Arcadia Peace River Campground

We're Floridian tent primitive winter campers. We wanted to get away from the Urban sprawl of where we live in Jacksonville and head south after Christmas to escape the Arctic blast of freezing temps we were going to receive the following week. Using Campendium, we called every place south of the freezing zone (south of Sarasota to Okeechobee) both free and pay. Due to the holiday season we ended up having the worst time getting reservations. One thing we noticed in Florida the past year is that it's becoming more difficult to find any available campsites. We call weeks ahead of our camping dates and/or emailing to get into places that have not been reviewed on Campendium but got no feedback or it came too late. Some phone numbers were answered by people who knew nothing or was asked to call back days later when the right person would be back at work (this again was during holiday time). Long story short, Florida camping during the holidays is NOT worth it unless you KNOW the place your going to be at is a place you've been to before and know you're in the clear of my next paragraph.

Peace River Campground was, and I'm going to try and be nice because it was after Christmas and into New Year, a place specifically for 4 wheel ATVs, golf carts with flames on the side, camoflauge, bubba trucks and motorcycles...ALL of which are muffled with the loudest, noisiest pipes money can buy and lit up with NASA approved space shuttle LED lights guaranteed to be seen from space. This does not include the ones that can be heard blasting their 300 watt stereos playing music from the hood or the worst country music imaginable. Active hours are from 8am to 10pm but this doesn't mean anything because primitive or not your site will be visited by every gas guzzler I've mentioned over an over again! Quiet hours begin at 10pm but you might as well say midnight because security is as good as Barney Fife's pistol loaded with no ammo. It doesn't exist. We called the front office every night we were there only to get an answering machine. Did I tell you that we actually saw a family shooting rifles at the wildlife from their ATVs? Yep! Right near our campsite!!
Up front where the office is, it's a dirt parking lot. Depending on when you arrive (weekends and holidays) it can be chaos like a Walmart parking lot; ATVs, golf carts, 4wheel drive bubba trucks, trailers, and more! On dry, rainless days they wet the roads but only the front (this is the ONLY part an RV or 5th wheeler should go!) because the roads are flatter with soft sand. Once you leave the main part of the park toward the back where the primitive area is, it becomes deeper, softer beach sand, hilly, bumpy with ATV type pathways and if it's wet, deemed for getting your camper stuck. Don't worry, tractors, 4 wheel drive trucks and ATVs are everywhere to get you out!
Primitive sites are hard to describe because they become a mix between ATV trails, bulldozed scrub and trees and what could be the natural state of the woods? You can set up next to Peace River but you will end up either fighting with mosquitoes, shooing away those pesky ATVs and trucks, or more importantly, the alligators. Yep, they are in the waterways and pics are posted.

This place has history. Dinosaur bones and fossils have been discovered here. Sharks teeth of the Megalodon and even whales are on display in the front office, which by the way, will be torn down soon and rebuilt on an 8 foot high still type foundation due to the campground being literally in a flood zone. Build higher or no insurance was the word. Staff were friendly and understanding, very busy (stressing during weekends and holidays). There are activities from from breakfast/lunch type meals (for a price) to basketball, swimming pool, largest dog park in the world (NO cleanup!) basketball, small animal zoo and ATVs!.
Wifi exists but at a cost. Data on phone is necessary but good coverage. Free WiFi is in Arcadia a few miles away at McDs, Dunkin Donuts and Walmart. Store has plenty of stuff to buy and/repair stuff if necessary. They have golf carts and canoe rental but the launch site can be as fun to figure out as trying to figure out which is a primitive camp spot or an ATV trail. Trees are plenty, openings are plenty for sunshine and the locals with mobile homes sporadically dot the area and it blends in with the campers (class A's and others) which were practically on top of each other. Don't ask me why but not all RV sites have sewer and depending on how busy they are, you will have to face your neighbors because of the square design of some sites.

In conclusion, we would have only stayed for just the weekend and gone elsewhere but the truth is, any place south of the freeze zone line described above was completely booked. We stayed for a week and for the price I have to say it was expensive for camping 100% primitively. Outside the park, Arcadia is a few miles away and Walmart seems to be the local grocery store Starbucks, Panera, and family reunion location free with WiFi and all the fixin's. Everything camoflauge is on sale!

Frodnew's review has the correct details. I found another campground ( cleaner and quieter) a few miles away. Too much ATV noise and I prefer less dirt and sand. I am done with living in mud as I spent 20 years experiencing in my previous employment. Lots of shade, lots of dirt and sand. Really nice muddin adventure during rainy season.

I should rate noise a 5, since it was really noisy with ATVs. Redneck heaven.

Great family fun place. Always active! However if you do not have a 4 wheeler you are not going to enjoy it as much as others. Dusty, but not dirty. Not a sign of trash anywhere!

Camped here for the weekend. It’s not exactly a quite get a way because it’s a buggy trail park. Quite time for the buggies is 10pm and for the most part people were respectful. The place had endless trails, playground for the kids, fishing, fossils, canoeing, pool, animals etc.. We enjoyed our selves. Will go again but next time try to get off the main strip.

I didn't know what to expect when I signed up to stay here with my Florida family. I had a really great time. All the ATVers were courteous on the trails. Although I heard someone really messed up one of the nice bathrooms. The bathroom didn't have hot water when I went, so I used my own shower. Easy. The trails were plentiful. There were golf carts to rent, probably other things as well, I didn't know because my nephew rented the golf cart. The really great thing is the multi-trailer pads. We had a pad for three, but only used two. There was central fire pit and some trees in the middle. I will be back.