Where to Camp in the Florida Keys
 

We are headed down to Southern Florida in last week of March and first week of April. We are starting from Fort Lauderdale and then heading down through the Keys to Key West. We have been looking at campsites, but the state parks are all booked solid. The private campgrounds are extremely expensive like $45+. Does anyone know about any camping alternatives? I am not afraid of stealth camping if it is do-able and doesn't have big consequences if you do get caught, but I am not familiar with this area at all. Any ideas or tips?

Also, we are looking into Couchsurfing and Warmshowers, but no one has responded yet:(

If you happen to be military or retired military:

Sigbee RV Park at NAS Key West
http://www.naskw.navy.mil/index.php?id=373

Nope, not military, but thanks for the tip.

I am riding the perimeter of the US and just spent 5 weeks at this campground. It is excellent. I'm headed north now

I hear your frustration. I combed the internet for any reference to affordable camping in the keys. All I could find was a 12 year old mention of a $6 primitive campsite that isn't around anymore. The state parks, coming in just under $40 for tent sites, where the best I could find.

Pretty bad, eh? If anyone can tell me stealth camping is even a remote possibility, I'd love to hear it.

What about a sandy beach?

~kn

We car camped there a bit at the end of a canoe camping trip in the Everglades and I didn't get the impression that the area was very conducive to stealth camping, but it might be possible.

The campground that we stayed at when we were there sucked. We paid $40 to pitch our tent in what amounted to a driveway. At least the showers and other facilities were nice. Since the weather was too bad for the dive boats to go out there were open rooms in motels and we found one at a good rate. We decided that was a better deal than camping in that case. It was just luck that there were openings though and it would definitely not be something you could count on.

Long Key State Park has primitive walk-in sites which are around $10 (I think they are 8 bucks). You can't reserve them and they are not listed on the parks official website. It's the luck of the draw if one available when you ride past. They were full when I rode by, but I would've stayed for a week if one was open.

I think stealth camping is very possible, however, I wouldn't even attempt to camp any closer than mile marker 10 or 12 (Key West is mile marker 0). I am a dedicated stealth camper and I checked out a bunch of places from Key Largo all the way to KW.

Homeless people are abundant in the Keys... which means that good places close to the bigger towns (Key West, Marathon, Islamorada) have permanent residents living there. I checked out places to stealth camp and found I could probably camp in the Keys without much problem. My advice is to use a quality hammock (with a bug net) because the ground is a little mushy in some good places, camp no closer to Key West than mile marker 10, arrive at camp at sunset and depart at sunrise.

Unfortunately, your trip is still in high season. Going in May or later will open things up and knock down prices.

The Keys, with a few exceptions are highly developed.

Nobody is against saving money, but considering the circumstances, why not bite the bullitt and reserve space in some decent campgrounds or motels? Yeah, it will cost, but your payback will be a worry free enjoyable trip.

The Keys are hot, humid, and very buggy. Not a place to skimp on accommadations if you can do otherwise. Having a clean space or air conditioned room and access to showers and fresh water, not a bad thing.

What I know about Key West:

1. Camping on the beach is prohibited
2. Sleeping on the beach is complicated by 20 feral roosters, crowing constantly after 5 am.
3. 100% DEET is your friend
4. It is illegal to hit said roosters with rocks.

I understand your sentiment, but the cheapest hotel rooms we have been able to find in the keys start at way over $100, and that is way out of the budget. We are trying to find state park campsites whenever they come available, and even they are over $40 per night. The problem is, most everything is already booked, and has been that way for weeks.

Been enjoying your blog so far, OP.

I heard that there is a colony of giant gambian rats on Grassy Key - might be a fun place to stealth camp :D

I hear you. Then there is this:

Go to www.ironbutt.com/ and chk these guys out. They are a lot like us bike tourist. They go long distances on motorcycles. Not your average Sunday morning crotch rocket pilots or Harley riders. To get into this club you have to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours and document it. And, that's just to get in. From there, there are contests ranging from 3 to eleven days where riders put on at least 1000 miles every day. Covering that kind of range it's impossible to plan ahead for reservations. Beleive it or not it's fun!! The membership ranges from truck drivers to neurosurgeons.

Why do I tell you this and offer it up as a possible solution? Well, part of doing these long distance rides is where to sleep? These guys have written the White Paper on how to get sleep out on the road. Most famously, they use the Ironbutt Motel. The Ironbutt Motel is sleeping where ever you can lay down. Behind a gas station, or on a park bench. How about laying down in a parking lot next to the bike? These guys do this all the time. Yeah, it sounds extreme, but it works. How do I know. I'm a card carrying member of the Ironbutt Association. I've done my share of sleeping out in the open. Cemeterys are the best. Quiet!! Is it fun? Usually not, but it sure beats stayin' home.

