Agency-listedSt. Johns River WMDFree
Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
Drive-up · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL · 29.67188, -81.75691
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →St. Johns River Water Management District lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter is a designated primitive campsite on St. Johns River Water Management District land in Putnam County, and it costs nothing. That is the District's own word for it: "Campsites are available to individuals or groups and are free of charge." The legal basis is Rule 40C-9.300 of the Florida Administrative Code, which authorises primitive camping on District Lands in designated sites and sets the only hard limit - seven continuous days, and 30 days a year on any one property. You must book it first, and you must do it at least 48 hours ahead - before 1 p.m. two days before you arrive - through the District's online reservation system. There is no walk-up. Drive-in sites also need a vehicle permit on the dashboard of every car, with plate numbers given when you book, and you are responsible for shutting and locking the gate behind you. Now the honest part. Tents only. RVs, trailers and truck campers are prohibited outright, and so is dispersed camping - you camp on the numbered site or not at all. Assume no drinking water: the District mentions only a non-potable pitcher pump at some drive-in sites, and this campsite layer records no water at all, so carry every drop. Pack your rubbish out, there are no bins. Fires go in the existing ring and nowhere else, you may collect deadfall off the ground but may not cut a standing tree dead or alive, and local burn bans override all of that. The one thing most likely to spoil your trip is a prescribed burn or a timber operation - the District says plainly that land management takes precedence over camping - so check its recreation announcements page before you commit to the drive. The nearest town is Palatka, roughly 5.2 miles away in a straight line - the drive is longer, and on some of these approaches a good deal longer. Questions go to the Bureau of Land Resources on (386) 329-4401.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 17 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelterNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- OOutfitter5 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- WWater16 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- DDump22 mi
- ShShower22 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- PPropane40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
Access
Drive-up
Land
St. Johns River Water Management District
Elevation
17 ft
Ground slope
0.9% · flat
Nearest rail line
~4.4 mi · other track
State
FL
Coordinates
29.67188, -81.75691
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRice Creek Swamp · ~0.2 mi · USGS: swamp or marsh, no flow class
- Nearest townPalatka · ~5.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.4 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelBP · ~4.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.6 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~5.1 mi
- PharmacyNorth Florida Pharmacy · ~18.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicHastings Medical Clinic · ~15.1 mi
- HardwareLowe's · ~5.1 mi
EV charging — from Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.4 mi straight-line E — Krystals, Palatka, FL (at a restaurant) · FPLEV · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-09-12 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 78 within 50 · 296 within 100 · 491 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO26.5 mi — Subway, Waldo
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.7 mi — FPL EVOLUTION STJOHNS 2, Palatka, FL · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.30 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 420588 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRodman Th · ~12.3 mi S · USFS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~14.5 mi S · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~14.5 mi S · FWS
- Vault / pit toiletDelancy Loops Th · ~15.7 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter · St. Johns River Water Management District · FL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rice Creek Swamp as a swamp or marsh (no flow class in the record), ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.9% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~4.4 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter elsewhere
Other camps near Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Murphy Creek Conservation Area group campsite~8.1 mi
- Dunns Creek Conservation Area group campsite~13.7 mi
- Davenport Landing~13.7 mi
- Davenport Landing~13.8 mi
Who holds the land at Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Rice Creek Conservation Area, manager on record: St. Johns River Water Management District (district). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
Fire rules
Always use designated campfire rings for fires and obey local burn bans.
Stay limit
7 nights (no greater than seven continuous days)
Permit
Campsite reservations may be made up to 90 days in advance and must be made at least 48 hours in advance (before 1 p.m. two days prior to the desired arrival date) through the online reservation system. Campsites are available to individuals or groups and are free of charge. Vehicle permits must be displayed on the dashboards of all vehicles in the campsite.
Area rules
Only primitive tent camping is allowed on District lands and only at designated locations. Dispersed camping is prohibited. RVs, trailers, truck or van campers are prohibited. Firewood may be collected from the ground. Do not cut any standing trees, dead or alive. Carry out all trash and pet waste with you when you leave. There are no trash receptacles onsite. Land management activities, such as prescribed burns, project construction and timber thinning operations, take precedence over camping and recreational use of our properties.
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FREE by the agency's own published statement plus binding rule. SJRWMD camping page (https://www.sjrwmd.com/lands/recreation/camping/), downloaded raw this fire and string-matched locally: "Campsites are available to individuals or groups and are free of charge" and "Camping on District lands is governed by Chapter 40C-9.300, Florida Administrative Code." The rule text itself was downloaded this fire from flrules.org (https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=40C-9.300): 40C-9.300 allows primitive camping on District Lands "only in designated camping sites" and creates no fee. STAY LIMIT: "no greater than seven continuous days or 30 total days per year per District Land" (40C-9.300(5)); the camping page repeats it as "a maximum of 7 consecutive days and annual maximum of 30 days on any property." RESERVATION: required and free. "Campsite reservations may be made up to 90 days in advance and must be made at least 48 hours in advance (before 1 p.m. two days prior to the desired arrival date)." The District does not say on the camping page whether THIS particular site is drive-in or hike-in, so camp_type is left NULL rather than guessed - confirm when you book. TENTS ONLY: "Only primitive tent camping is allowed. RVs, trailers, truck or van campers are prohibited." "Dispersed camping is prohibited" - hence dispersed=0. NOT A PARTNERSHIP PROPERTY: checked against SJRWMD's own partnership list (https://www.sjrwmd.com/lands/recreation/partnership/) and the partner-managed block on the camping page. Caravelle Ranch WMA, Lake Norris CA, Ralph E. Simmons/Tiger Bay/Jennings State Forests and Lake George FOREST are run by FWC, the Lake County Water Authority and the Florida Forest Service and were all excluded from this ingest; Lake George CONSERVATION AREA is a different, District-run property and was kept. SEASONAL/FIRE: no seasonal closure is published for District camping, but the page warns that "land management activities, such as prescribed burns, project construction and timber thinning operations, take precedence over camping" and sites can shut at short notice - check the District's recreation announcements page before you drive. Fires only in designated campfire rings, and "obey local burn bans"; firewood may be collected from the ground, no cutting of standing trees dead or alive. COORDINATE: the District's OWN mapped campsite point, pulled live this fire from services.arcgis.com/s8wtJX9suxFen6TA/.../Management_Area_Campsite/FeatureServer/0 ("Mapped public recreational campsites located on District lands"), outSR=4326. Layer attributes: management area "Rice Creek Conservation Area", designation "Individual Site with Shelter", county Putnam. WATER: the campsite layer has no water column, so none is claimed here. The camping page says only that SOME drive-in sites have "a non-potable water pitcher pump." Assume none, carry your own, and do not treat any surface water here as drinkable. NEAREST TOWN: Palatka, about 5.2 mi in a straight line (US Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer place internal point). STRAIGHT-LINE, NOT DRIVING DISTANCE. Ingest 2026-08-16 10:52:36 (fire 800, FL thin-state fill). | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Rice Creek Conservation Area individual site with shelter
Finding water out here →Hot-weather camping →Bugs & critters →Reading your camp page →All field notes →