W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:48 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
WP Franklin South Recreation Area is a day use area located on the Caloosahatchee River adjacent to the WP Franklin Lock and Dam. Visitors can watch boats traversing the 152 mile Okeechobee Waterway that spans South Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, enjoy the exhibits at the visitor center or just relax with a picnic lunch. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating, canoeing and kayaking on the Caloosahatchee River are popular activities. Anglers can try their luck with catching both freshwater and saltwater fish.
Facilities
This day use area has a visitor center, boat ramp, volleyball and horseshoe courts, a playground and several covered picnic sites. Flush toilets and drinking water are also available. There are two group picnic shelters available for reservation. Each shelter has water and electricity, six picnic tables, a large charcoal BBQ grill and can accommodate up to 50 people.
Nearby Attractions
Lee County Manatee Park is six miles west on Palm Beach Blvd. Hickeys Creek Mitigation Park is two miles east on Palm Beach Boulevard, Gulf of Mexico beaches and the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge are 30 miles to the west.
What the agency tells you
At this time the courtesy dock at the boat ramp is closed for repair. The boat ramp remains open.
Group Shelters are for day use only, no camping allowed
At this time the group shelters are limited to a maximum of 25 people and are ideal for birthday parties, club meetings, small weddings, etc.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Vehicles must be parked in designated spaces. Once these are filled, contact a Park Ranger for directions to the overflow parking area.
W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam Tours are available. Please contact the park staff prior to arrival to schedule a tour.
Alcohol is not allowed in the recreation area.
Bounce houses, water slides and other similar items are not allowed in the recreation area.
The Recreation Area opens at Sunrise and closes at Sunset.
Vehicles to include golf carts, ATV's, mini bikes or any other such equipment must be properly licensed and registered to be driven in the park.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…and several covered picnic sites. Flush toilets and drinking water are also available. There are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER SPIGOT on 2 of 2 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 58th darkest of 60 in FL
- Bortle 5
3 of 4 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:48 UTC
The agency files 2 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
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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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:48 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records · the site map
All 2 records
| W.P. FRANKLIN SOUTH RECREATION AREA | GS01 | day use | 18 ft | 20 amp | yes | 166 ft | $35 |
| W.P. FRANKLIN SOUTH RECREATION AREA | GS02 | day use | 18 ft | 20 amp | yes | 261 ft | $35 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
W.p. Franklin N0.3 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 Interstate 75, take Exit 141 (Palm Beach Blvd.) east for 7 miles to Old Olga Road. Make a left on Old Olga Road and proceed 0.3 miles to Franklin Lock Road. Make a right on Franklin Lock Road into the WP Franklin South Recreation Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Olga, 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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area 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 →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyW. Gregory SteubeU.S. Representative · Florida’s 17th 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
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear W. Gregory Steube, I’m a constituent in Florida’s 17th district. W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area, Florida carries 2 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area (Florida) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Ashley Moody, I’m a constituent in Florida. W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area, Florida carries 2 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area (Florida) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Rick Scott, I’m a constituent in Florida. W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area, Florida carries 2 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about W.p. Franklin South Recreation Area (Florida) via campanac.com