Dead Lakes Recreation Area

This place is an unknown gem. The park is set in an area of native pine with a pond or lake next to it. It is well managed by on-site manager W.E. and the county. Great place to stage outings to the Dead Lakes. Water and electric. Two dump stations. Laundary. Clean rest rooms. Don't be surprised to see major enlargement of this facility in the future, but for now the only negative is relative to the entire area- poor att signal!

Very important: regardless of what you read anywhere else on the web, the address that you should put in your GPS is 510 Gary Rowell Road, Wewawitchka.

They don't take reservations, but you can call W. E. at 8502583466 to find out about their availability.

I really wanted to love this park - it's a bargain, it's clean, it's pretty, it has a couple of laundry machines, but in the end we were so annoyed by our neighbors' fire pit that it over-shadowed all that. The campground loop was tight and I didn't look at every site, but our and the one next to us had fire pits that were way too close to the next site. Our neighbors had a fire both nights and their pit was only 7 feet away from our window. We had to close all the windows on that side of the rig and if they had been loud talkers we'd have heard every single word. Lots of the campers here came with boats on trailers and I suspect the campground pushed the rings out to the edge of the sites to make extra room to park, but it really isn't a good design.

In addition, there's no information posted on how or where to check in when you arrive. We pulled in after dark and had to wander around until we found the camp host.

Tent campers will appreciate that the tent sites are separated from the RV sites by the bathhouse and day-use area, which will reduce noise from air conditioners and such.

My husband and I wanted to go down to the coast from Tallahassee for a few days over President's Day weekend, but all the state parks were full. After reading the reviews here, we decided to give Dead Lakes a try. We camped in a large, pretty level site in the tent area a little away from the RV's. Although the main bathrooms are a little dated, overall, it was lovely. Wonderful, helpful people (thanks for the use of the grill, W.E.), beautiful view of the little lake, quiet at night and convenient for day trips to Port St. Joe or Appalachicola for seafood. It's first come, first served...but there were only a couple of other tents. We definitely will be back and will do some canoeing on Dead Lake.

We were totally surprised by this site. It's beautiful, very clean, and well taken care of. There's showers and fountains in the ponds. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, so if you're looking for somewhere quiet, this is your spot! Panama City is a 30 minute drive. We've done day adventures to Panama City and Cape San Blas. Everyone is very welcoming, but gives you space. We totally recommend this spot!

This place is first come first serve. It's in a small town and I honestly didn't expect it to be much, since it was only $15, but man was I wrong! It's beautiful! Super clean and big! They have a small pond that anyone can fish in (without a license) and a boat ramp just around the corner. I would highly recommend that you go out with offthemapexpeditions.com and see the dead lakes in the morning! Absolutely breath taking and one of the coolest things I have seen in Florida!
The campground was great and a wonderful surprise.