Would a little matter of no room at the Inn stop an Ironbutt Rider? Not a chance. We don't make reservations. We just sleep when we're tired, where ever we are. A park bench makes a great bed!! Do we book into rooms? Sure. But if the place is full we ask to sleep in the lot.

I know, sounds crazy! But it works. And, once you are on the trip most likely you will find someplace to pitch a tent. Behind a fire hall or church. Or even in someone's yard. Cancellations will probably allow you to stay at a campground. Who knows? But, as you can see, when you've got the Ironbutt motel as a backup, accomadations cease to be a worry.

Check out the site, these guys are the real deal.

Tansy: Glad you are enjoying the blog! It was a great trip, just looking back at it makes me want to ditch everything and head out on the bike for another 4 months.

Tom cotter: Good points! We have had to resort to those sort of things before, everything always works out somehow. One night we tried to stay behind a church and asked the Father if it was ok. He didn't think it was a good spot for us, so he called the police department, and they let us stay in the local impound lot! The police even let us cook on their stove and watch the evening news in the dispatch office. God I love Louisiana!

As far as the Iron Butt association, we ran into a few of these guys in St. Augustine. We couldn't help but poke a little fun at their motor-powered counterparts.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=193248




We also made a stupid video the might at least make you laugh.

I've done this plenty on long rides. Taking off on a 200 miles ride with only two hours of sleep once made it a necessity. This is in New England though. In Florida I'd have to learn to sleep with one eye open.

~kn

Although I haven't tried it myself, many forum posters in the past have recommended just riding into a full campground and asking other campers to share a space. Of course you should also offer to split that high nightly fee. This works best in non-commercial campgrounds where the sites are more disbursed and larger. It has worked quite well for many bike tourers. In the campgrounds where we have stopped on tour (New England, Quebec, Atlantic Provinces) there are usually other bike tourers already in sites. I would never hesitate asking to split a site (and cost) with another tourer when the campground is full.

Even at a full state park campground, the ranger may well find a grassy spot for you if you show up late in the day after a 50-60 mile ride. Our camping style has very low environmental impact. Of course, If you ask and the answer is no then it's harder to then ride into the campground and apply the approach in the paragraph above.

Sounds like a fun trip.

Jim

big_rider -

Bike rider wins hands down in best looking exaust category!!!!!

I have done this out west in places like Sequoia and Yosemite and when I needed to it always worked out. I am not sure if it is as likely to work well in a more developed place like the Keys though.

Dear Big Rider:

I am active in Couch Surfing and I am surprised you are having trouble with finding a place to sleep. Have you been verified? Some people will not invite those who are not verified or active in their local couch surfing chapter.

John

Like the video. Yes, while there are noted exceptions, casual observation has showed that most motorcycles (Harley's seem to dominate this group) typically only get weekend rides, of relatively short distances.

I'd be careful stealth camping in the Keys - there is some cantankerous wildlife down there. Just remember to bring your alligator repellent :)

Have you been to KW before? If not, a little advice: Parts of KW can get a little rough at night, so your best bet would be to stick around the "tourists covered with oil" section of Duval Street. If you go out drinking, that is. Also, The Green Parrot on Whitehead will tolerate tourists in the daylight, but after dark, the locals don't mind telling you to keep your money. Not trying to scare you off, but didn't want to see anyone have an inadvertently bad experience.

Have some conch fritters and fish dip when you get there for me, will ya? (if you like fish, that is :) )

Enjoy.

Actually not. I hate to rain on the OP's parade and don't know if the OP has been to the Keys before but I can think of a ton of other places that are better to ride than the Keys.

I have never ridden there myself but have driven it several times. It is a beautiful ride, there is no dispute there but but traffic moves very fast. I do not think it would be much fun to have traffic buzzing in your ear over all of that distance not to mention the fear of some driver dozing off or getting distracted by the scenery.

As far as couch surfing, I would doubt you are going to find much along the Keys. You usually fair better in more populated places. Members are more pentiful and more active. Add the fact that the Keys gets more than it's share of transients I'm sure that makes a lot of members gun shy along this route.

I usually look at the percentage of response. If it is low, I usually don't bother sending a message.

Also it could be your approach. CS members are very much about meeting others. They are not involved to become a hotel room for travelers. If you give them an idea that you are just looking for a place to sleep, you may not get a response.

