Agency-listedSouthwest Florida WMDFree
Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
Drive-up · Southwest Florida Water Management District · FL · 28.11888, -82.29500
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 →Southwest Florida 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.
Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) is a designated campsite on Southwest Florida Water Management District land, and the price is zero. The District's camping page puts it in one sentence: "Camping is allowed in designated campsites only and requires a free reservation." Free, but not casual - you need a valid permit or Special Use Authorization in hand BEFORE you arrive, the reservation has to be made no later than the day before your permit starts, and you may hold only two at a time. Stay is capped at seven consecutive days and 30 days per calendar year; you may arrive no earlier than 3 p.m. and must be gone by 11 a.m. on your last day. This one takes horses, and horse trailers may be driven in. Non-equestrian campers are welcome too. Built-in generators are allowed at equestrian sites only, and only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Do not tether a horse to a tree, and spread the manure before you leave. The honest part: there are no trash receptacles anywhere in these campgrounds, so everything you carry in comes back out with you. Fires only in the fire rings, firewood off the ground, never off a standing tree. Quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Where the District does provide water it calls it nonpotable - do not drink it untreated. And check the District's closure list first; on the day we pulled this record its camping page was flagging a closed recreation site. The nearest town is Pebble Creek, roughly 4.1 miles away in a straight line - the drive is longer, and on some of these approaches a good deal longer.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 38 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)NIFC · 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 Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) · Southwest Florida 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
- WWater1 mi
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- MMechanic2 mi
- RxPharmacy3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- DDump4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- EVEV fast charger4 mi
- +Urgent care5 mi
- PPropane8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- AAir-up9 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- ShShower16 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
Access
Drive-up
Land
Southwest Florida Water Management District
Elevation
38 ft
Ground slope
0.5% · flat
Nearest rail line
~8.9 mi · other track
Nearest highway
~4.1 mi · Interstate 75
State
FL
Coordinates
28.11888, -82.29500
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) · Southwest Florida Water Management District · FL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townWesley Chapel · ~6.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.9 mi · other track
- Nearest highway~4.1 mi · Interstate 75
- Drinking waterWater · ~1.3 mi
- FuelMobil · ~1.7 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~7.8 mi
- Dump station~3.9 mi
- GroceriesMobil Mart · ~1.7 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~2.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicBay Care Healing Center · ~4.7 mi
- HardwareThe Home Depot · ~4.3 mi
EV charging — from Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) · Southwest Florida Water Management District · FL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger4.4 mi straight-line W — Walk at Highwoods Preserve (Tampa, FL) · Electrify America · CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach77 within 25 mi · 166 within 50 · 384 within 100 · 551 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)5.1 mi — 7Charge - Tampa 33019, Tampa
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO5.3 mi — Octt Cert Lab, Temple Terrace
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.2 mi — LEASING OFFICE, Tampa, FL · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- 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 170667 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) · Southwest Florida Water Management District · FL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaWeigh Station · ~7.1 mi S
- Highway rest areaWeigh Station · ~7.4 mi S
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 37 · ~8.1 mi NW
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 36 · ~8.1 mi NW
Coming out here — Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) · Southwest Florida Water Management District · FL
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.5% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (3 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 ~8.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~9.0 mi from the pin. 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.
- Interstate 75 is mapped ~4.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve) elsewhere
Other camps near Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Oakridge (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)~2.7 mi
- Pine Flats primitive (Cypress Creek Preserve)~11.4 mi
- Alston (Upper Hillsborough Preserve - Alston Tract)~11.4 mi
- Pine Flats (Cypress Creek Preserve)~11.7 mi
Who holds the land at Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists 2 overlapping holdings at this pin: Open Space, manager on record: Southwest Florida Water Management District (district) · Lower Hillsborough Flood Detention Area, manager on record: Southwest Florida Water Management District (district). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
Fire rules
Campfires are only permitted in fire rings.
Stay limit
7 nights (no more than seven consecutive days)
Permit
Camping is allowed in designated campsites only and requires a free reservation. A valid permit of Special Use Authorization is required before arrival. Reservations must be made no later than the day prior to the start of the camping permit. Only 2 camping reservations are allowed per family group at a time.
