Hickory Hammock Equestrian Campground

I like Florida's idea of dry camping. It's clean and rather quiet. You will be near a slough that has an airboat launch so when you hear what sounds like street racers, it's the airboats. They run a little bit after dark but not later in the evening. They're probably just loading up the boats.
Upon entering through the gate, you'll be greeted by some cows and they're no bother. The road is nice but there is one little stretch near the campground that's washboarded.
Even in December, keep your door closed at night or some of the local mosquitoes, at least that's what they looked like, will come in a pay you a visit. That reminds me to get a trail cam to mount on the RV to see who my nocturnal neighbors are. I think that could be really interesting.

I did give myself a scare by cooking some honey carrots in the oven. About 20 bees liked the idea and wanted some. My fear of a queen deciding to take up residence in the A/C shroud or refrigerator vent was unfounded after I stopped cooking the carrots and ran the A/C for a bit. I ran the A/C to drive the point home that this wasn't a good place to set-up shop. After a nap, I saw the bees decided I wasn't very friendly and moved on.

This is a No ATV site so that bummed me out a bit. The Grizzly needs to get out and play a bit but it won't be happening here.
No sign of alligators yet but I'll get out on the bicycle to explore a bit on a trail that runs by here. Wally Gator is probably hanging around the Slough.

Nice camp host checked us in. Don't forget to drive around the circle and check in. There is a water fill just before the camp host clearly marked.

Please DO NOT go to Fred's bar like others suggested unless you have a van or small class C. It's tight and a bit of a dive. The only fresh water they have is in their "campground" which we'd had to back down to because there's very low limbs that prevented us from driving through their circle. The turn into and out of the place was horrible I almost grounded the RV.

This was a nice campground. Each site had its own fire ring and picnic table. There were sites that were shaded and sites wide open for solar. If you come with horse's, there's a nice stable barn. There's also a outside shower, two vault toilets. Campground host (Steve) nice guy. I showed him my reservation and that's it. Picked out a site (shaded) and stayed 4 days. I'll be back.
Oh yeah. After you let yourself in through the gate, it's a 3 1/2 mile drive to the sites. Worth it.

This campsite was the first stop on the first leg of our one-year adventure. No numbered spaces, just find a site. First come, first serve. Sites are spacious, many with shade trees, most with picnic tables and fire rings. We saw no horses the two nights we were there but there are stables (pretty run down) and hitching posts at a couple of sites. Beautiful horse trail at the site.

Bathrooms were basically single stall outhouses/compost toilets which we didn't use.

Lots of mosquitos in the evening in early March.

WARNING: Site access is via a 3.5 mile unpaved road that is very washboarded in places. We unhitched our Jeep and drove our 31 ft class A at 5 miles an hour or less on that road. In all honesty, we would not do that again in this rig. A surprising number of class As were at the site (but it never felt crowded.) A smaller rig may not feel the vibrations as much.

Non-potable water spigot available. Camp hosts were friendly and gracious. We camped at Hickory Hammock Equestrian Campground in a Motorhome.

You go online to check availability and get a permit that includes the pass code to a very strange gate lock. From there the 3.5 mile gravel road was no problem with the trailer except when we had to pull aside for an oncoming. Check in with the camp host then select any available site. Although it was only about half full, many of the available sites were too short for us. A nice trail to take, and sweet quiet little boondock adventure for one night.

Free camping at Hickory Hammock is administered by the South Florida Water Management District. A free online permit is required. I provide you a walking tour of this big rig friendly free camping location and share with you a nearby location where you may dump your RV tanks and obtain potable water; see our video uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. Hickory Hammock Campground has two composting toilets and non-potable water on-site. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 10.4 Mbps download speed and 1.75 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 79.3 Mbps download speed and 5.73 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 2.77 Mbps download speed and 3.24 Mbps upload speed.