Dead River Landing Recreation Area

We are staying at Rocky Gannon State Park in Niceville (excellent place) but visited Dead River Landing to check it out for future use. The access road was not as bad as expected from other reviews, it is a decent hard-pack gravel base with some lumpiness and it's a narrow two-laner so two RV's can't pass, but a very drivable road. Camping spots 1-8 are by the boat ramp and kid's playground, and are spacious and well separated. Spots 9-16 are on a different loop and are more suited for tents or small campers. The toilets are two PortaJohns. The whole area is very quiet, with only one camper there in mid-February. The area is right next to the bayou and has a boat ramp.

T-Mobile gave just one bar of coverage but a surprisingly good 8 Mbit download speed

Having never been here before we checked reviews and watched a video on it and well, it wasn’t what we expected. We were a bit uncomfortable because we came in a little after dark, it was around 6pm in November. There is no light. We had no problems locating it. GPS takes you right to it. There is a cemetery right at the entrance if you can’t locate it. Then you drive almost 2.5 miles down a bumpy road, the road is narrow, but we didn’t meet anyone. When we got down there we followed the directions on the video and drove around which worked out fine. However, apparently this is hog hunting season in Florida and there were about 30+ trucks and boat trailers parked all over the place. there was a family in one site who asked us what site we were in and told us where it was we would have found it, but they were nice to help. There were a few empty RV spots even though online they were all booked up. Backing in went really well and everything was clean and well maintained. It is in the middle of nowhere, but it is free. In the morning there were even more trucks and trailers some parked in RV spots. There was a loud generator that ran until 10pm but everyone observed the quiet hours. This would probably be a better experience when not during hunting season. Also cell service was awful. 3g mostly for Verizon. There have been recent storms so maybe a tower is down.

The road in is fine.
The campsites are neat, clean and well kept.
The outhouses are clean.
Fire ring and picnic tables at all sites.
It was very quite at night and we slept very well. During the day on the weekend there were families having fun
with some kids running around at the playground.
There was also some guys shooting off guns. Didn't bother us.
We were there with two other trailers who left and two others arrived. When we tried t book our site here there was only one sit available. I wish people would show up if they book it or cancel if they cant make it.

We stayed here for 4 nights and really enjoyed our time. It's extremely remote down a narrow one lane road. Road was gravel but in good shape. Each campsite is very well maintained. We saw the ranger come through daily. No hook ups but they have outhouses (cleaned daily from what we saw), boat ramp and trash receptacles. Now we have an unlimited prepaid Verizon plan. He had 4 bars on our Winegard Connect but bandwidth was low. We had 2 bars on the phones with the same issue. We work from the road so this is important to us. Overall once you get past the eerie remote swamp like feeling it's an awesome place.

It was easy to get to. No big sign of the main road but there is a cemetery on the corner for a landmark. We were here in mid-March and the weather was perfect that weekend. The bugs weren't bothersome. It smelled nice, like campfire, not swamp. The nights were relatively quiet (barred owls and duck calls). The playground was small for small children. Boat ramp was in good repair. It has about half a dozen sites that will accommodate large RVs, they all looked pretty level. It was not busy at all the entire weekend. Mostly empty. I walked through them for our YouTube channel.

Major Con:
The road in and out is a two mile one way and if two big rigs were to come down opposite directions that would be potentially pretty bad. The road is in slight disrepair and something between paved and dirt and gravel. A poor guy hauling a small boat out meet our smaller rig coming in at the worst spot and had to back up until we could get by each other. Between the limbs and the water it's tight.

Also, we had about ten minutes total of at &t coverage.

This is a really nice park. Boat launch, nice sites with fire rings, and even split rail fence between the sites - nice touch. Lots of trees for shade, great playground if you have little kids along. The road in was a very well-maintained gravel road, although a bit narrow - I wouldn't want to try to pass another RV in most places. It was more like one and a half lanes, but it was never a problem. No water or dump stations, so be prepared with full and empty tanks. Very relaxing location. I wish we could have stayed longer. FWIW, I am in a class-C motorhome, towing a Subaru Forester.

For being a free place to stay, this place was great. Quiet most of the day except around 7am when all the trucks roll in with their fishing boats and again in the late afternoon once they leave. We were in spot 8 - had plenty of room for our 36’ RV, tow dolly and vehicle. If I were to stay again, I’d reserve spot 1, 3, or 5, as they are a bit more tucked away from the entrance road. There is a LONG and bumpy dirt road to get back here - just be aware in case you are towing a vehicle and unable to back up. We didn’t have any issues while passing other vehicles, but did see how it could be a problem. Overall, a good spot with an unbeatable price!