1/15 Midway Campground, Ochopee, FL

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in Florida, in spite of, and maybe because, it has almost no amenities.   Or at least no amenities that many people look for in a campground.  

It can clearly be said to be "in the middle of nowhere" because it is in the Big Cypress National Preserve, on Highway U.S. 41, aka Tamiami Trail, and located half-way between Miami and Naples, FL.   The nearest gas station, along with a convenience store, is located about 20 miles away in the Miccosukee Indian Reservation.  If you want a real supermarket, you need to drive about 50 miles to the Publix store in Marco Island.  

Mostly, there are just a lot of birds and alligators around this place, plus a black bear who occasionally visits the campground, so you need to keep food inside your RV or in a bear-proof storage box provided for you if you are tenting.  It is also very quiet here, especially at night when most of the highway traffic is gone.  It is also extremely dark here, as Big Cypress is a dark sky area, so you are asked to not turn on any outdoor lights at night, so fellow campers can see the Milky Way and millions and millions of stars.  

As you drive past on the Tamiami Trail, you might easily miss this campground sign.  There are other small campgrounds along this road, but this is the only one with electric hookups, so it is very popular.  

 

Basically, the campground is a loop that circles an alligator pond, shown below.  Alligators do come out on warm, sunny days, to increase their body temperatures so they can digest their food, which is mostly fish from the pond. 

 

You are asked, however, not to take pets for a walk on the grassy area between the roadway and the pond, and it is strongly suggested that you take a flashlight if you go out after dark so you do not trip over anything.  No picnicking here also, for obvious reasons.

 

This is my motorhome across the pond.  I took this photo on a daily walk I take around this loop.  

 

A closer view of my campsite.  It is paved and with both 30 and 50 amp electrical hookups.  I can easily look out my front window at any happenings around the pond. 

Mostly, I just watch birds  like this wood stork who hangs around the pond.

 

There is also a tent area without electric hookups.  It is empty in this photo, but most of the time it is full of tenters.  On the left side of the roadway, you can see a trailer at the water fill station, which is near the station for dumping tanks.

 

Almost every camping spot has a palm tree next to it, but this one has been surrounded by a strangler fig, so you cannot even see the stem. 

One interesting thing to do is to walk out to the highway and walk across to the long ditch that was created when the Tamiami Trail was created.  They needed rock and sand to build the roadway up high enough to pave, so they dug a ditch along almost the entire length of the roadway and piled up the removed material to make a road.  The result is a very long water-filled area for alligators, fish, and birds.  People also fish here. 

 

 

This is what this long pond looks like just on the other side of the guard railing.  The water is extremely clear and full of life.  

 

 

Two other views of the long ditch.  

Even though you cannot get gas or groceries nearby, there is a famous art gallery about a mile west of the campground. 

 

The gallery is actually the old home of Clyde Butcher, who is known as the Ansel Adams of the Everglades.  He is in his 90s now, and lives in Naples near another gallery he owns.  His art is not cheap, but it is beautiful.  You can buy a calendar or other items made by local artists.  

 

I had to stop and take a photo of these two little guys.   The one on the left, I think, is a Florida reef gecko.  The one on the right is a Florida scrub lizard. Unusual to get them both in one photo.

And right next to the parking lot is an alligator that you are not supposed to feed.  You are also supposed to stay at least 15' away from them. 

A closeup of this very awake fellow.