Camping at Tomoka State Park, Ormond Beach, Florida

Heading to the east coast of Florida – we are on our way to Tomoka State Park located in Ormond Beach, Florida.  This is a large park covering 2000 acres.  There are a LOT of campsites here, at least 100 because when we drove around, we found that we liked campsite 100.  The park is situated along the Tomoka River just a few miles from the beach.

Park Details

Address: 2099 N Beach St, Ormond Beach, FL 32174

Phone: (386) 676-4050

Open 8am until sunset

Note this sign was across the street from the entrance to the park and campground.

Campsite Details

We stayed in campsite #60.  Our particular campsite was not our favorite, but was available when we needed a spot to camp.  Things we liked about it:

• It was a decent size for us and our rig
• It was partially shaded
• It had a nice amount of space front/back

Things we didn't like about it:

• it was not level; our picnic table wasn't level which made grilling a little fun
• our picnic table was 'behind' our camper (not on the door side)
• there was a trail and opening to the neighboring campsite (which could be good if you know the people)
• it's a long somewhat soft dirt bumpy road to this site

Water/Electric (has dump station)

30 / 50 amp

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

Back in sites

Shade/Sun, dirt/sand

Bathrooms/showers

Check-in is 3pm

Checkout is 1pm

Quiet hours from 11pm till 7am

Verizon cell service was good

Our picnic table is behind the truck.

First Walk

Our first walk after setting up camp was around a small portion of the campground.  We walked to the nearest bath house and then came back.  Later that day, we drove around to check out the park and found Tomoka River.  We found the area that most people fish (no one else in this area).  Abby took a few minutes to wade into the water and cool off.

There is a portion of the park that is frequented by those fishing - or Abby wading....

Then we headed over to the camp store.  The camp store closes at 5pm, it’s after 6pm now and unfortunately for us is closed on Wednesday, so we did not get to check this out during our stay.  The sign about having a beer did look inviting!  The camp store is open every day (except Wednesday) from 9am till 5pm.

It's almost cruel to tell Jim that you have boiled pnuts and the store is closed :(

Our last stop was to view the Tomoka Indian statue which resides on the opposite end of the park from the campground.  Jim had me posing like the Indian.

Dog friendly park – Bailey Riverbridge Gardens Park

Always looking to check out new things, we headed into town and found Bailey Riverbridge Gardens Park which is dog friendly.

Very nice statue of the violin player right down to the money in the case at his feet.

Around the back side of this building is the bridge and walkway.  Several people were fishing along the walkway.

Dog friendly portion of Ormond Beach

The dogs had some fun walking along the beach and then checking out the waves with Jim while I took some photographs.

This section of the beach you can pay to drive your car onto it if you'd like.  We weren't planning to stay a long time, so we opted not to.

And they are headed to the water.  I was surprised how playful Rue and Ollie got once they had gotten a little wet from the saltwater.  I think they enjoyed it.  If you click the link to view all the photographs, you'll find a video of the dogs on the beach waterfront.

Ormond Beach scenic drive

The Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail goes right past Tomoka State Park.  Since it was a warm afternoon, we decided that might be something to do while we enjoyed the truck's air conditioning.

On parts of this scenic loop there is a tree canopy covering the road.

There is an area you can pull off to view the ocean. No dogs allowed, so we let them stay in the air conditioning of the truck.

A large group of pelicans flew by.

In one area, the marsh is very close to the road.  I suspect that a rain with a good amount would put the road under.  There are signs that indicate this does happen.
 

Bulow Creek State Park

Our last morning we decided to go check out the “Fairchild Oak” that is at Bulow Creek State Park. 

This park is about 5 minutes from Tomoka State Park – just up the road a little bit.  The Fairchild Oak is a very old oak tree that is named after Dr. David Fairchild.  The tree is said to be between 400-600 years old.  Think about all the things this tree has lived through – all the hurricanes, storms, droughts, you name it.  And the zillions of people that have stopped to have their photograph taken in front of it!  FYI - If you are here in the morning, you'll have the sun behind this large oak tree (i.e. you're shooting into the sun).  This tree is over 70 feet tall with branches spreading over 300 feet wide.  On December 11, 1955 this tree was renamed to the "Fairchild Oak" after the botanist who admired and visited this large live oak.

Here's the gang, hopefully it gives you an idea how big this tree is!

There are several trails at this park if you want to get some hiking in.

We returned to Tomoka State Park to get ready for packing up to head to our last stop on this trip to find that the park was temporarily closed.  Apparently they had found what they thought was a gas leak and the fire department was there.  So, we couldn’t get back in.  We left to go find someplace to hang out and ended up at Holly Hill Sunrise Park. Just hanging out, relaxing at a picnic table.  A marsh rabbit came out for breakfast, I took a few photographs and then the dogs noticed. 

I called the park, all was clear and we headed back to the campground.  Jim said it looked like they had dug up a very large, old propane tank by the bath house closest to our campsite.  Anyway, we packed up and headed on our way to our last stop, Lake Monroe Park in DeBary, Florida.

That's it for this camping stop.

MAPS

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