National Park Service · Big Cypress National Preserve · FL

Pink Jeep Campground

ReservableBookable through December 31; the next season isn't published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:34 UTC
A night
$10From, per site
Sites
9All of them booked ahead
10 ftElevation
2.5 miWater · an unnamed pondOcean · 15.4 mi · to the Gulf of Mexico
30.5 miSE of Ave Maria, FL
0%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 17th darkest of 60 in FL

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices

In the agency’s own words

Pink Jeep Campground is a primitive campground located in the backcountry 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 Ph# 239-631-9988. All ORVs must have a valid ORV permit . Campers must also carry a Backcountry permit . Cell phone service is limited and it is highly encouraged that reservations be made in advance. Pink Jeep 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. Keep reading

Recreation

Pink Jeep 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 this park Off Road Vehicle information. Hunting and fishing regulations can be found at Florida Fish and Wildfire Conservation Commission .

Facilities

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 Welcome Center is also located 30 miles to the south.

Natural Features

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.

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. Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center is also located 30 miles to the south. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (239) 631-9988.

What the agency tells you

Rule

This campground is located in the backcountry and is only accessible by off-road vehicle (with permit), foot, or bicycle.

Rule

Backcountry permits are required for all campers. Print your self-issued permit ahead of time.

Rule

An off-road vehicle (ORV) permit is required for ORV use. Review ORV requirements on the park Off-Road Vehicle Use page or call the off-road vehicle office at 239-631-9988 if you have additional questions.

Everything else this campground posts · 10
Rule

No fresh water is available.

Rule

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.

Rule

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.

Rule

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

Rule

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.

Rule

Do not feed the wildlife, including birds. This is unhealthy for wild animals and invites human confrontations. Food should be stored properly.

Rule

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.

Rule

No trailers are authorized in the backcountry campgrounds.

Rule

Any violations of park rules or regulations will cause a revocation of your camping permit and no refund will be given.

Rule

No pets are allowed in the backcountry.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
9
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Not allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…in the backcountry. Amenities include vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings. Visitors may enjoy…”

Around the campground

On the water
Coast
Biking
Birding
Hiking
Off Road Vehicle Trails
Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
Spotty
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise. · Sep 8, 2026

15 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

Booking windowThrough December 31Bookable now through December 31, 2026, the end of the reservable season. The season after it isn't published yet.recreation.gov
A night$10plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$28DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itNational Park ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceNational Park Service
A night$10
Standard Nonelectric$10
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jan 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$18
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$28

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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

9 sites

All 9 sites

SleepsTakes aUp to

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.

1standard nonelectric$10
2standard nonelectric$10
3standard nonelectric$10
4standard nonelectric$10
5standard nonelectric$10
6standard nonelectric$10
7standard nonelectric$10
8standard nonelectric$10
9standard nonelectric$10

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate25.97080, -81.08120
The phone239-695-1117
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Naples follow US HWY 41 east to Turner River Road. Follow Turner River Road approximately 20 miles and turn right towards Bear Island Campground. Take the next left to Perochi Grade (ORV Permit and gate code needed to access this area). Follow Perocchi Grade for approximately 3 miles and make a left onto Bear Island Grade. Campground will be on the left.  

From Miami follow US HWY 41 west to Turner River Road. Follow Turner River Road approximately 20 miles and turn right towards Bear Island Campground. Take the next left to Perochi Grade (ORV Permit and gate code needed to access this area). Follow Perocchi Grade for approximately 3 miles and make a left onto Bear Island Grade. Campground will be on the left.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon93°Showers And Thunderstorms Likely59% rain
Tonight75°Showers And Thunderstorms Likely74% rain
Saturday87°Chance Showers And Thunderstorms80% rain
Saturday Night72°Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy59% rain

NWS forecast for Plantation Island, FL

Typical weather

Typical October night 71°F, day 89°F.

100°50°

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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: OASIS RS, FL (USC00086406), 8 miles away and at about the same elevation

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.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Mario Diaz-Balart, official portrait

Pink Jeep 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 30 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.
Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise. · Sep 8, 2026

“…. Campers must also carry a Backcountry permit . Cell phone service is limited and it is highly encouraged that reservations be made in…”

Nearest place of any size: Plantation Island, FL, 19.6 mi ENE (a census designated place). Straight line.