Monday, May 4, 2020

Ichetucknee Springs Campground, Fort White, Florida

We camped at Ichetucknee Springs Campground in Fort White, Florida for 4 nights early May, 2020 in our 1997 renovated Georgie Boy Maverick Class C Motorhome.


We are Mike and Kathy Charest - The AdvenCharests!

Like most of the world, we had not camped all year until this point.  We had several reservations earlier in the year that had been cancelled due to the "thing" that's affecting the whole world right now.

At any rate, Mike was talking to a friend of his from work who told him he was retiring and buying a campground...which campground Mike asked... Ichetucknee Springs Campground!  Well, we have actually camped there once before a couple of years ago, and tubed the beautiful spring fed Ichetucknee river, and we decided it was time to go back.  At this time, the spring (State Park) was closed, but he was opened for camping, and for gracious sakes... we were going! :)

We really weren't sure what we would do there, since the entire town and all the campgrounds pretty much live off the "Springs" and "Tubing", but we decided it would be so nice to go and see what Karl and Cristy had gotten into and what changes they were already making to the place. :)
We're certainly glad we went, because we had plenty to do and had such a wonderful, fun time!


Hiking the trails, and chillin' by the campfire.




Peacefully kayaking the Santa Fe River 
and meeting Peppa the Pig! 



This campground is set on 20 acres of beautiful lush forest, the campsites are very large and spacious with lots of trees between sites.  The sites are a mixture of electric and water, just water, and primitive.


We camped on site #4 and it was huge! (It also has a rope swing on it!)







The check-in office is a pretty 2 story wooden style house.  It hosts a gameroom, complete with two pool tables, air hockey, pinball and video games, as well as a beautiful stone fireplace.  Inside the office there is a small camp store which the new owners are working on stocking up.  

The front of the office is so beautiful, with flowering trees, a butterfly garden and a trickling koi pond, it really makes you feel welcome. 







There are rentals for tubes and kayaks.  Although we weren't able to tube, as the state park was closed, we rented a kayak and had a great time enjoying the Santa Fe River from the boat ramp at 27 bridge.



There is a large "community" firepit and outdoor movie screen beside the check-in office.  When the weather is right, everyone is invited, they even passed out popcorn! :)


Karl and Cristy, the new owners of the campground, have so many great plans for the future, and many of them are already being put in place.  





They made and put up a beautiful new sign at the main road entrance, and are working to create a great campground entrance area.



In addition, they want to add treehouses and cabins, as well as a brand new bath/shower house for campers (there currently is one, but they want to make it more accessible and larger), in addition, they are working to create more walking trails through the forests behind the campsites that will all lead to the game room/office/store, rather than have campers walking along the roads.  

The campground is very natural and beautiful with a huge variety of plants and trees and so many birds! 






We so enjoyed the peace and quiet, waking up each morning to bird songs, and walking along the wooded paths. 

In addition to kayaking and driving around the beautiful countryside, we visited with the few campers that were there at that time (safe distancing of course!), played pool, rode our bikes, took lots of walks and enjoyed Jurassic Park I and II beside the group firepit! :)

We can't wait to go back and enjoy the springs soon and visit with Karl and Cristy.... oh yes, and Peppa the Pig and all the friendly campground pups! 


We hope you'll go visit Karl and Cristy and let them know we sent you!  

Look for them on Facebook, and check out their Website.