Kate's Fish Camp

Very convenient campground off the 20. Super nice owners. They are very accommodating to late comers as they live on the property. The campground has several spots, even for bigger RVs. Amenities include bathroom, outdoor shower, and inexpensive boat rentals. A total bonus is when you check in you get free soap samples! They operate a soap making business on the property. All products are organic and made with essential oils and coconut oil. They have soap, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, oils, etc. Truly amazing products! With the campground being off the 20, there is some traffic noise. Wonderful little campground. We will definitely stop here again in the future!

This campground is easily a two-star as well as a four-star depending on the mosquito (and other bugs) quotient. Our visit at the end of March fortunately proved to be mosquito-light. The campsites are not numbered and sit low but relatively level. The ground can be damp and even wet as they all are within sight of Prairie Creek which leads up to Newnan’s Lake from one direction and down to Paynes Prairie in the other. We were told canoe rentals are free with a campsite reservation. There are just a handful of 50 amp and 30 amp connections with water. The rest of the sites are primitive or perhaps connected via 20 amp with extension cord. There is no available on-site dump station. But there is a single coed bathroom and a one-stall outdoor shower. The hot water certainly is robust and plentiful. Reservations to camp here cannot be made online, but the on-site family-owned natural soap-making business allows for timely answers and accommodating service. Their homemade soap is top drawer. There are really no restaurants nearby or grocery stores. Traffic in Gainesville is generally too busy for its small size, and makes getting around this college town a bit disagreeable. Best to bring what you need with you to Kate’s Fish Camp and plan your stay around how long your gray and black water tanks can hold out. If a longer stay is desired Kate’s website states there is a dump station six miles away.

Kate’s Fish Camp is conveniently located on State Road 20 and the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail which is part of the Rails to Trails system. The paved trail stretches 16 miles from the city of Gainesville's Boulware Springs Park through the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and other local and state conservation lands. This bike trail alone makes for a great experience as Paynes Prairie is a wonder to behold. We love running Bob the dog on safe and beautiful trails through the woods. We rode Bob the dog about four miles our first morning and then we rode by ourselves about eleven miles through the most beautiful Florida hammock and Prairie Preserve. The overlook spurs along the trail are breathtaking. So much nature to see in this part of Florida, as well as great little charming towns like Micanopy.

We loved so many things about this rustic campground, with access to the 15+ mile paved Gainesville-Hawthorne trail being chief amongst them.

This campground really isn't built for rigs our size (40'), but we were welcomed none-the-less. If you're a big rig and are cool with weirdly spaced trees (this is a natural place!) and unevenly dispersed gravel, you'll be fine. We went slow, thought out our entry and exit plans, and parked in a great spot with our front windshield looking-out to a 'creek' and foliage.

The campground is pretty rough - in the *best* sense of that word. It's clean, and the owners don't allow long-term residents (a 'flexible' two week limit is imposed). The sites are not laid out overly thoughtfully - but the campground owners are so cool with you choosing a position that works for YOU to get access to 30A or 50A and water hook-ups - or not, if you prefer dry camping. Sites are not terribly level, so that comes into play when positioning yourself. We didn't have difficulty getting level in the area we chose.

We arrived when only one other rig was in the campground, so we had plenty of choice. However, if you arrive when there are 3-4 rigs already parked, you will be more limited. If you are large, *definitely* call ahead so Monica knows you're coming and can be realistic with your about whether they have room or not.

If you are a tent camper there are some really lovely spots further back on the property that are away from self-contained rigs and give tons of privacy and 'wild'.

An outdoor shower (which we LOVED - as it provided fresh air, high pressured, hot water, and Monica's handmade soap!) and a bathroom are provided by the campground.

The trees may not be optimally spaced for supporting multiple large rigs in the campground at once... but they are optimally spaced for hammock hanging.

Verizon provided usable service (data and voice), and we picked up ~14 decent OTA channels.

The drawbacks - this is a campground, so come expecting a rustic feel (we viewed this positively, but can definitely see how others may be thrown off). Kind of like wild camping - except you have access to electric and water! There is road noise. It does calm down at night, but kicks back up around 6am. The price... is pretty steep for what you get *if* you are a rig our size. They charge by rig length - so we were paying $35/night. We don't use AC much, or a lot of water, since there is *no dump station*. Which is another big drawback - you have unlimited (hard) water... but there is no dump station. Closest dump is at the Love's about 15 minutes away.

