Camping at Hillsborough River State Park, Thonotosassa, Florida

Recently we completed our third RV camping trip.  This time we headed a short distance up to Hillsborough River State Park located in Thonotosassa, Florida.  It has been a few months since we had our Bushwhacker Plus trailer out camping - one thing for sure - if you don't do this often enough and you're new, you just might need to give yourself a little refresher.  The purpose of our trip this time was two fold, one to get away for a few days and two to see how well the little A/C unit in the camper did with these hot temperatures!  Sneak peak - it did pretty well - in the daytime it ran a lot but was able to be comfortable.  Overnight it seems like it got down to about 65 degrees - cooler than we needed it to be.

We have been to this park many times, but never stayed over night because until recently we didn't have a camper and the thought of trying to tent camp with 3 dogs which are very scent driven was definitely not appealing.  Our campsite of choice was in the River section of the campground, campsite #60.  Plenty of shade in this campsite and in most all of the campground.  Warning - there are a few sites that are sunny! And I wouldn't recommend that you have one of those sites if you want to relax outside in nature's sauna.  Actually, I kinda thought it was going to rain and we would experience that in the camper for the first time - but nope, we had great weather all 3 days.

Our particular campsite had 30amp and 50amp service along with 'traditional' water hookups. For the curious, this is the electric hookup. 

Most of the time the breakers are off when we arrive, so first those have to be turned on, then I plug in our little gadget to check and make sure the power is safe before plugging in our camper.
 

We also use a water filter on the water hookup.  Hopefully that keeps all the little stuff out of our camper's water system - at least that is the point. I'm not actually trying to advertise for any of these products.  The power hookup came from Amazon and the water filter came from Walmart.  Seems to be the places we end up getting a lot of the smaller things.

Once we got things set up - we were good to go.  A screen room is always a good idea if you want some relief from bugs.  Fortunately for us the mosquitos were not bad - very surprised.  Little gnats did get bothersome at times, but at least they don't bite.  The campground wasn't full, in fact I suspect that only about a third of the sites were rented when we were there.  We checked in on Sunday and checked out on Tuesday.  One thing that I really liked is the check out time is 1pm - actually gives you plenty of time to enjoy your morning. Check in is 3pm which thus far has been the same at all of the Florida state parks.

This is our campsite - pretty big - in fact a lot of them are nice sizes such that you don't have people right next to you.  Our two smaller dogs (Ollie and Rue) prefer to spend the majority of their time outside.  They are inside the screen room.  Abby, well so is all for sleeping in the A/C on a bed given a choice.

River Rapids Trail

Since we were local (about 30 minutes from home) we actually had a lot of friends and family coming out while we were there to spend time with us.  As each of them came to visit we would do a different trail in the park.  First up was the River Rapids trail - probably the most popular trail in the park.  The Hillsborough River actually has some small rapids that you can view but not get down to any longer.  It's all fenced off now - I guess after years of people climbing down to the river (myself included) they now have a viewing area along with benches to sit and relax.  If you see this sign, you are at the River Rapids trail.

The rapids are pretty nice - usually I see them in the early morning hours, but this time we did it in the evening about 7pm.  The lighting is different at this time of day. I used the fence they provided as a stable surface to allow for slowing down the shutter speed on my camera and providing some nice blur to the water.

Baynard Trail

The next morning another friend came and spent a good portion of the day with us.  This time we did the Baynard trail.  In order to get to this trail, you must cross the suspension bridge.

It's pretty and the entire park was quiet - not a lot of people.  The temperatures have been pretty warm, guessing that is why it wasn't crowded.  Ollie, one of our small dogs, doesn't particularly like this bridge because it moves.  Do you know what this is?  If not, you should.

Poison Ivy - and the trails have quite a bit of this, so if you are one to itch from it - beware.

Overall, we didn't see a lot of wildlife.  Perhaps they are being affected by the higher temperatures also.  Usually there are turtles out sunning (maybe to early for them) and then the occasional gator.  I don't see a lot of water birds here - there are birds in the trees that you will hear but often don't see them.

We did see a good amount of mushrooms of various types.

And a golden orb spider....

We went back to the campsite for a while and the dogs laid around in the dirt.

All dogs are supposed to be restrained in some way - I see a lot of people that have little fences to keep their dogs in - we haven't yet invested in one of those.  We use a basic tie down for the dogs or put them in the screen room (and yes, they do know how to escape from it!).  In general our dogs are happy to hang with us and they have been really good with the whole idea of camping.

Seminole Trail

Our last morning at the campground we decided to go on the Seminole trail - back across the suspension bridge and then off on the other side of the river going away from the Baynard trail.  This hike required a little going over logs and what not - our dogs are use to this from our treks up to western North Carolina for the last 5 years.

This is the map you will see when you are starting out on the trail - we were trying to find the Primitive Campground area but I have to say we didn't find it.  I have no clue where we were because the trail was indicated to be blazed orange and the trail we were on was blazed yellow.  Eventually we just turned around and came back - there was no one else out there!

Ollie and Rue hanging in the tent room....this is where they spent a good portion of their time when we were in the campsite.

We did see one alligator sunning on a rock that could be viewed from the suspension bridge.  He wasn't a big guy, maybe 4-5 feet in size.

Overall our experience was very good.  Couple of things that I didn't mention earlier.

Other items to note

• They do have a concession stand by the pool area in the day use area. Hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday - we didn't get a chance to visit due to the limited hours.
• Firewood is available at the ranger station where you enter the park along with ice. You must pay cash and have exact change.  Ice is $4 a bag. That's pricey, but keep in mind that you are 9 miles away from any real 'civilization' regardless of whether you turn left or right on US 301.
• Firewood can not be brought in from other areas and they don't want you to collect wood within the park to burn either
• There are campground cats - I saw at least 3 different cats and our campsite was visited by the orange tabby.  After I saw the cat twice, I figured I would give it some food to keep it out of the area the dogs were in.  No issues, they don't really want to interact with you (or maybe it was the dogs).
• They do have bath houses - they are functional, bathrooms and showers.  Since the campground loops are fairly large, the walk to the bath house was a little longer than the other parks we have stayed at thus far.  I did see sinks for washing dishes in addition to washing machines and dryers.  Although it appears from the notes on the dryers that they might not be working.  I hate to think about having an entire load of wet laundry and now I need to figure out how I am going to dry it.  I guess you could do the old clotheslines but I am not sure they want you to do that.
• I didn't see much in terms of rangers driving through the campground - which we did at Manatee Springs.  We did see a police car, but it wasn't a big deal - not sure what was going on but it was several campsites away.
• They do rent kayaks/canoes/bicycles but since we had the dogs we didn't partake.
• The pool is closed indefinitely at this point due to funding.  Hurricanes are causing damage to state parks, which in turn has taken the funding that is available.
• Maximum number of dogs per campsite is 3
• The other bridge that was damaged during Hurricane Irma has not been repaired and is still closed.  You must use the suspension bridge.
  
   

More photographs
 

For more photographs from Hillsborough River State Park, please click here, Hillsborough River State Park.

Map of Park (handout from Ranger station)

Map of Campground (handout from Ranger station)