McNeil Campground

McNeil is hard to find. Google doesn't even know where this place is. Only 3 campsites and about as perfect as you can get. Beautiful sites right on the river. Clean and well stocked porta potty. Hand pump non potable water for everything except consumption. Deep in the woods, but still with cell reception. Boondocking at its finest. Bring your rod and kayak. You can't beat this place. Entrance is on the west side of SR471 just north of the withlachocee bridge. Get reservation and code from watermatters.org. This place is exceptional. Bring all supplies, nothing close by,

We made it in with our 29’ C class pretty comfortably (12.5ft high) - they had non-potable water for free and there were about 5 sites there, a portapotty also. There were lots of downed trees for wood and a bench/fire ring. There were orange trees about and we ate some! I guess it used to be an old homestead.

You get a code for the padlock when entering and make sure to use the address provided in the email!

In our video featured here on Campendium, we take you to two free campground near Tampa, Florida. One of those campgrounds is the McNeil Campground. Locating the entrance gate can be a little tricky and I walk you though our struggle in locating the entrance within the video. The access road may flood during rainy periods and the road is narrow in spots and not recommended for big rigs or even medium size campers. On the plus side, this remote camping location is secluded and scenic and includes a water view. Tent campers will love this location and there are nearby hiking trails. I did have cellular connectivity on both Verizon and T-Mobile, but a speed test failed for both carriers. There was no AT&T cellular service at this location.

The entry gate is located on State Hwy 471 at these coordinates 28.314863, -82.056228, just north of the bridge over the Withlacoochee River and less than a mile north of the entrance to Colt Creek State Park. A combination for one of the multiple locks on the gate chain is provided with a reservation. The road to the camping area winds for 3 miles through the wilderness and is surprisingly smooth aside from occasional potholes. There is sufficient clearance for medium-sized rigs, though care should be taken if it has been particularly wet as there are some low areas that might have standing water. Watch for turtles and other wildlife. The camping area is well signed at 3 miles in by a sign pointing left. There are roughly 4 sites with a few picnic tables and fire rings. There was one port-a-potty. The camping area backs up to the river. It's a stunning setting and worth checking out but beware of restrictions due to the periodic hunting schedule. There was no cell signal at the highway/trailhead but the campground itself had a T-Mobile signal - 5 MbPS down and 0.25 up.

I made reservations for a campsite in the Green Wilderness Preserve, but directions from someone accidentally had me stumble upon this campsite for free.

It’s deep into the woods as you can probably tell by your GPS, but Google Maps will often say you can enter from 98 but you can only enter through 471. When entering through 471 you will approach a gate (sometimes it’s open, otherwise you just have to move it so it opens and when you get through close it again). The campsite is 15 minutes into these woods, and when you make the left after that third mile or so, follow that path all the way down.

It’s a very primitive site and had more people there than I expected for a Monday night.

Not too bad, and definitely worth it since there were no availabilities for reservations at sites anywhere else