Rainbow Springs State Park Campground

Firstly, ne'er let it be said that all spots were created equally. I think Thomas Jefferson was the first to come up with that quote when signing the Declaration of State Park Camping when he purchased the Louisiana portion of Florida. Facts people, dig them.

Anyway, spot #51. Lets get serious here, review time.

Spot #51 is huge. It's completely enclosed by trees save the part you pull your rig into (or rather, back into). The rest of the park is more or less open, almost back to back spots. So if you can grab it, go 51.

Otherwise, the campground portion of the state park is just oh-so. The real draw requires a 1.5 mile paddle upstream or a short drive to see the Rainbow Springs headsprings. The paddle up this pristine river promises some of the clearest water you will ever see, Lake Tahoe clear, freshly washed French doors glass that you run into on accident clear. Watch schools of fish race your kayak as you paddle up or float down this calm river.

To the one side humans and their cute little riverfront houses, old pontoon boats and personal paradises line the river. To the other, the state park's forest of live oak and pine, hickory and the occasional palm allow you to feel completely surrounded by nature. Typical of Florida, the amount of birds and turtles to be seen is impressive to say the least. We saw no alligators, though the possibility is there.

If you decide to kayak the river but don't have your own gear, look up Rainbow River Canoe & Kayak, friendliest people you'll ever trade money for flotation with. You might also be interested in stopping in at Swampy's, which you can pull right up to on a kayak or just dip over to after you've returned your vessel, for excellent margaritas on a relaxing deck. Watch as the slower kayakers rush to return their gear in time and know that your drunkenness will exceed there own by hours!

This is an awesome Florida state park from the ranger to the river to the campsites.

The day use area and the campground are in two separate locations, about 6 miles away by road. We were lead to the day use area by our GPS but they have detailed directions posted on the gate on how to get to the state park just in case.

We were in site 24 which was completely surrounded by vegetation and huge! Any of the sites on the outside of the loop between 6 and 26 were pretty private with no one behind you. We did not have reservations in November and the very helpful ranger gave us a list of open sites and recommendations and let us drive around to choose a site.

The bathrooms are new and clean and there are washers and dryers available. All sites are full hook-up.

There are a couple trails which were useful for a dog walk. There is a launch for kayaks and swim area in the campground area but dogs aren't allowed to swim in the spring (and attract alligators according to the ranger). It was very low season so no tubing was available but we called up Aquatic Wilderness Adventures to rent a kayak. They shuttled us and the kayaks up to the camp area to put in. The day use area does have a concessionaire for kayaks but they didn't offer shuttle service this time of year and we didn't feel like paddling back up the river. A visit to the day use area is worth it as well, and no extra charge for campers, just bring the receipt that the ranger will give you.

Cell service was strong and reliable.

Note: The campground is NOT in the State Park. Its about 8 miles away, and although we had the correct address, our GPS did not take us there. If you feel you might not be heading in the right direction, definitely call the park for directions!

The campground is beautiful – but I would definitely recommend getting a site on the outer edge of the loop – they’re totally enclosed and really big. Basically anything from #12-#21 are more private – we were in #16, a full hook-up spot for $30/night. Unfortunately, these are also the farthest from the boat/kayak ramp, but they have dollies to help you get your equipment from Point A to Point B. Each has a picnic table, a fire pit and a close-line to hang all your wet things.

Rainbow Spring is Florida’s 4th largest spring – the water is completely clear and shallow – perfect for snorkeling and kayaking and paddleboarding. There are no motors allowed on this area of the river so it’s an incredibly quiet and peaceful 1.5 (ish) mile cruise to the headspring. If you don't have a kayak or canoe, you can rent one from the park -- they're right at the boat launch.

