Camping at Lake Monroe Park, DeBary, Florida (county park)

When we arrived at Lake Monroe Park, there is a gentle reminder that you are now in a county park which is a little different than a state park.  County parks don’t have a ‘ranger station’.  Instead, they have an office that is staffed with friendly county employees.  At the time we arrived, no one was at the office – so we looked at the signs, found the directions for the campground and proceeded to where our reserved campsite was located.

Park Details

Address: 975 S Charles Richard Beall Blvd, DeBary, FL 32713

Phone: (386) 668-3825

Open 7am to 8pm

Campsite Details

We stayed in campsite #14 which was pretty large for our setup and had dappled sunlight (aka shade/sun mix).  Our first impression of this campsite was very nice – we loved the size, the overall privacy and the quiet of this small campground.

Water/Electric (has dump station)

30 / 50 amp

Picnic table, Fire ring (fire ban in Florida right now), grill

Back in sites

Shade/Sun, dirt/sand/leaves and some grass

Bathrooms/showers

Check-in is noon

Checkout is 11am

Quiet hours – I didn’t see posted, but would assume the normal range of hours

Verizon cell service was good

Overall Impressions

After we got our campsite set up for the night, one of the park employee’s stopped by to check on us.  Since we hadn’t seen anyone at the office, he provided the gate code to us.  This is a pretty laid-back park.  We didn’t receive any map(s), paper work or other things when entering. We had a great chat with Raymond. He told us that the boat ramp gets pretty busy, especially in the summer time.  This park is sitting next to a hub of various biking/walking trails that allow you to go across the state of Florida should you be interested.

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had read reviews that were mixed on this park.  This park is very close to Interstate 4.  We did hear the road noise from the interstate.  However, since the noise was pretty constant, to me it became white noise and I didn’t notice it once we were in the camper for the night.  I had also heard about the train – yep, the train does blow the whistle.  I heard it a few times during the afternoon after we arrived.  We both happened to be awake at 3am and heard it at 3:03am – so I was warned – but it didn’t bother us.

This park does not have the ability to reserve campsites online; you must call the phone number Monday – Friday during business hours to reserve a campsite.

First Walk

We walked over to the boat ramp and river which is a short walk from our campsite. 

It gave the dogs a chance to get out and move around.  While we were there, I noticed that a large soft-shell turtle was up on shore.  I am sure she was laying eggs, but I snapped a few photographs of her while she was there.

We did walk down to where the trails start that will take you to Gemini Springs and other locations. 

However, we choose to head back to our campsite since it was about 90 degrees at the time.

Dog Friendly park - Gemini Springs

Gemini Springs Park is about 5 minutes’ drive time from Lake Monroe Park.  We had considered going there late yesterday afternoon until we saw what the traffic was like.  If it’s that backed up in the afternoon, that means it’s not in the morning – so we went over in the morning.

Gemini Springs Park does have a pretty good size spring pumping out water and then flowing into Lake Monroe. No swimming is allowed at this spring until further notice per the website.  In looking further into this, it appears that the springs closed about 10 years ago because of “high levels of enterococci, a natural contaminant”.

You can see fish swimming around through the clear water.
 

On the other side of the bridge, there were a very large number of yellow-bellied turtles.  They were fun to watch as the water was pretty clear here also.  Soon, I found out that those turtles were busy too – must be that time of year. 

Soon they will be making the trek to land, digging holes and laying eggs too.

While we talked to another person that Jim met on the fishing dock, a hawk flew to a nearby palm tree (and I was off to take photos while they chatted).

I think the hawk has now spotted me with a little more interest than when i was further away - but didn't leave.

MAP

To view all the photographs from this stop, click here.