W.p. Franklin N
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:15 UTC
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 38All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Visitors flock to W.P. Franklin Campground for its well-kept facilities and location on the Caloosahatchee River, where campers can fish, boat and take it easy in sunny southwest Florida. The campground, about 10 miles east of Fort Myers, provides visitors with a taste of tranquil, tropical country life. Nearby Telegraph Creek, offers exciting opportunities to canoe Florida's backcountry swamps and view wildlife. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing for both salt and fresh water game fish is popular, as is boating. A unique feature of the campground is its cruiser sites, where campers sleep on their boat while enjoying the perks of the campsite facilities.
Facilities
The 29 RV sites and 8 boat sites are equipped with 50 amp electric and water hookups. A boat ramp, fishing pier and trailer dump station are conveniently onsite.
Natural Features
The campground is almost completely surrounded by the Caloosahatchee River with just a narrow stretch of land connecting it to the shore. The Caloosahatchee River is part of the 152 mile Okeechobee Waterway that spans South Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Nearby Attractions
Visit the U.S Army Corps of Engineers visitor center across the river in the W.P. Franklin South Recreation Area. Visit downtown Fort Myers for flea markets, grocery stores, shopping and the historic Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates, or spend a day exploring the sandy Gulf of Mexico beaches, about 45 minutes from the campground.
What the agency tells you
Campers may stay at WP Franklin North Campground for a maximum 14 days in a 30-day consecutive period. Campers may not make reservations under different names in order to stay for more than 14 days in a 30-day consecutive period. Campers may not use more than one Rec.gov account to stay more than 14 days in a 30-day consecutive period. Camper(s) who exceed the 14-day limit without park ranger permission will have the remainder of their reservation cancelled without guarantee of notice or refund.
Campground quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
Check-out time is 11:00 a.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
Check-in time is 12:00 p.m.
Arriving campers that require the use of the trailer dump station prior to occupying their campsite will be charged the $20.00 use fee as the waste being dumped was not generated on site.
Campers are limited to one RV/trailer sewage dump per week of stay, maximum two in a 14-day period. Portable blue holding tanks may dump unlimited times during their stay.
Day Use fishing is restricted to the fishing pier, unless you are a registered camper.
Use of the fishing pier and day use activities conclude at sunset.
Assistive mobility devices, such as a powered wheel chair, electric scooter, or golf cart, are permitted for use by individuals with mobility impairments for necessary transportation within the campgrounds. Individual must provide one of the following: a valid, State-issued disability parking placard or card, State-issued proof of disability, or similar document.
Campsites have maximum occupancy of 8 people per site
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Campground entrance gate opens at Sunrise and closes at Sunset.
Campers are limited to the use of one Rec.gov account and one America the Beautiful Pass per stay. Campers violating this rule risk having reservations cancelled and refunds forfeited.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 38
- Hookups
- 30 electric, 38 water
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 30 of 38
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Night sky · 57th darkest of 60 in FL
- Bortle 5
6 of 56 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:15 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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.
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, $30 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 16:15 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
39 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 39 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 38 of the 39 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. 38 of the 39 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
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.
| WFRN | 01 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 72 ft | 35 ft | 178 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 02 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 50 ft | 244 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 03 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 53 ft | 49 ft | 293 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 04 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 42 ft | 342 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 05 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 50 ft | 38 ft | 388 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 06 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 46 ft | 37 ft | 443 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 07 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 46 ft | 35 ft | 487 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 08 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | yes | 81 ft | 21 ft | 564 ft | $30 |
| WFRN | 09 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 44 ft | 733 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 10 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 51 ft | 725 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 11 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 85 ft | 27 ft | 624 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 12 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 44 ft | 33 ft | 542 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 13 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 44 ft | 40 ft | 500 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 14 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 53 ft | 37 ft | 445 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 15 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 53 ft | 31 ft | 393 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 16 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 19 ft | 337 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 17 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 59 ft | 29 ft | 264 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 18 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 59 ft | 52 ft | 206 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 19 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 39 ft | 116 ft | 312 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 20 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 39 ft | 122 ft | 273 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 21 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 51 ft | 138 ft | 223 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 22 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 48 ft | 37 ft | 261 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 23 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 48 ft | 55 ft | 305 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 24 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 51 ft | 70 ft | 357 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 25 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 46 ft | 55 ft | 405 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 26 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 46 ft | 37 ft | 449 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 27 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 54 ft | 45 ft | 452 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 28 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 47 ft | 55 ft | 398 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 29 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 47 ft | 68 ft | 351 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | 30 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 64 ft | 53 ft | 288 ft | $30 | |
| WFRN | Boat Site 01 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 513 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 02 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 517 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 03 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 535 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 04 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 554 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 05 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 572 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 06 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 592 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 07 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 609 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | Boat Site 08 | mooring | 40 ft | 50 amp | under 10 ft | 648 ft | $30 | ||
| WFRN | SHEL | day use | $35 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 39 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area0.3 mi
Ortona South24 mi
Pink JeepBig Cypress National Preserve · 43 mi
Gator Head CampgroundBig Cypress National Preserve · 43 mi
Burns LakeBig Cypress National Preserve · 64 mi
Bear Island CampgroundBig Cypress National Preserve · 64 miFrom I-75, take Exit 141, following SR 80 E to SR 31. Turn N on SR 31 and travel 4 mi to SR 78. Turn E on SR 78 for 3 mi and turn S on North Franklin Lock Rd into the campground.
From I-75, take Exit 143, following Bayshore Boulevard E to SR 31. Turn N on SR 31 and travel 1.5 mi to SR 78. Turn E on SR 78 for 3 mi and turn S on North Franklin Lock Rd into the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Alva, FL
Typical weather
Typical October night 70°F, day 86°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
W.p. Franklin N is in Florida’s 17th congressional district. Its representative, W. Gregory Steube (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →