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SP Campground Review – Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter, FL

December 17, 2017 by libertatemamo 21 Comments

On the lovely mountain bike trails at Jonathan Dickinson State Park

A huge and naturally diverse State Park just a few miles north of Jupiter on the East Coast of Florida.

Link to campground here: Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter, FL
Link to map location here: Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter, FL

  1. Site Quality = 3.5/5
    There are two main RV camping areas in this park (located ~4 miles apart!) with very different site quality and feel:

    • Pine Grove Campground (FHU, Big Rig Friendly, rate 4/5) – This is the newest camping loop located right near the entrance of the park and it’s definitely the place to stay if you have a big rig! It has 90 total sites arranged in two large loops. Sites are all FHU (50A/water/sewer) back-in and absolutely lovely with and large, flat gravel pads, excellent separation and pleasant large “sitting areas” containing picnic table, fire pit and grill. Only real dings? The campground was re-built not that long ago so it is very open (almost zero shade), but there is good ground vegetation and a few palm trees around camp. Also, you are fairly close to Hwy 1 here so you DO get some road-noise in camp. It’s more annoying in sites nearest the highway (especially sites #65 through #71, you can even see cars from some of these!), and less prevalent in the sites nearest the entrance of the two loops, but you do get *some* noise throughout camp. Nicest sites are the ones on the outer edges of the two loops since they have lovely green views behind them, in particular outside-facing (even-numbered) sites #6-14 in first loop and outside-facing (even-numbered) sites #76-88 in second loop. Note that sites #2 & 4 are literally right next to the kids playground, so they’re great for those with kiddies, but perhaps not so great for those without. Sites in this campground rate 4/5 in my opinion. Cost $26/night.
      NOTE1 -> Site Orientation: Since Pine Grove Campground doesn’t have any tree shade and FL can get HOT, you’ll want to consider your orientation when booking a site here. All sites are arranged N-S alignment so if you’re a Class A and chose a site where your front window faces South you will get sun in your windshield all day, whereas sites where your window faces North will give you shade in the windshield all day. It makes a huge difference in heat generation! We had site #50 which gave us shade in the front all day, plus we got shade in our “sitting area” all afternoon. 
    • River Campground (water/electric, Smaller Rigs Only, rate 2.5/5) – This is a smaller campground near the riverfront ~4 miles from the main entrance. It’s wonderfully QUIET here (= the main bonus compared to Pine Grove Campground) plus you have direct access the the riverfront and all the activities around it (kayaking etc.), but sites themselves are only so-so. All are 50A/water only (no sewer) and very close together in a small loop. Lots of tall mature trees and vegetation here so generally good shade throughout, but apart from a few, select sites (e.g. #115, #119) separation from your neighbor is poor with some sites only separated by a log on the ground. Ground is a mix of bare and grass with sites of varying size, mostly flat but some are quite unlevel. Also most sites are perpendicular to the main road making access difficult for anything of size. There are three large, very-new-looking concrete pull-throughs (#101, #105, #109) which can potentially take larger rigs, plus there are four disabled-access sites that are also paved (#96, #106, #124, #136) and somewhat larger, but all others are best suited to smaller rigs (I’d say up to 30 ft max with some sites only 20 ft max). Sites in this campground rate 2.5/5 in my opinion. Cost $26/night.
      NOTE2 -> Reservations: Sites are reservable 11-mo in advance and reservations are strongly recommended in winter season (high season). 2-4 sites in each campground are first-come-first-serve (non-reservable) so there is a chance to get a site if you don’t have a reservation, but you’ll need to get here early and hope for an open spot. Stay limit is 14-days.
      NOTE3 -> Cell Signal: For those that care about cell signal it was very strong at Pine Grove (all carriers), but very weak in River Campground.
      NOTE4 -> Other Camping: There is also a primitive camping area, 12 rentable cabins and even an equestrian area here. All look quite nice, although I did not get a look inside the cabins.
  2. Facilities = 4/5
    Nice facilities here. Pine Grove has 4 facility buildings, while River View has two. Flush toilets plus there are large (spacious) individual walk-in showers with nice shower heads & temp control. All were clean and nicely kept while we were here. Only slight ding? Water pressure was low and hot temps take a while to kick in. Each facility also has laundry machines (one washer, one dryer, $2.50 each) as well as a small book-swap (certain facilities only). On site dump station (Pine Grove Campground only).
  3. Location = 5/5
    This is a great location to explore the State Park and nearby Jupiter. The State Park itself is HUGE covering 10,500 acres of incredible natural beauty with 13 natural communities, including sand pine scrub, pine flatwoods, mangroves, river swamps, and the Loxahatchee River (Florida’s first federally designated Wild and Scenic River) which runs through the park. On top of this there are lots of trails in the park from regular hiking/biking trails to 10 miles of designated off-road Mountain Biking trails covering all levels from easy through expert. There’s even kayak & bike rentals, river tours and horse-back riding on-site! There is SO much to do just at the park itself! Nearby Jupiter is also a lovely town with a wonderful lighthouse, lots of waterfront dining & plenty of shopping & other sightseeing.
  4. Pet Friendliness = 5/5
    Wonderful place for doggie! There is lots of space in camp, plus miles of hiking trails around the park. In addition there are several on-site dog runs (one near each campground) plus a wonderful (fabulous) off-leash dog beach just 10 mins away (Jupiter Dog Beach). The beach a must-do for every RV dog! Poo bags provided on-site in several locations.

