Silver Lake Campground

Beautiful but beware of thief’s, lock everything up no matter how serene, quiet and safe you feel. I had a bike stolen in front of me at 5:30 am in pouring rain. I felt like I was watched until I turned the light off. Scary Scary. Families come in day use area and will run you out of your spot on banks of the water with their jet skies and boats, children unsupervised in the water, we should not be teaching kids to be rude too, especially with Covid. I cannot confirm that the gates are being locked at night. It is just off 75 which is in high use by trucker during sleeping times. Cell use was not great. I left a day early on pretty morning, wasn’t worth staying for the local invasion on the weekend. A camp host is definitely needed at Silver Lake and maybe a Ranger at the entrance.

This is a great little campground (there are actually two additional campgrounds further down the road) but its proximity to I-75 might be a challenge for some. (But for me, it was like home since I live less than a mile from I-75 in Michigan.) The campsites are nicely laid out and well-spaced but there isn't any ground cover between them. Great access to Silver Lake and if you want to ride a bike or MTB, you can access the Withlacoochee StateTrail across the road from the entrance - there is a gap in the fence marked "Snowbird". If you turn right on the paved trail the Croom Tract MTB trailhead is 1.75 miles north. There appears to be a new bathhouse - it looked modern and clean when I glanced in. Despite the noise, this would be my choice over Cypress Glenn which seemed a bit more rustic. Crooked River is a drive-up tent campground. T-Mobile didn't work so well but AT&T hotspot was pretty good running 40-60 down and 4 up.

Stayed here for two nights during lovebug season which I do not recommend… (early May) ;) Beautiful breezes off Silver Lake, lots of gorgeous birds. Nice to hear sounds of wave runners and boats while you’re sitting by your campfire. Maybe only 20% of the campground sites were full so it was immensely quiet (other than the highway) and devoid of human noises. Beautiful Live oaks with Spanish moss create a nice canopy of shade in many spots. My site (# 6) was very, very UNlevel and no matter how many blocks I had with me, it was not enough. Nothing like staying someplace where your refrigerator door slams into the wall every time you open it. Electric and water are spaced relatively far from the site so even though you have plenty of room to back in, I had to park my 21’ trailer near the front of the site to reach the hookups. I have a 15-foot electric cable and I still had to park 20 feet from the back of my site. This is partly due to the grade and also due to reaching the hookups. Took a nice paddleboard paddle on Silver Lake and saw a few medium-sized alligators. At dusk, I would take my chair down to the water’s edge and watch all the wave runners race around. Nice breeze! I work remotely and it was a little bit of a challenge to get more than two bars on Verizon so I had to go into town to download some files. Not a big deal since Dunkin’ Donuts is only 7 miles away (Free wi-fi). And I got a doughnut. I would stay here again but I would choose a spot that was more level before I set up camp. I cannot review the bathrooms since I use my own in my trailer. I drove by the dump station and it looks serviceable.

This campground has plenty of charm among Live Oaks with a partial view of Silver Lake. The campground and sites are spacious. The Withlacoochee State Trail (paved 46 mile rail trail) is within walking distance of the campground. This was a convenient stop off of I-75 with lots to explore in the surrounding area, but the road noise is substantial. Our site and the campground roads are big rig friendly.

Some nice hiking trails and a nice lake. Spots were spaced fairly well. I don't recommend 32 unless you have a sub-25 ft rig. It's not even close to level front-back (Jacked the front of my trailer to the limit with as many blocks as I could fit and it still wasn't quite level), but would be more manageable with something shorter than my 30 footer. 32 wasn't the only spot this way; quite a few were sloped significantly. Access road was a little rough, but not too bad.
Cypress Glen was far enough away from the highway that it wasn't a bother. The general traffic noise was just audible at night.

Nice place to walk and hike, but note that NO ALCOHOL is permitted!!

Not specific to this campsite, but oh how I wish people would learn that their neighbors don't want their "cute" LED exterior lights shining all night...for once I'd like to be able to sleep at a campground with my shades up and windows open and not have the inside of my camper look like a rainbow! Turn off your lights, please!!

Road in is paved but rough. I think they should have left it dirt & scraped it level now & then. There was no one at check-in station when we arrived or any other time we went through. Since we had reservation just proceeded to sight & set up. There is a gate that is locked from 8pm to 8 am. Truly locked. It does not swing open to exit campground either. This was not an issue for us until Sat am when we tried to leave a few minutes after 7. Called the tel # on website. It's basically a recording telling you if emergency call 911. So we and others sat & waited til about 8 when someone came from outside the campgrounds to unlock it. If there were an emergency not sure how responders would get through.
In spite of that, I will say if you are in a tent definitely camp at the Crooked River tent only section!! It is beautiful. Road noise from I-75 was barely noticible. Sites are large and most are quite private with space & growth between them. The shower/restrooms are old but clean. We drove up from the Silver Lake section to use those showers.
The Cypress Glen section is rv/tent & has electric & water hookups. Sites seemed spaced enough, though very few looked level. Road noise from I-75 may have been slightly less than the Silver Lake section. Bathroom/showers could use some updating but were clean enough.
The Silver Lake section was area we were set up. Sites are large & angled in such away that you get some privacy from neighbors. Sites are very open. The website warns of road noise but its truly worse than we expected. We naively thought it would settle down at night & fan or AC would mask it. Neither of those were true. It's a constant roar. The bathroom/shower needs updating & cleaning. I checked them daily & sometimes the trash had been emptied. A few times some of the dead bugs were cleaned off the sink counter, but I don't think it ever got a real cleaning while we were there. Like I said previously, we drove up to tent area to shower & used camper bathroom.