Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Overnight Camping Permit
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:38 UTC
- Sites
- 1211 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Slip your canoe or kayak into the blackwater and paddle into a world of moss-draped cypress trees, echoing night sounds, and a rare solitude that exists only deep within the wilderness of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. An Overnight Camping Permit allows overnight camping in the Okefenokee Wilderness on elevated platforms and islands. Online reservations are not available. You must call the Permit Reservation Line at 912-496-3331 Tuesday to Thursday, from 7:00 am to 10:00 am EST to reserve a campsite. Visit the refuge’s Camping page before planning your camping trip. Keep reading
Enter the dates of your trip below to explore possible routes. While this tool is a helpful reference, conditions such as trail closures or impassable routes may affect access to certain overnight sites. Visit the Library page of our website to view the Okefenokee Wilderness Canoe Guide. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (912) 496-7836 for general information.
Charges & Cancellations
The $10.00 reservation fee is non-refundable. Reservations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the entry date will be refunded camping/amenity fees minus a $15.00 cancellation fee. Reservations cancelled within 13 days of the entry date will not be refunded. If the refuge must close for any reason, all guests with affected reservations will be notified immediately and will be issued full refunds, including the $10.00 reservation fee.
What the agency tells you
Trip planning information can be found the Camping page of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge’s website.
All Federal, State, and refuge regulations apply: www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee/visit-us/rules-policies
Emergencies: Call 911 and contact Refuge Law Enforcement at 912-313-6955
Everything else this campground posts · 10
Departure Time: You must be on the water by 10:00 AM (or 12:00 PM for Cedar Hammock, Coffee Bay, and Mixons Hammock). Individuals who arrive later than this time may be denied permission to begin their trip. No refunds will be issued for late arrivals.
Permit: Each boat must carry a copy of this Camping Permit. You must only camp at the campsite listed on your permit during the dates listed on your permit. The permit holder must be present during the camping trip.
Vessels: Only canoes and kayaks are permitted on camping trips. No motors of any type are authorized. This includes trolling, electric, gas-powered, or other.
Platform Use: Cedar Hammock, Monkey Lake, Coffee Bay, and Bluff Lake serve both day-use and overnight campers—wait until late afternoon to set up camp. You must stay at the designated campsite listed on your permit from sunset to sunrise, unless safety (extreme weather, life threatening circumstances) requires otherwise.
Campfires: Please check the refuge website for campfire restrictions. Campfires are only permitted within the fire rings at Canal Run, Floyds Island, and Mixons Hammock.
Trails: You must stay on marked, designated trails and do not visit campsites that are not included with your permit.
Food: Never feed wildlife. Keep the campsite clean to avoid attracting wildlife. Store food in hard-sided containers and cook away from your tent.
Litter: You must not litter, throw trash into portable toilets, or discard food scraps onto the refuge. Pack out all trash and food scraps when you leave.
Drones: Launching or landing aircraft (including drones) is prohibited.
Alcohol: Entering or remaining on the refuge when under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance is prohibited.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
4 of 8 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:38 UTC
recreation.gov lists 11 of the 12 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBookedClosed
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
“The $10.00 reservation fee is non-refundable. Reservations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the entry date will be refunded camping/amenity fees minus a $15.00 cancellation fee.” · 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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:38 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 sites · the site map
All 12 sites
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Big Water | Big Water | standard nonelectric | under 10 ft |
| Bluff Lake | Bluff Lake | standard nonelectric | under 10 ftPerch Lake |
| Buzzard Roost | Buzzard Roost | standard nonelectric | 81 ftMonkey Lake |
| Canal Run | Canal Run | standard nonelectric | 206 ft |
| Cedar Hammock | Cedar Hammock | standard nonelectric | 22 ftBlackjack Lake |
| Coffee Bay | Coffee Bay | standard nonelectric | under 10 ft |
| Cravens Hammock | Cravens Hammock | type not stated | 31 ft |
| Floyds Island | Floyds Island | standard nonelectric | 487 ft |
| Maul Hammock | Maul Hammock | standard nonelectric | under 10 ftMaul Hammock Lake |
| Minnies Lake | Minnies Lake | standard nonelectric | 45 ftMiddle Fork Suwannee River |
| Mixons Hammock | Mixons Hammock | standard nonelectric | under 10 ft |
| Round Top | Round Top | standard nonelectric | under 10 ftSometime Hole |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Ocean Pond CampgroundOsceola National Forest · 40 mi
Group LandingOsceola National Forest · 41 miDirections to the Suwannee Canal Recreation Area (Do not depend of GPS directions to bring you to this location)
Directions from Folkston, Georgia to Main Entrance of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge • Turn onto Main Street heading west. Go through two stoplights and across the railroad tracks. • Take a left at 3rd light onto Okefenokee Trail (Parkway), also called GA 121/23 South. • Drive for approx. 7 miles, then turn right at the large beige “Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge” sign. • Follow this road about 4 miles to the end. When you reach a large parking area, you will see the Richard S. Bolt Visitor Center on your left and Okefenokee Adventures is located next to the boat basin.
Directions from Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) • Depart from the airport terminal on the airport road, turning into Dixie Clipper Rd. Take Dixie Clipper Road to I-95 Northbound. • Follow the directions from Interstate 95-exit 3 (below) to get to Okefenokee
Directions from Interstate 95-exit 3 (Kingsland, GA) • Take GA 40 West approx. 22 miles through Kingsland to Folkston. • Where GA 40 dead ends at a “T” intersection, turn right onto Third Street then take the next immediate left onto Main Street (courthouse is on your right at turn). • Follow directions from Folkston, GA listed above.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Homeland, GA
Typical weather
Typical October night 61°F, day 83°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 44°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Overnight Camping Permit is in Georgia’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Buddy Carter (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →