Salt Spring Recreation Area Salt Spring, FL

Salt Springs Recreation Area

Campground– with 2 large camping areas with over 150 sites overall this is one of the better campgrounds we have ever visited. One campground  has complete hookups, meaning 50amp, water and sewer.  The cherry on top is that all the sites are paved!  Wifi is ok  with our booster and using our verizon jetpacks.  There are two bathhouses with 3 showers. 

The second campground area also has an equally large camping area that is primitive with only water and bear lockers and one bath house.  This area is closer to the kayak boat launch. This area does not have paved roads and can be very sandy causing some bigger vehicles to get stuck apparently.   Your campground fee does include entry into the springs, but also know that on high attendance weekends you cannot drive your car to the springs parking lot and the springs can be up to 3/4 mile away depending on your campsite. There are no laundry facilities but if you exit park and drive left there is a laundromat, local food, dollar store, bait tackle.  If you exit park and go left there will be a marathon gas station on your left- the unmarked building behind that is a small grocery store.  Across the street from this unmarked grocery story is a charming veggie/fruit stand and a food truck that serves mexican inspired food with a local flair.   Note- 6/14/2019–>As of today’s date the road in this camp area is closed and thereby limiting primitive campsite use and impacts the ability for people to drive to the boat and kayak launch in the park to drop off their water toys which means you will have to go to the Salt Springs Marina around the corner about 2 miles.

Hiking-There is a dedicated 1.5 mile trail called Bear Swamp Trail in the park that can be accessed near the primitive campground area.  This park is special because it also has a connector trail to the Florida Trail.  This Trailhead has parking   along the entrance road to the Salt Springs Marina connects to a blue-blazed 2.5 mile trail leading to the main Florida Trail.   We biked to this trail head that is located about 2 miles away on highway 19 (take a left exiting park)–>Salt spring observation loop Hike. 
There are soo many hiking opportunities in the area because of the Ocala Forrest, Florida Trail and the connectors.  Two of my favorite resources for this area are the websites Florida Hikes and the Florida Rambler.

Water Activities/Kayaking- 

Swimming in the Salt Springs-This is a natural spring area that due to the composition of minerals in the water there is a slightly salty tinge to the water.  The water in the springs are generally crystal clear and having googles and/or mask would make this more fun.  Water temperature is 72-74 degrees year around.  (We are currently here in June and our last visit was in January of this same year.)  We have enjoyed the springs both times, although we did put on our cold water swimwear.  Keith has a shorty wetsuit and I have some rash guard/thin lycra wetsuit type swimsuits I got inexpensively from Amazon/china for just dollars. However, Just a long sleeve shirt will make January swimming more comfortable.    Also- in the colder months you will see the manatees in the entrance lagoon of the salt run.

Kayaking/Fishing/Boating–  Just outside the swimming area is the “Salt Springs Run”  which flows slowly for 4.5 miles into Lake George.  This means paddling up and down the salt run is enjoyable both ways.  We have noticed that a head wind will affect your speed and effort coming back.   As we noted earlier the kayak/boat launch in the recreation area is temporarily closed due to the road condition to the launch (the road is sand and gravel and apparently people were getting stuck) So you have to now either hand carry/wheel your kayak to the launch or go the the Salt Springs Marina around the corner and there is a fee involved.   Lots of people anchor their boats outside the springs in the knee deep water and just walk into the springs to swim and snorkel. I ended up tying my kayak up to a rock with my fish stringer..  On another note-  I did a video on how we secure our kayaks at locations away from our campsite and new birthday present that I got called a dumb stick that allows me to connect my kayak to my bike.  You can click HERE to be taken to that blog post.

 Other Activities outside the park-

1.5 miles away there  are 4 pickle ball courts  available by exiting right from the park and then taking the left fork at the Dollar Store.1.5 miles. 2 courts have permanent nets and the other 2 courts need the portable net.  There is an awesome group of people who play doubles M/W/F around 9 and an additional Tues/Thurs evening in the summer.  They were very welcoming to me for my first attempt at doubles.  A big shout out to Jenny and Peggy for putting up with me!   (Keith and I have only played singles until this point). If you don’t know what pickle ball is think “ping pong with a wiffle ball on a small tennis court”.  Amrit Yoga institute is about 10 miles away and offers wellness weekends, yoga, pilates.  There is also yoga on Tuesday nights at the Salt Springs Recreation center (next to the pickleball courts) 

We hope you enjoy this park as much as we do.