Matanzas State Forest Cedar Creek Campground

All I can say is make sure to have a back up plan. My girlfriend and I planned on camping one night while visiting St. Augustine. I made reservations through reserve America and paid for the site. We arrived at the camp site an hour before nightfall only to find a family of squatters, with a young child and dog, living at the site. It was clear they had been there for some time. They even had a large boat on a trailer, even though it's a tent only site. They tried to hide the number 1 site marker with an adhesive light, but it was clear where the post marker was. We called reserve America. However, they said they are a third party service and couldn't do anything. We then called the state park, but couldn't get through since it was a weekend. (Apparently, there is only one ranger in the whole county and he only works during the week 9-5). The gate was never locked and there wasn't anyone there to manage the site, check in, or anything. I wouldn't recommend this site at all, at least until they hire someone to effectively manage it. The following Monday I called reserve America to request a refund. However it said this caller is currently not accepting phone calls. I guess I'll keep trying.

This is the perfect park to stay at if you are looking to get away from everything. There are not too many amenities here but you do have a portalet and non potable water available. There only four campsites and we fit two tents and our two cars there with plenty of room. It looks as if there are lots of trails to hike. Make sure you bring everything you need, the roads out there are not bad but a little bumpy. I went in my car and it was just fine. There are some stores a few miles away and a couple places to eat. I gave it the five stars because it was everything I was looking for. I did not want a built up campground with a lot of people. This was great I think I only saw one other person the whole time I was out there. Great getaway to escape everyday life.

My site is a bit close to the neighbors but so far it's peaceful. Also Google tries to bring you in on Dupont rd it is wrong. Use double gate rd off rt1

Hardly accessible and no park manager. I drove in through the north access since the gate was open and having no luck at the main gate phone #. Park seems to be unmanaged and had shady activity on the access road. Looked like squatters broke down and blocked the road. I had no way to continue the additional mileage to the trails but according to recent reviews the squatters were also back near the campsite and trails. SMH. This is a huge piece of public land that needs to be available for the public. Hopefully it gets more support in the future.

Directions- Enter "Double Gate Road, St Augustine, FL" and this will take you to the correct entrance to the forest, then there will be posted camping signs to direct you from there. You need to make your reservations online because you'll need a gate code to access the forest road. When you enter the road with the metal gate and it's open for any reason... close it, and lock the combination lock. This is for the safety of other campers and to keep the campground only accessible to those with a campsite reservation. The campground is in a quiet part of the forest and late at night or early AM I could hear the ocean faintly to the west. Campsites in order of privacy from best to worst: 4, 1, 2, 3 There is a pump water station that is for NON drinking water, it stunk like diesel honestly and used it to wash our feet but left our skin smelling funky... Wouldn't recommend relying on this water. Porta potty was usable, but not desirable... Main negative drawback of this campground is that your rest, relaxation, and sleep quality is 100% based on who your neighbors are. The vegetation is lush, lots of palm trees and 2 of the 4 sites are out of sight to the other 2 sites with thick plants. We stayed in site #2 and there is a spot to hang 2 hammocks and this site was really big, but totally visible to campsite #3. I picked up 2 XL trash bags of garbage just from the bushes surrounding our Campsite only. There are no trash bins so plan to pack out your own trash please. There is a great gas station nearby (they don't sell firewood) and AWESOME BBQ restaurant right next to it called Smokin D's BBQ. Awesome smoked turkey, and if you have a cooler order an extra pound to take back to your campsite to eat cold later. Publix is about 7 miles away and they do offer firewood there. There's a slow swampy creek behind campsite #2 through the bushes. Didn't have any wildlife bother us, but we never leave food out either. Ants were there but not terrible. Overall bugs were minimal. But we also camped in October. Let me know if this was helpful 🙂 - FallonFinds