My wife and I stayed for two nights at Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park near Keystone Heights, Florida on Thursday, 1/15/2015, and Friday, 1/16/2015 so we could visit my aunt. This state park is kinda in the middle of nowhere in Florida, so I wouldn’t have picked it except for the proximity to Penney Farms, where my aunt lives. However, it’s within an hour of St. Augustine, has a beautiful picnic grounds and several small, picturesque lakes, and seems to have a nice bird population. The relatively remote location means no city lights tainting the night skies, so star-gazing was great there. While I might try Anastasia State Park if I wanted to visit St. Augustine, Gold Head Branch State Park is an attractive alternative.

Location / Name: Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park, Florida

Date: Thursday, 01/15/2015 and Friday, 01/16/2015

Site: Sand Hill Loop, Site 4. Back-in. Sites have table, grill, and many have enough room for a tent on grass. Nice shrubs and trees between most sites provide good privacy. There were, however, a few sites with little between them, which would be good for groups together, but perhaps a bit cozy for some of us.

Access: The park is on Florida Highway 21 about 6.5 miles north of Keystone Heights, Florida. The gates close at sunset; if you are going to arrive later than 5, make sure you call them to get the access code.  There are good paved roads through the park, and to & within the campground (I think one of the loops on the Lake Campground is sand; and that campground was more crowded than in the Sand Hill Loop.) No overhead clearance problems noticed. Some sites might have some issues with placement for the tallest camp units (such as the former motorhome we had, with 12’ height.) Site driveway is sand/gravel, and can be a little tight backing in. Didn’t notice any pull-thru sites.

Electric: 30-amp and 20-amp on pedestal on the “correct” (driver’s) side of the site for back-in. No problems detected, but I didn’t measure voltage.

Water: Double-bib water outlet near the electric pedestal. No problems with distance. There was a fitting on the end of the outlet that did not allow any flow with my pressure reducer fitting added, so I connected without the fitting, assuming the unrecognized pre-installed fitting was a pressure controller. The water leaked around the fittings a bit, so I didn’t leave it on all the time (and never leave it on when leaving the site for more than a walk to the bath house.)

Bathhouse: Bath house is centrally located within the loop, with no drive-up access; you walk paths thru a small forest. If you want to be closer than a hundred yards or so to the bathhouse, get one of the inside sites. The RV/Trailer sites on the Lakeview loop appear, based on the map, to be a bit of distance from the bathhouse.

The bath house was clean when we went both early in the morning and late in the evening. There were paper towels and a blow dryer for your hands. A single soap dispenser for the three sinks was out of soap at 7 PM on the first evening.

Three toilet stalls, three urinals, three sinks, and three shower stalls in the men’s side; I think my wife reported the similar arrangement on the women’s side. The shower stalls had a reasonably roomy changing room with a door to the outside. However, there was no curtain between the changing area and shower (seems typical pattern), so spray reached the floor of the changing area, and due to the arrangement of the drainage the water on the floor ran into the changing area in all but the middle stall. That made it somewhat difficult to keep your clothes dry when you put them back on. But there were two hooks to hang things on as well as a bench in the changing area, and shelves in the shower for your soap dish and shampoo, and the water was nice and hot. Hot water was important since Florida state park bath houses are not heated and it was 46 degrees that first morning (I think it was colder the second morning; 39 degrees is what I remember.)

Toilet paper was extremely thin (probable same supplier as the Florida Interstate Rest Areas) so bring your own if you’re sensitive about that type of tissue issue.

Sewer:  No sites with sewage in the Sand Hill Loop, and I’m guessing same at the other loop. The dump station is toward the Lakeview Loop where the cabins are located, so you would head away from the exit of the park when you leave the Sand Hill loop to get to the dump station.

Cell Phone Service:  2- and 3-bar 3G and 4G Verizon coverage. No problems using my Verizon Hotspot.

Trash disposal: Household trash was to be placed in a dumpster near the exit of the campground loop, not a particularly convenient location, although also not unreasonable. There were plastic and aluminum recycle bins located next to the dumpster.

Cost: $22 per night, seemed to include the $5 daily Florida Park fee. Seniors discount only applies to Florida residents. To me this definitely qualifies as a “best buy” campground.

General description of campground:

Campground is a very pleasant one, surrounded by pine forest interspersed with live oaks. Clean, well groomed. In January, even on Friday night, not heavily used, so pretty quiet, even with some kids a few campsites away. I definitely would return here, but probably would get one of the interior sites in the higher number range to be closer to the bath house. If that’s not an issue, we really liked the layout and location of site 4. We drove through the Lake View campground on the way out, and it was much more crowded, and didn’t seem to provide as much privacy between sites.

General description of park/area:

This is central Florida – no beaches, and pretty flat. We loved the open prairie-like pine forests, and the live oak stands, even though they are clearly pretty young.  We saw deer in two locations.  A very interesting feature is a deep ravine, which we unfortunately didn’t get to explore. It apparently provided enough falling-water power to run a mill in the early 1900’s.

The picnic area is beautiful, with a number of nice pavilions, including several overlooking a pair of small, picturesque lakes. A couple of these pavilions were quite impressive. There is also a playground within and a swimming area adjacent to the picnic area.

We can recommend Johnny’s Bar-B-Q in Keystone Heights, about 6 miles from the park, for a meal. Their BBQ is excellent, they have “Famous Baked Beans” which are worthy of their “Famous” moniker, and on the Thursday we ate there they had collard greens that were worth the drive to Florida.

Note: This campground is a 20-30 minute drive from Penney Farms, where my aunt lives, and we stayed at this park while we visited with her.