River Forest 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 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:40 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
River Forest is a shaded group camping facility on the shores of the St. Johns River in Ocala National Forest. Located just across the river from Deland, the site is popular for groups, family reunions and weddings and can accommodate up to 125 guests. 14 day stay limit in a 30 day period in ALL Ocala National Forest Campgrounds Recreation This site is a great setting for groups to relax, picnic and enjoy the shade on a warm day. A large field offers ample space for activities such as softball, volleyball and horseshoe tossing. Visitors wanting to venture out of the picnic area can go for a long walk through floodplain forests and pine flatwoods on the St. Francis Trail, or head to the river to canoe, kayak or fish for bass. Keep reading
Facilities
All new facilities are the highlight of the River Forest Group Site. Facilities include a screened pavilion for food preparation and cooking with your own cook stoves. A new bathhouse has also been built on site. The camping area is flat for tents with some shade provided by trees. While RVs are welcome, there are no hookups and all vehicles must remain in the designated parking area. Grills and picnic tables are provided.
Natural Features
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 is shaded with large live oaks with a flat, grassy patch of land that leads to the St. Johns River.
Nearby Attractions
The Ocala National Forest is notable for its extensive off-road trail system catering to off-road vehicle enthusiasts, as well as being a traditional destination for deer hunters from around Central Florida. Numerous lakes, rivers and natural springs surround the area and offer many water activities.
What the agency tells you
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.
A campground host may be available
Pets allowed, but not in buildings
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Bands and DJs allowed
Vendors (ie. food trucks and merchandise sales) are not allowed. Any commercial business that operates on federal land is required to have a special use permit. 36 CFR 261.10 (c)
Check in is at 3:00pm and check out is at 11:00am
Alcohol is permitted
Bears and raccoons frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
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 (c)
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
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Fishing
- Hiking
Full this Saturdayread 16:40 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
7 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:37 UTC. See them
OpenBookedNot reservable
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:40 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 · 7
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 7. read 16:37 UTC
- Clearwater Lake Rec AreaOcala National Forest · 10 mi · 56 of 76 site-nights open
- Alexander Springs Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 12 mi · 57 of 116 site-nights open
- Lake Dorr CampgroundOcala National Forest · 15 mi · 61 of 68 site-nights open
- Big Scrub CampgroundOcala National Forest · 23 mi · 79 of 92 site-nights open
- Juniper Springs Rec AreaOcala National Game Refuge · 23 mi · 75 of 153 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:40 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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.
| RFGS | 01 | group standard nonelectric | 366 ft | 12 ft | $200 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clearwater Lake Rec AreaOcala National Forest · 10 mi
Alexander Springs Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 12 mi
Lake Dorr CabinOcala National Forest · 14 miLake Dorr Recreation AreaOcala National Forest · 15 mi
Lake Dorr CampgroundOcala National Forest · 15 mi
Buck Lake Group CampgroundOcala National Forest · 17 miFrom Deland, Florida, drive west on State Route 44 to the first intersection after crossing the St. Johns River. Turn right on County Road 42, and the entrance to the campground is on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lake Mack-Forest Hills, FL
Typical weather
Typical October night 64°F, day 83°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 45°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
River Forest 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: 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 River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Randy Fine, I’m a constituent in Florida’s 6th district. I tried to camp at River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at River Forest 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. River Forest Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run River Forest 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 River Forest 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 River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Ashley Moody, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at River Forest 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. River Forest Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run River Forest 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 River Forest 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 River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida
Dear Rick Scott, I’m a constituent in Florida. I tried to camp at River Forest Group Site, Ocala National Forest, Florida, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at River Forest 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. River Forest Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run River Forest 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 River Forest Group Site (Ocala National Forest, Florida) via campanac.com