Camping Trip: Cypress Creek

Back in the middle of January, we embarked on our first camping trip of the year at Cypress Creek. Gary discovered last year that a number of the Southwest Florida Water Management District's lands allow camping for free. And so we read up on a few places and decided to book a campsite at Cypress Creek.

Today's picture is courtesy of Daddy..

There were only six campsites at Cypress Creek, but they were spaced out well. As much open land as was in the area, we were surprised that there weren't more campsites. Rather than assigning a specific campsite, you are free to chose any of the six that are open when you arrive. One disappointment was that only one of the fire rings had it's grill piece, the others (including ours) were broken, which made cooking a little bit of a challenge. These sites typically don't have shower houses, but there was a nice and very clean porta potty on the premises.

As soon as we arrived (a bit after 3), we put up the tent and the kids went to scourer for firewood. Britt, with the axe that Santa left with his stocking, eagerly found some good size wood to chop up for the fire and two fairly similar pieces that he cut long to give Gary something to place his pans across for cooking supper. It was a cool evening but not unbearable. (However, don't ask how many blankets and coats I had on that night in bed.) We didn't have any trouble with mosquitos. It was a beautiful afternoon... until Ruth said she was glad it wasn't raining. Of course that meant rain and a cold front moved in over night. Our tent is a triangular tent, one of the corners didn't get secured all the way down, and during the night rain drizzled in on Ruth. Her daddy told her it served her right for jinking our trip.

The next morning we drove over to the lake a few miles away and while Gary and a couple of the kids went fishing, me, Britt, and the littles took a walk around the lake trail. It was a peaceful little area. We only stayed for the one night, so after a little while we headed back to pack up before heading out.

We really enjoyed this little campground. It's really well maintained and quiet, kind of ironic since they are building houses all around the Southwest Florida Water Management District property. If you'd like to make a trip, it is easy to make an online reservation. The address to Cypress Creek Campground is 5550 Parkway Boulevard, Land O' Lakes, Florida. The campground is only open after 6 by a code that you receive when booking your campsite.