Category: Park Info

State, Federal and Private Camping Parks information

Paynes Creek in Bowling Green Florida

May 9, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Paynes Creek Historic State Park is located outside the small town of Bowling Green, Florida. It borders on one side by the Peace River and the Paynes Creek runs through the middle. You can hike, fish, bike, picnic and visit the visitors center during the day time. At night small groups can primitive camp within the park while the Residential Hosts Volunteers will get the run of the park after everyone leaves. They are in need of summer time volunteers as are most of our Florida State Parks. We chose them to do an article because the volunteer coordinator is good about getting back to us and it sounds like a great place for us to volunteer in the future. If you are a history teacher with no plans for the summer and have a travel trailer or RV we hope you will fill out an application and get in touch with the volunteer coordinator at this park.

Hello Jolene,

Yes Ma’am, Paynes Creek Historic State Park does indeed have volunteer camp sites.

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Campground Host Experiences, Park Info, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Troy Springs State Park Branford Florida

May 8, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Troy Springs State Park in Branford, Florida is a small little park with a lovely spring right next to the Suwannee River. You can picnic, swim (when the water in the Suwannee River is down), scuba dive in the spring and canoe and kayak up and down the river as well as get in a spot of fishing. The park has no camping amenities not even primitive. But they do have RV Sites set up for volunteers in exchange for working with the park ranger and manager in the park. We visited this park last year and were going to volunteer there but we couldn’t get our timing worked out. It seems we may be going there next year though and we look forward to it. However, they still need help this summer. If you, a family member or a friend would like to stay in a lovely, shady state park in exchange for a little cleaning, lawn care and maintenance work we hope you will fill out the application and get in touch with the Volunteer Coordinator. Her information is listed at the bottom of this article. Below are her answers to some of the questions we would ask of any of the state parks we were considering volunteering for:

Campground Host Experiences, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Letter From Rainbow Springs State Park

May 7, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

We received this letter in response to our email inquiry about volunteer live on-site positions available at Rainbow Springs State Park. Like most of the Florida State Parks we have emailed in the last week or so they are in desperate need of late spring through early fall volunteers. To that end we will be posting information about 1 state park each day until the beginning of June. We hope you will share this post with your friends, family, teachers, recent retirees, and anyone who can take two or three months off, has a travel trailer or RV and would be willing to exchange part time work for a great Campsite in some of Florida’s most beautiful places.

***SEEKING CAMPHOST and PARK HOST POSITIONS CURRENTLY FOR: Summer and Fall of 2014 and Spring and Summer of 2015***

Campground Host Experiences, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Our Vacation Ends at Manatee Springs

May 2, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Our vacation ends at Manatee Springs State Park and we have arrived at our new assignment. Due the flooding down the Suwannee River the Manager for the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail River Camps has placed us at the Woods Ferry River Camp instead of Adams Tract. It seems the road leading into Adams Tract is flooded and he has all of the river camps closed for campers until the river goes down. From what we are told the camp host at Holton Creek is flooded in but has been utilizing this time improving his canoeing skills. We will also use this quiet time to get the campground cleaned and ready for new visitors. They haven’t had a campground host here for a month and between the manager, park ranger and our fellow host at Holton they have tried to keep it tidy. But we intend on giving it a thorough cleaning during this downtime.

Information for Campers

Wekiwa Springs State Park

Park Info, RV and Campers, Sights to See, Volunteer At A Florida State Park

Next Three State Parks

April 18, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

The next three state parks on our list is Alafia River State Park, Hillsborough River State Park and Lake Louisa State Park.

Information for Campers:

Alafia River State Park is located just off County Road 39 in Lithia, Florida. They have a relatively small campground with about 20 spaces designated for Family Camping and 11 for Equestrian Camping. All the sites are fairly large with about half being pull-throughs and the other back-ins. They are nicely spaced but there is not much privacy. You have a grassy area around the asphalt driveways, electric and water only. There is only one bathhouse with one shower on each side (males/females). Of course, this shower doubles as ADA compliant and the hot water comes from Solar Panels on the roof. There is a wide expanse of grassy area with picnic pavilions, tables, and benches all facing a nice little lake.

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Lessons in Camping, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

First Three State Parks

April 11, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Our First Three State Parks have been great to visit and it would be nice to be able to stay more than 3 days at each one. So far, in our 10 Florida State Parks Vacation, we have visited Oscar Scherer State Park, Lake Manatee State Park and Little Manatee River State Park. We are currently in Alafia River State Park but will hold that review until next time. Not only are we enjoying our stay at each one we are checking out possible future campground hosting assignments. You never know we could get lucky and get our 2015 year all planned out before summer!

We are taking pictures, working on our next festival and just enjoying not being responsible for our fellow campers and cleaning. Don’t get me wrong we do enjoy being campground hosts but after a year of almost straight volunteer work we are ready for a little downtime.