Florida Beach Campground – Yes, life is good here in Florida!
Our latest campground review is for Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area in Flagler Beach, Florida. We stayed at Gamble Rogers in February. February in Florida, on the beach or near the beach, can get quite chilly. In fact, it was one year ago this month that we took Ruff Road on his first excursion- a drive along A1A in this same area and we were freezing when we stopped for a beach walk. This year, we were lucky and the weather was great!
This campground has a river side and a beach side. We camped on the river side because that was all that was available when we booked.
Peace and Quiet
Why yes. This campground was peaceful and quiet even though most or all sites were occupied. The river bordered our campground area allowing peaceful nature walks or just chilling on the soft green grass or having a picnic riverside. The beaches in this area are less crowded than the neighboring beaches to the south of us, Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach.
Peace and Quiet Rating: 5 stars
Things to Do
Well this is one of those parks that you just want to sit and be zen with the breeze blowing through the palms and beach side waves that you could even hear at times in the river side campground. Watching the sunset or sunrise at the beach or the river offered some excellent photography moments or again to just soak it in. There is a small nature trail that winds through the palms and trees and even along the river. The beach is within walking distance to do some beach walking, shelling, or just chilling at the beach.
Gary was able to surf fish and he also fished in the river. This park also has a boat ramp. If you like to bike, A1A is a scenic highway along the Atlantic coast that passes through North Peninsula State Park. I rode my bike on the sidewalk for miles with little stress of traffic or busy road crossings. It was too windy while we were there to kayak but if I wanted to drive over to nearby Bulow Creek State Park, it would have been less windy than the river. There are several state parks in this vicinity so you can plan to “park hop”. You will find many activities listed on the Gamble Rogers website. There is something for everyone.
https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Gamble-Rogers
Things to Do Rating: 5 Stars
Bathrooms, Showers, and Laundry
We didn’t really have the need to use these but a quick glance proved they are clean. Florida really does a nice job with their facilities and the upkeep.
Bathhouse Rating: 5 Stars
Dog Friendly
This one is important to us since our two kids, our pups, Terra and Luna are with us always. Sadly, dogs are not allowed on Florida State Park beaches. We could walk the trails and have them in the campground but no dogs at the beach. Fortunately, there is a public beach right next to the park where we were able to take them. It really wasn’t much further than the park beach and even had a parking area. They enjoyed romping in the sand at the beach and romping at the river. The trails are long enough to get a good walk in. Wildlife is around because they loved sniffing everything along the trail.
Dog Friendly Rating: 4 stars (because no dogs on the beach!)
Campsite
The campsites are nicely spread out so you have space. There is no vegetation between sites and the beach side seemed to be a little tighter that the river side. Sites on the inside of the river side loop were just in a grassy field with a few palms here and there. Most sites on the outside of the river side loop had nice wooded backdrops. Either the road or the beach dunes were behind campsites on the beach side. We loved our site because we were on the outside and we could access the nature trail through the woods right behind us.
Campsite Rating: 4 stars (personal preference, we like a little more woodsy)
Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 Stars, YES, we would stay here again!
Funny Story…
I always say, if you don’t have an adventure, you don’t have a story. Here’s our Gamble Rogers story.
My dear Gary (insert bless his heart here), just loves to fish. On this trip, he decided to try his hand at surf fishing. Of course, we would need to take the dogs with us so he planned on doing a little evening surf fishing. He spent the day getting ready. All bait, equipment, water, chairs…ready to go. Our plan was to park in the beach side parking lot and walk to the dog gate that led to the dog beach because remember, no dogs on the park beach. As I whizzed by on my bike earlier that day, the walk didn’t look that bad.
So we parked and headed out, with the dogs, with the chairs, with the bait, with the fishing gear- hands, shoulders, and backs were loaded! We began the trek to the dog gate. We walked and we walked. I think Gary may have done a little cursing along the way. When we got to the point that I thought had the gate, we realized that the campground went on and we were only halfway through it! After much huffing and puffing and lugging, we finally made it to the dog gate and followed a little path to a parking area. Gary wondered out loud, “Why didn’t we park here in the first place?” I laughed and we went on down the stairs, across the sand to our fishing spot.
Then Gary remembered, he forgot his pvc pole holder. Sooo, I volunteered to walk back across the sand, up the steps, across the parking area, through the dog gate, through the now glaringly large beach side camping area, back to the truck. The plan was to just move the truck to the dog beach parking area. I turned the key. Nothing. Dead battery. I asked passerbys for a jump start but no one had cables and we didn’t either. Ok. So I locked the truck up and carried the pvc pole holder through the beach side camping area, through the gate, along the path, through the parking area, down the steps, across the sand and reported to Gary that the battery was dead.
We decided to go ahead and fish and get a jump from one of the campers or campground host. It was a fun evening of Gary catching a few fish and the pups happily digging and playing in the sand. We headed out a little after dark. I sat with the gear and Gary headed back on the trek to the truck to try to get a jump. He returned awhile later and had to call our insurance company for roadside assistance. It appeared the campers were all tucked away in their rvs and the host’s lights were out.
So we loaded up with the last gear left and headed back to the truck on this long trek now in the dark. When we reached the truck, I asked for the keys. Gary said that he had left it open. Well the wind had other ideas and had blown the door shut with the keys inside. We had a spare in our RV, but the RV keys were in the truck also! So another phone call to roadside assistance was made to request a locksmith to get into our truck. I won’t lie, I had some choice words until I learned that this was covered and would not cost us money. Then I was good. I’m not sure about Gary. He was tired from all of our trekking today.
We waited. We just unfolded our chairs and had a sit under the night sky with the crashing waves sounding behind us. This story has a good ending. Our rescuer arrived, unlocked the door, jumped our truck in a matter of minutes. During this wait time, Gary realized the battery was the original battery and most likely done. We then had a nice little drive to the nearest auto parts store to buy a new battery just 15 minutes before closing.
And that, my friends, is a story that we will remember about this trip!
Have you ever stayed at Gamble Rogers? How was your experience? Subscribe to hear more of our travels.
