Kowechobe Campground

Spent 9 days here, thought I’d be bored at first but once I met a few other campers and got on my bike to explore, the sunny days passed quite pleasantly. There’s an old ranch hidden in a grove of trees, enjoyed some lemons and an orange from its trees. Biked through cattle pasture both day & night, enjoyable memories for a lifetime. Grateful for vault toilets, byotp. If I were someone who repeated campgrounds experiences, I’d be back - but with a way to tamp down the long grass at the Kowechobe sites.

Super accessible and any size rig can fit in any spot (even though the reservation site says small tree spots are for smaller rigs, it’s an open field and they don’t get in the way of bigger rig parking at all). It’s right off a main road so it’s very easy to find and the dirt road its on is very well maintained.

Great spot if you’re using solar as its an open field with no trees. There are fire pits at some spots but not all. Like other reviews said, it borders a field with cows and a small pond where we saw one small alligator. Overall, very peaceful and beautiful spot even though there’s not much to do nearby (that I know of).

Other campground (Hammock) is right there too but that one is much more shaded and would not recommend for larger rigs. Bathroom is in between both campgrounds but closer to Hammock.

Cell service was good enough to work full time and with our antenna it was even better.

Closest grocery store/town is about 30 minutes away in Clewiston.

Definitely would come back again to enjoy the peaceful simplicity of this place!

Requires a reservation, but you're instantly approved. Such a perfect campground for boondocking. Flat and relatively level grass plots, with plenty of room between neighbors, if you have any. There is a pit toilet, if you need it. Verizon and AT&T good service. About 30 miles from actual Clewiston, FL with Walmart, etc. Plenty of room to park in any direction you like on each plot. I recommend parking your door towards the wind each day, so as to minimize the fly nuisance. Plenty of cows nearby but no smell of cows. Very relaxing, very peaceful, and you'll never have more than a few neighbors.

Update: Camped again in December 2022, and the no-see-um situation was out of control. They get through the screens and after one night, I had 20 - 30 extremely itchy bites. Left early.

I was a little concerned about coming here at first. We originally scheduled Hammock, which is on the same property. When we arrived we discovered that the grounds are not managed. The site we had originally booked was not accessible for our rig ( 20 ft TT ), so we decided to move to Kowechobe.

It is an open field with labeled sites. Some sites have fire rings, and some do not. There is a cow pasture on one side of the field, along with a couple ponds. There are alligators in the ponds. We decided to stay in the center of the field, and rescheduled online.

There is no water, no dump, no electric. Closest store is 12 minutes down the road. Closest dump is Cedar Creek RV Resort about 22 minutes, and they charge $10 to dump. We filled up with fresh water at an open campsite. Just ask first.

Even with less amenities, we still give it great marks. Our two favorite beaches are within an hour drive ( Bonita dog beach and Vanderbuilt Beach).

We will definitely go back. Site Quality gets 3 bc the field is not maintained. Large outdoor mats work, but a weed eater woud be ideal to clean up the sites. Tall Grass, about 1 foot.

You are required to get a free permit from FWC at the following website (https://myfwc.com/recreation/lead/dinner-island/camping/).

Info from the website (with some modifications):
"There are two designated campgrounds on the Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area: Hammock Campground contains 17 campsites, of which 7 allow for tent camping only and 10 sites allow for tents and/or campers or small RVs; Kowechobe Campground contains 20 campsites that are suitable for tents, campers or RVs and are best to access during the dry season (approximately November thru April).

Camping is primitive with no amenities, other than a vault toilet by the hunters check in/out station (apparently there's another vault toilet at the Hammock campground but I didn't use that one). All camping equipment is to be contained within the boundary of the designated campsite. Vehicles must be parked adjacent to or within their camping spot."

Review:
I would totally go camping there again! I arrived at night, no lights so be careful. There were a few large ant piles around the site, presumably fire ants so watch out for those. It would have been tougher to camp in a tent (but still doable) since the grass was a few inches tall. It got kinda chilly and very humid at night (mid-march). Tons of cattle all around in gated areas, you can hear them mooing during the day and at night, which was cool. Got about 30 or so species of birds (https://ebird.org/checklist/S83318627).

Hammock Campground map (https://myfwc.com/media/1523/hammockcampground.pdf)
Kowechobe Campground Map (https://myfwc.com/media/1524/kowechobecampground.pdf).

Made an on-site visit to the Kowechobe Campground today. Big rig friendly with large and numbered camping sites in an open field setting.

Verizon 2 bars LTE 17.29 Mbps download and 2.65 upload. AT&T was 3G and barely usable without a booster.

Would not be my first choice for a camping destination, but if you needed a free interim dry camping solution, this campground will suffice.