Mill Dam Group Camp
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 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:39 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
Mill Dam Group Campground offers a fun and relaxing setting for groups of up to 150 to enjoy Ocala National Forest. Large picnic shelters and access to outdoor and water recreation make this area ideal for family reunions and other large parties. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground sits along the 168-acre Mill Dam Lake, and water activities are popular among campers and day-use visitors. Anglers come from all over to enjoy bass fishing. Campers can bring their boats, canoes and kayaks for easy access to the water via an adjacent boat ramp. A large swimming beach and picnic area are great ways to keep the kids entertained.
Facilities
In the spring, summer and early fall, Mill Dam is a day-use area only. For the remainder of the year, it becomes a group campground and recreation area for both day-use and tent camping. Amenities include a picnic shelter, group grills, picnic tables and flush toilets. The parking lot can hold up to 70 vehicles. A boat ramp adjoins the recreation area, on a separate entrance.
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 campground and recreation area sit in the shade of live oak trees overlooking Mill Dam Lake. Numerous animals make their home in the area, including alligators, turtles, deer, raccoons, black bear and many bird species.
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 from around Central Florida. These opportunities are available within a short drive. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (352) 625-3147 for general information.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancelling a Reservation: Customers may cancel their reservation prior to arrival both on-line and through the call center. A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation. Depending on when you cancel in relation to your arrival day, it may be considered a late cancellation. https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies Refunds are not given for inclement weather for camping, gear rentals, or day-use fees.
What the agency tells you
Check in is at 2:00pm and must check out by 11:00am. We do not accomodate early check-ins or late check-outs.
This location is a group-use campground and is operated accordingly by Adventure Ocala. If using this location for an event, such as a wedding, you will need to bring your own chairs, tables, and other items. Please visit www.adventureocala.com for more information.
Fishing within 50 yards of a boat ramp or area designated for swimming is prohibited.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Swimming or being in a body of water within 100 feet of a boat ramp is prohibited.
This is a tent camping only site; all vehicles must stay in the established parking area.
There is no camping in the beach area.
This camp requires a combination to the entrance gate.
All temporary, homemade signs must be removed by check-out time.
No electricity, water or sewer site hookups. There are no showering facilities.
Alcohol and pets not permitted.
Bears, raccoons and alligators frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers.
No off-road vehicles allowed.
Entrance gate is to be closed/locked at all times for safety of visitors, volunteers and 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
- None
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…shelter, group grills, picnic tables and flush toilets. The parking lot can hold up to 70 vehicles. A boat…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:39 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
10 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:37 UTC. See them
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:39 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.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
“A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 10
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 10. read 16:37 UTC
- Lake Eaton CampgroundOcala National Forest · 5.4 mi · 23 of 26 site-nights open
- Juniper Springs Rec AreaOcala National Game Refuge · 7.2 mi · 75 of 153 site-nights open
- Fore Lake CampgroundOcala National Forest · 8.1 mi · 44 of 62 site-nights open
- Big Scrub CampgroundOcala National Forest · 9.9 mi · 79 of 92 site-nights open
- Salt Springs Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 14 mi · 199 of 288 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:39 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.
| MDGC | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 239 ft | $100 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lake Eaton CampgroundOcala National Forest · 5.4 mi
Juniper Springs Rec AreaOcala National Game Refuge · 7.2 mi
Fore Lake CampgroundOcala National Forest · 8.1 mi
Lake Shore Group CampOcala National Forest · 8.2 mi
Doe Lake Group SiteOcala National Forest · 9.6 mi
Big Scrub CampgroundOcala National Forest · 9.9 miMill Dam is located just off of Highway 40, approximately 15 miles east of Silver Springs, Florida, and 50 miles west of Ormond Beach. From 40, look for the Mill Dam/Half Moon signs about a quarter-mile from the recreational area turnoffs.
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 63°F, day 84°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
Mill Dam Group Camp 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: D-. 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 Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Randy Fine, I’m a constituent in Florida’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Mill Dam Group Camp 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. Mill Dam Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mill Dam Group Camp. 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 Mill Dam Group Camp (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 Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Ashley Moody, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Mill Dam Group Camp 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. Mill Dam Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mill Dam Group Camp. 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 Mill Dam Group Camp (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 Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Rick Scott, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at Mill Dam Group Camp, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Mill Dam Group Camp 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. Mill Dam Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mill Dam Group Camp. 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 Mill Dam Group Camp (Ocala National Forest, Florida) via campanac.com