Area rules
Camping is allowed in designated campsites only. Arrival is at 3 p.m. on the first day of the reservation and departure is by 11 a.m. on the last day. Unauthorized buildings or structures are not permitted. Firewood should be collected from the ground; DO NOT cut any standing trees, dead or alive. To protect the natural experience for all campers, no loud music is allowed at any time. Quiet time is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. There are no trash receptacles in the campgrounds. Please ensure that all trash is carried out with you at your departure.
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. SWFWMD camping page (https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/camping), downloaded raw this fire and string-matched locally: "Camping is allowed in designated campsites only and requires a free reservation. A valid permit of Special Use Authorization is required before arrival." Reservations "must be made no later than the day prior to the start of the camping permit" and only 2 may be held per family group at a time. STAY LIMIT: "Camping is limited to no more than seven consecutive days and 30 total days per calendar year", per the District's rule-change news release (https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/about/newsroom/news/district-announces-changes-camping-rules-effective-october-1), which also sets arrival at 3 p.m. and departure by 11 a.m. and notes the District "may revoke a camping permit" for non-compliance with Chapter 40D-9, F.A.C. SITE TYPE: SWFWMD GIS records this as "Equestrian/primitive" on "Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve". camp_type is derived from the District's own definitions, not guessed: backcountry sites are "accessible only by foot or from a water body" (hike), while at primitive and equestrian sites personal vehicles and horse trailers may be driven in (drive). NOT A PARTNER SITE: SWFWMD's layer carries a PARTNERSITE column naming the outside agency that runs a campground; this row's PARTNERSITE is empty. Every row with a partner (Colt Creek State Park, Edward Medard Park, Withlacoochee River Park, Starkey, Myakka State Forest, Two Mile Prairie/Withlacoochee State Forest, Alafia River Corridor, Chassahowitzka RV) was excluded - those charge, or somebody else sets the price. SEASONAL/FIRE: the District posts closures on its recreation pages (its camping page was carrying a "1 recreation site is closed" banner on 2026-08-16) - check before you go. "Campfires are only permitted in fire rings"; firewood from the ground only, "DO NOT cut any standing trees, dead or alive"; quiet hours 10 p.m.-7 a.m.; no trash receptacles, pack it all out. COORDINATE: the District's OWN mapped campsite point, pulled live this fire from services1.arcgis.com/gdr0FcZCwx1BmrQk/.../RecreationGuide/FeatureServer/4 ("Camping Locations"), outSR=4326. NEAREST TOWN: Pebble Creek, about 4.1 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). RE-VERIFIED 2026-08-18 (night shift, FL backlog review). Re-fetched LIVE this fire: the District's own "Camping Locations" layer https://services1.arcgis.com/gdr0FcZCwx1BmrQk/arcgis/rest/services/RecreationGuide/FeatureServer/4 (59 features, no transfer limit hit) and the SWFWMD camping page https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/camping . The row's OBJECTID is still present and its coordinate still agrees to within 25 m; PARTNERSITE is still empty. The camping page still says "Camping is allowed in designated campsites only and requires a free reservation. A valid permit of Special Use Authorization is required before arrival" and still caps stays at "seven consecutive days". camp_type re-derived from the page's own live definitions -- Backcountry = "accessible only by foot or from a water body" (hike); Primitive = "Only personal vehicles are allowed in the campsites" and Equestrian = "Horse trailers may be driven into equestrian campsites" (drive) -- and it matches what the row already carried. Checked against the District's OWN recreation-site browser https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/sites (all three result pages, 69 sites): this row's property is NOT flagged "(Cooperatively Managed)" and its property page does list Camping under Site Features. Checked against the live closure list https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/closed-recreation-sites : this property is not on it. No coordinate duplicate against any published FL camp -- checked on COORDINATES, not name, against all 43 published FL rows at a 250 m threshold. DECISION: status pending -> approved.
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 Washburn (Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve)
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