Naturist camping near Catfish Creek


DeLorme Florida Atlas & Gazeteer page 86 grid D1
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Catfish Creek is on the West shore of Hatchineha. Just south of the creek is a high area with a large oak tree.

(My wife calls this "Cow Camp" because in 1998 when she, my older son and I camped there, cows from a nearby ranch wandered through our campsite. The ranch has been purchased by the state and is now public land.)

There is room to set up camp out of sight of the water.

Passing boats don't see you in this main site, but they'll see from your boat's presence that someone is there.

Air boaters pass by this campsite fairly frequently, and they occasionally land. While camping etiquette says the site's yours if you arrive first, it would probably be a better week day site than a weekend one. I have camped there during the week and found it to be very peaceful.


Preparing lunch in camp.

The water level changes quite a bit. At times the 'beach' is a good wading/swimming area. At other times, you will have to walk ashore through the mud, possibly leaving your boat out away from shore.

Canoes are well suited here, but any small boat should be ok, even if you have to paddle your boat in, or drag it.

If you follow the path south, you will find an obvious airboat landing. West of this landing is a large open area with lots of hiking available. This area is all state land till you get to a fence line to the West.

The area is very open (it's the old ranch), so you'll be able to see quite a ways off. Of course that means you can be seen quite a ways off too. I'd recommend carrying shorts or some kind of quick wrap during peak hiking times like weekends and the cooler months. I hiked this on a Friday in mid October with only my shoes and a GPS. I didn't see anyone, but I saw vehicle tracks that were probably 1 to 2 weeks old. I also saw a pair of bald eagles circling overhead. It's really cool when you can combine wilderness boat camping with hiking like this.


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