Going Dispersed Camping: the Planning Stage

We are planning out our first real, truly primitive camping experience! We wanted to try doing dispersed camping, which is a term basically meaning, "camping wherever I want out in the wild, and not having to pay a reservation fee."

Finding a Spot

Now, obviously, if you disperse camp on private property, you need to have permission; otherwise, owners/keepers of the land may chase you off-site with due diligence, and possibly a firearm. Finding a camping spot in a national forest or state park is, therefore, your safest bet.

WARNING! When you are dispersed camping, make sure you are not camping in game areas during hunting season!

We narrowed down our target to the Ocala National Forest: it's big, it's wild, and there are innumerable waterways and lakes from which to fill up our filtered bags. As a bonus, we might be able to do some kayak camping! Having decided on that forest, I did the research for a spot that fit our criteria, and ended up with this little area on the map.

Sebastian Canoe Launch

South of the Sebastian Canoe Launch

You can't go far south of the Sebastian Canoe Launch. In fact, we probably only managed to go a mile before the waterway became completely choked with the skeleton of a fallen tree. While the water flow was relatively unimpeded, it would have required a chainsaw to hack through the branches. I briefly considered forcing our way as far as possible, in hopes of finding some way through, but my suggestion was vetoed. As always, my companion was wary of the possibility for snakes to fall from the branches should we try to fight through what little we could.

Given how brief a distance we had gone, we decided to head back upstream and explore the area north of the canoe launch. On our way, we stopped beneath the Sebastian Blvd overpass and tried the fishing there. My companion spent only some ten minutes on her endeavor, while I sat in the kayak and documented these facts, as well as our GPS position.