We chose this park because of the access to tubing on Rainbow River in the clear fresh water. This park had kayak's and canoe's for rent, a swimming area in the river, and tube rentals with a tram ride back when you're done for $15.00 per person. If you have your own floats, you can always just buy one pass and that person can go get the car to pickup up the rest of the group when the float is done (2 hours). Even better, if you have two cars, take one down the road to the end of the float early (the lot gets full quickly) and park it there for when you're done. With your camping fees, you get access to the end parking lot as well as the headwaters included. There are hiking trails and we even had one right out of the back of our site. The sites are mostly private thanks to the vegetation and are very roomy. When we were there, they were between camp hosts so the hours they were open were not reliable.

Large, private sites with level gravel pads. The outer loop sites are wooded and shaded and the inner loop sites are sparsely shaded. Quiet and has a swimming area on the river within walking distance from the campsites. The spring head area is separate from the campground, about 5 miles away, and on the other side of the river. It has a great swimming area, gift shop, concession stand, and rental tubes, kayaks, and canoes for on the river. Take your camping pass with you, otherwise it is a $2.00 fee to get in. The campground is a little lacking in maintenance and the bathrooms are not pristine but are okay. The price we paid is reflective of our Florida Resident Senior rate. When we were there, the bottom keypad for the entrance gate to the campground was not working but we realized that the upper keypad did work. Full- hookups.

Verizon 4G 1 bar but with booster - 3 bars
Verizon 3G 2 bars but with booster - 4 bars

I stayed 2 nights at Rainbow Springs Campground in March of 2013 and although it wasn't too bad for tent camping, I felt it was really better for RV's because many sites were in full sun and there isn't much privacy (especially on the inner circle). I'm giving it a 4 for noise only because we could hear the generators of the RVs and some dogs parking, but this would be no problem if we too were in an RV. :)

The state park is beautiful, as is the rainbow river. Check out my blog for some pretty cool photos and an underwater video: http://lorigriff.in/rainbow-springs-camping-trip-march-2013/

This is a pretty nice campground, with decently spaced level sites. Some sites (like ours) were mostly open with no trees or privacy, while some others were heavily wooded and you can't see your neighbor. If you're visiting for tubing down the river you'll find this a great place to stay. However we found the campground to be a bit far from stores and restaurants. We also usually had no AT&T signal, and Verizon had 1-2 bars and was very slow in the evenings. There are several trails around the campground that were good for dog walks, but our dog did step on several stickers/goatheads. We had full hookups which was nice, so we didn't check out the showers. We were able to receive mail and packages during our stay - this seems to be common at FL state parks which we very much appreciate. Given the poor cell signal and distance from stores, we probably won't return, but if those drawbacks don't bother you, it's still a nice place to stay.

This is a great park n Dunnellon, Florida with easy access to the Rainbow River. The sites are large and level on hard packed sand There is a mixture of some sites that have heavy vegetation covered by trees and some that are more open. The facilities are all very clean and in good condition. The have a laundry room with multiple machines and a pool table here. There are hiking trails in the park but just up the road a few miles is a large park called Blue Run of Dunnellon if you want more hiking and biking opportunities.
The river is gorgeous so get out your kayak or boat and enjoy a day on the lazy river. The water is clear in some spots and warm due to the spring that feeds into it.
The rangers were very nice and the power was strong 50 amps. Some sites also have sewer connections. There's a walmart super center about 15 minutes away. There are fun restaurants and plenty of activities nearby like boat rentals, water taxis etc.
OTA channels were decent. ATT hotspot was weak at 2.5 d/l but Verizon was good at 24 d/l.
I was able to get ATT up to 6 d/l with the weboost booster.I did not try T mobile.

Nice park. Spring head waters is several miles away. Camp stay gets free entrance to Springs. Full hookups. My iPhone 8 had one bar on T-Mobile, streamed YouTube TV with no problems. Wife’s iPhone 6 Plus had intermittent coverage.

Spacious sites, beautiful scenery. Make sure you drive over to the headlands entrance and explore around there too- it’s beautiful and there’s some nice trails.

Cell service is Okay but not great. Good enough for web browsing and streaming Netflix but upload speeds are terrible on both Verizon and AT&T even with our booster.