THE GATE COMBO WILL ONLY BE GIVEN IF YOU HAVE THE PROPER ORV PERMIT AT THE PERMITING OFFICE. All ORVs must have a valid ORV permit . All campers must also carry a Backcountry permit . Cell phone service is limited and it is highly encouraged that reservations be made in advance. Keep reading
Recreation
The freshwaters of the Big Cypress Swamp, essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades, support the rich marine estuaries along Florida’s southwest coast. Protecting over 720,000 acres of this vast swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to a diversity of wildlife, including the elusive Florida Panther. Gator Head Campground offers visitors a wonderful opportunity to camp at a designated campground in the Big Cypress backcountry. Visitors can enjoy nearby hiking, hunting, fishing, and off-road vehicle (ORV) trails with a permitted off-road vehicle. For more information on ORV use, please call 239-631-9988 or review park Off Road Vehicle Use information. Hunting and fishing regulations can be found at Florida Fish and Wildfire Conservation Commission .
Facilities
This small primitive campground offers nine sites with picnic tables, shared food storage, and fire rings. Vault toilets are available for use. There is no water available. The Bear Island Unit offers 20 plus miles of backcountry trails. Everglades City is located 30 miles south and provides dining, sight-seeing, and historical sites. Everglades National Park can also be accessed via Everglades City. Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center is also located 30 miles to the south.
Natural Features
Gator Head Campground has 9 campsites. This campground offers pickup camper and tent camping only. No trailers or RV's are allowed in the backcountry. Amenities include vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings. Visitors may enjoy nearby activities such as off-road vehicle trails, hiking, biking, fishing, and hunting. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (239) 631-9988.
Nearby Attractions
The Bear Island Unit offers 20 plus miles of backcountry trails. Everglades City is located 30 miles south and provides dining, sight-seeing, and historical sites. Everglades National Park can also be accessed via Everglades City. Nathaniel P. Reed Visitor Center is also located 30 miles to the south.
What the agency tells you
This campground is located in the backcountry and is only accessible by off-road vehicle (with permit), foot, or bicycle. No trailers are authorized in the backcountry campgrounds.
Backcountry permits are required for all individuals who enter the backcountry. Print your self-issued permit ahead of time.
An off-road vehicle (ORV) permit is required for ORV use. Review park Off-Road Vehicle Use or call the off-road vehicle office at 239-631-9988 if you have additional questions.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
No fresh water is available.
Be considerate of your fellow campers by observing quiet hours from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. All generators must be off at 10:00 pm.
Property left unattended longer than 24 hours will be impounded, and the campsite forfeited, regardless of whether or not it is reservable or non-reservable.
Cash payments are not accepted at this campground. Payments must be made online. There is limited to no cell service at the campground, advance reservations are highly recommended.
Do not feed the wildlife, including birds. This is unhealthy for wild animals and invites human confrontations. Food should be stored properly.
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 onsite. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Protect YOUR national preserve. Do not destroy, injure, deface, dig, collect or otherwise disturb any national preserve resources, including plants and animals (dead or alive), fossils, rocks, or artifacts. It is a violation of national preserve rules and regulations to possess natural/cultural resources. Metal detectors are not allowed in any unit of the National Park System. Please report any illegal activites to a park ranger.
Any violations of park rules or regulations will cause a revocation of your camping permit and no refund will be given.
No pets are allowed in the backcountry.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
Around the campground
- On the water
- Coast
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Wildlife viewing
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- Spotty
16 of 18 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:34 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
These counts cover the 9 reservable sites only. This campground also has first-come sites, and recreation.gov publishes no availability for a site you can’t reserve.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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 15:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
9 sites
All 9 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. 9 of the 9 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Pink JeepBig Cypress National Preserve · 1.8 mi
Pink Jeep CampgroundBig Cypress National Preserve · 21 mi
Bear Island CampgroundBig Cypress National Preserve · 21 mi
Burns LakeBig Cypress National Preserve · 23 mi
Burns Lake CampgroundBig Cypress National Preserve · 24 mi
Monument Lake Campground27 miFrom Naples: Head east on HWY 41 turn left on Turner River Rd, then go approx 20 miles up the dirt road until you come to a check station then turn left. YOU MUST HAVE AN ORV PERMIT AND GATE COMBO TO ACCESS THIS CAMPGROUND. Once in the gate you will come to a T intersection where you will then turn right and follow the trail until you come to the campground on the left.
From Miami: You will head west then same directions as above.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ave Maria, FL
Typical weather
Typical October night 68°F, day 86°F.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Gator Head Campground is in Florida’s 26th congressional district. Its representative, Mario Diaz-Balart (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…All campers must also carry a Backcountry permit . Cell phone service is limited and it is highly encouraged that reservations be made in…”