How far do you want to ride on your first day? Stealth camping in urban Ft. Laud.-Mia.
area is all but impossible, and dangerous. I would not recommend it.
It's about 60 miles from Ft. Laud. to Fl. City. If you can do that in a day, you should have no problem finding a place to stealth-camp if Fl. City. If you want an easy first day, Oleta River St. Park is about 15 miles south of Ft. Laud. They have cabins for $55.
Personally, I would probably stealth-camp in this park. Big park with lots of wooded areas. About 15 miles south of Fl. City is a private campground(Pelican Cay) with tent sites for $35 for 2 people. This is on the stretch of US1 between Fl. City and Key Largo.
If you don't plan on camping there, take Card Sound Road from Fl. City to Key Largo instead of US1. It's a little out of the way, but there will be much less traffic.
Going into the Keys, you should have no problem finding places to stealth-camp, especially north of Islamorada and south of 7mile bridge.
A hammock would be ideal, but you'll be just fine in a tent, it's the dry season right now. A dark colored tent(olive,brown) would be your best bet for stealth.
Heres something I used to do back in my 20's that you might want to try...or not. I used to take a lot of road trips down to the Keys with my girlfriend, when I was young, stupid, and poor(God I miss those days!). Wanting to spend our money on alchohol rather than room-service, we would sleep on a concrete slab(air mattress is mandatory) that a house was going to be built on. In the keys, houses are built on stilts because of flooding, so the slab was 10 feet off the ground. This made for a nice breeze, which helped big time with the mosquitos, and the view was awesome. We did this dozens of times and never got caught. Just leave at first light and you'll be ok.
In Florida, you cannot be arrested for tresspassing if it is not posted and there is no fence. DO NOT go into a vacant or abandoned or hurricane damaged structure, that is a whole different scenerio.
We would sneak into a resort or rv park to take showers. A lot of hotels have showers in the bathrooms by the pool area.
For the most part, people in the Keys are very laid-back and friendly. If you talk to enough people, you could very well get invited to share a campsite, pitch in someones yard, or even stay on a boat for the night.

Things to see...
Besides the obvious Tiki Bar-Hemmingway House-Mallory Square at sunset(all worth seeing), two places come to mind that are a must-see. The first is Coral Castle. It is about 5 miles north of Fl. City, before you even get into the Keys. It was built single-handedly by a man who was broken-hearted over a girl. He said he discovered the secret of how the Egyptians moved such big and heavy stones without machinery. The place is truly a wonder and worth checking out.
The second is a place called Robbies. It is just south of Upper Matecumbe Key, which is just south of Islamorada. Over the bridge on the right. Basically, it is a restaraunt/tourist trap, but the reason people go there is to feed the tarpon. In the water, hanging out at the docks, on any given day, is over 100 tarpon, some weighing up to 200lbs. It's quite a sight. The coolest part is that you can buy a bucket of baitfish, take a bait and hold it 12 inches over the water, and a tarpon will take it right out of your hand.
I live in Pompano Beach which is about 5 miles north of Ft. Laud. You are welcome to camp in my back yard on your first night if you wish. It is very tropical, and I have a big fire pit. We can bar-b-q and talk touring. I don't know much about couchsurfing.com, but as a fellow tourer, I have over 5,000 touring miles under my belt. I think that qualifies me. P.m. me if your interested.

Word of caution. Be prepared for some of the worst, rudest drivers you will ever encounter. Hit and runs are a common occurence down here.

Good luck.

BTW- There are no alligators in the Keys. Sharks yes, alligators no.

You may be right about alligators, but back about 15 years ago I saw two... The first may or not have been in the keys, towards the top I crossed a bridge over a canal, and saw a suspicious stick floating in the water i got out and went down to the edge of the water, and tried to make out what it was. I couldn't tell what it was. A boat came down the canal and all of a sudden the drifting stick started moving counter current or breeze. It was a gator. But it may have been just above the official keys.

Later we got down to deer key, and there was a huge gator in a pond there. It was notorious for chasing people from the pond. A few months after we got back there was a center column of the front page of the Wall Street Journal article about that gator. They had finally got tired of it chasing tourists and eating deer so it had been deported to a gator farm. Maybe it was the last gator in the keys...

Be sure you don't tie your hammock to a poisonwood tree...

[QUOTE=Peterpan1;12362124]You may be right about alligators, but back about 15 years ago I saw two... The first may or not have been in the keys, towards the top I crossed a bridge over a canal, and saw a suspicious stick floating in the water i got out and went down to the edge of the water, and tried to make out what it was. I couldn't tell what it was. A boat came down the canal and all of a sudden the drifting stick started moving counter current or breeze. It was a gator. But it may have been just above the official keys.

If it was salt water, then they were probably crocodiles. There are some crocodiles in the keys, but they are very rare.

The canal I don't know what it was. It was an unremarkable location, sorta hard to think it would be a crocodile hang out. Deer Key was an alligator for sure fresh water pond. We even had a florida ranger there doing interpretation.

Here is a reference, I think this is the same area:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=qGFp...%20key&f=false