Overall, we loved it at Kate's.

Never camped here, but I live nearby and drive by often. They have been closed for the last few months due to Covid. Cell service should be fine as I don’t have a problem calling from my car on SR 20. Just outside the town of Gainesville and 15 minutes from a Walmart.

I had a reservation earlier this year, before this campground was shut down for COVID and my reservation was cancelled. I needed an RV repair at Gainesville’s Sunshine State RV so I tried Kate’s again. They are open for fully contained camping only.

The owner said I didn’t need a reservation and sure enough, I pulled in this lush landscape totally clear of other campers. I had the whole place to myself. The owners, a nice couple, were in their house and told me I could pick any spot, set up, and then call with my credit card info. The sites had electric and water, no sewer. There were picnic tables and barbecue stands near the spots. Verizon signal was strong, although I forgot to check the bars so I guessed on this review. Cost was $25.

The foliage near the entrance and the buildings was more ornamental. The camp ground was a stand of trees including sprawling mature live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. The entire area was covered with shade from the trees but a light glowed from the lake area, a short walk away, where a few convivial young men fished from their boat.

The owner’s were Monica and Mike. Monica has a business making handmade soap and she left three sumptuous samples in a bag from me next to their closed store. I continued on under the bridge and which leads to trails and boardwalks from Pines Prairie State Creak.

The sounds of birds and hum of crickets were soothing. The campground is a couple hundred feet from the road so in the daytime there is a bit of road noise.

Looks like a great place for kyacking and fishing. And for me, great for taking in the Florida, swampy vibe and shooting some photos

I really liked this place, very foresty, lots of trees, the sites are kind of all scattered around near each other. Even though there is power and water for most sites, it's hard to tell where the sites are, which is kind of cool. You kind of find a spot and squeeze in between the trees.

But oh man, the mosquitoes! I don't know if it was the time of year (mid October) or the weather that particular day, but we were completely attacked and swarmed by them every time we dared step foot out of the rv. Even with bug spray and long sleeves and pants. I wanted to explore the area more but didn't hardly leave the rv because of them.

Very nice owners, nice that they are taking covid seriously, it's a contactless check in. No dump station. You need to be self contained as bathroom and showers are closed right now. It's right off the road so you can hear the cars, but it's not bad.

I'd stay here again later in the year when there are fewer mosquitoes.

The owners are very nice and meet you with a cute little welcome gift on arrival. This is a jumble of spots deep in the trees with power and water. They have brought in gravel to build up narrow roads and site pads through and in the swamp. It rained our final night there and our RV became an island in a swamp. The gravel held up well so we could drive out, but disconnecting power and water took place in 4” of smelly swamp water. Trees are very thick so no satellite, but we had CBS, Fox and ABC via OTA.

The Hawthorne-Gainesville rails to trails path runs for 18 miles and is only 100 yards from camp. Very nice for strolling or bike rides. We saw two wild turkeys walk through camp and there are loads of birds, frogs and very colorful and industrious spiders. Our neighbors thought they saw baby alligators in the bordering creek.

Accessibility to Gainesville is easy on good roads. We had bad luck getting either a Lyft or Uber and resorted to riding our motorcycle to The Swamp for the football game. Plan accordingly because it seems Kate’s is just far enough away to not draw car services.

Beware, the restroom is a single toilet. Hope you are small person. The shower is outside. Think beach without the sand, sun or fun. Place could be as advertised with a little work.

we stayed 4 nights. People were very nice. A lot of trees very quite good WiFi and great fishing spot. We will differently be back. Thanks

I called to book a overnight stay as I’m a travel nurse heading to Florida from Oklahoma. I called and spoke with a male who told me it would be $40. Then a female took over. She seemed very put out by even having to speak with me. The entire conversation she was huffing each time I gave her information she requested. She ran my card and then told me it was $58.38. Never once did she say a different price then the man told me. AFTER she ran my card and told me the price I told her to cancel it. She was extremely hateful and hung up on me. I would NEVER staff here and will let all my fellow travel nurses know to stay clear of this place!