12/22 W.P. Franklin Campground

This is another U.S. Army Corps of  Engineers campground on a lock and dam across the Caloosahatchee River, which is the same river that goes past the St. Lucie lock and dam campground I posted about a couple of weeks ago.   Corps of Engineers campgrounds are nearly always in good shape and have paved campsites, along with electric and water hookups. They are always part of projects built by and managed by the Corps.  The other bonus is that as a senior with a federal senior America the Beautiful pass, I get federal campgrounds at half price, which is very nice for my camping budget!  

(FYI--if you are an American citizen and are at least 62 years old, you can buy an annual ($20) or a lifetime ($80) senior pass.  This pass gets you and anyone else in your vehicle into national parks free, plus it gives you half price on most camping fees.  

One disadvantage to this campground is that the lock is on the far side of the river, and you cannot walk over the dam to the other side to watch boats come in and out of the locks, as you can in St. Lucie and Ortona South, which are the other two campgrounds on the Caloosahatchee River.  An advantage to this campground is that it is supposed to be an excellent fishing place because of the long fishing pier that runs along the dam on the campground side.  

Sorry for the fact that some photos below were taken on a sunny day and others on a more common cloudy day. 

The campground is on the north side of the river, just west of the little town of Alva, FL.  The campground is on an island, so you have to enter via a long roadway. 

 

The photo belong is looking past the campground gatehouse down the road above to the highway.

First, some photos of the campground.  This view faces east along the river. 

My motorhome, parked on a spot with a good view of the dam and river.

This view is the slightly larger part of the campground on the west side of the dam, looking towards Ft. Myers.

 

 And some photos of the dam and fishing pier.  

 

 

This is a telephoto shot of a boat going through the locks on the far side of the river.  

This is the fishing pier. 

Looking east down the river. 

I saw this limpkin today, just as I was getting packed up to leave tomorrow.