Overall Rating = 4.4
BONUS ALERT = Camp in a huge and naturally diverse State Park!

Summary: We chose this as a stop to see Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, enjoy nearby Jupiter dog beach and explore the surrounding area. It turned out to be a great stop! This is a HUGE State Park (the largest in Florida) covering over 10,500 acres of natural beauty including the Wild & Scenic Loxahatchee River. There are TONS of activities in the park itself from water stuff (boat tours, kayaking) to hiking/biking, mountain biking (there over 10 miles of dedicated off-road Mountain Bike trails here), picnicking, and horseback riding (you can do it on-site). It really is a natural wonder! For RV’s there are 2 main camping areas located ~4 miles apart with very different look and feel. The Pine Grove Campground is the closest campground to the entrance and has the newest and largest sites. This is definitely the spot for big rigs! Sites are large, flat, spacious FHU with great separation and lovely “sitting areas” containing picnic table, fire pit and grill. The only dings here are no shade (for heat purposes chose your site based on the orientation you want to the sun) and the proximity to Hwy 1 means you do get *some* road noise throughout camp. We had a site nearest the entrance of the loop (site #50) which had minimal road-noise and faced north so we had shade on our front windshield all day. We liked it! The River Campground is (as you expect) near the river ~4 miles from the entrance to the state park. For this reason it’s wonderfully QUIET plus it’s got lots of mature trees & vegetation so it’s generally well-shaded throughout. Main dings are that sites are older and smaller (30 ft max) with bare ground or grass and generally very poor separation (although there are a few exceptions). We wouldn’t be able to fit “the beast” here. Nearby Jupiter is a lovely town with a beautiful lighthouse, a FABULOUS dog beach (Jupiter Dog Beach) and lots of great water-front dining. We loved our stay here and made full use of the extensive on-site hiking/biking trails as well as the Dog Beach just down the road. Our site was fabulous (so spacious and FHU) and our only wish was that the Pine Grove Campground had been completely quiet from road-noise. We’d definitely return.

Extra Info: Strong cell signal at Pine Grove Campground (Verizon 2 bars bars LTE, ATT 4 bars LTE, T-Mobile binge-on worked), but WEAK cell signal at River Campground (my ATT phone varied from 2 bars 4G to nothing). ~130 total sites, all reservable online except for 2-4 sites which are first-come-first-serve in each campground. All sites cost $26/night. On-site dump station (Pine Grove Campground only).

NOTE5/ You can see a photo of each and every site at Jonathan Dickinson SP on campsitephotos.com. Just beware that these photos look a few years old -> there’s more vegetation in Pine Grove Campground now, plus the 3 newer paved pull-through sites in River Campground (#101, #105, #109) are not on there.

Pine Grove Campground -> beginning of first loop. Site #5 on right with #3/1 behind. These are all south-facing sites.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #14 on left with #13/11/10 behind. These all face north and were some of our fav sites in the campground. Fairly quiet, no-one behind you and no sun in the front windshield.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #30 on left with #28, #27 to right. These had some decent privacy, but were too close to the highway for our liking.
Pine Grove Campground -> second loop. Site #49 on left with #51/53 behind.
Pine Grove Campground -> Front view of our site #50. We were north-facing so no sun in the front windshield and we only had one site on our left side.
Pine Grove Campground -> View of our “sitting area” in #50. Lovely and spacious.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #58
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #62 on right with #61 on left. These sites were a little too close to the highway for our liking.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #70 on left with #68/67 behind. Way too much highway noise here for our liking.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #78 with #76 behind. These were lovely sites with no-one behind them. However they are also south-facing, which means sun-in-the-windshield all day for Class A’s.
Pine Grove Campground -> Site #85 with #83 behind.
Pine Grove Campground -> end of loop. Site #88 with #86 behind.
Pic of facilities in Pine Loop. There were 4 of these buildings here
Pic of washer/dryer in each facility
Pic of shelter & picnic area near Pine Grove.
Pic of playground near Pine Grove. This was right between sites #2 & 4.
River Campground -> view towards beginning of loop. Site #95 on left with #94/93 behind
River Campground -> Site #97 with facilities in background.
River Campground -> Site #100. This was one of the more open sites on bare ground with only logs to separate it from the next site
River Campground -> This was one of the brand-new concrete pull-throughs #109 on right. There were 3 of these which are big enough to take larger rigs.
River Campground -> Site #110.
River Campground -> Site #115. This was one of the larger, more private sites in this loop.
River Campground -> Site #122 on left with #120/1118 behind.
River Campground -> Site #134 on left with 132/131 behind. You can see the road through the loop is quite narrow and most sites are at 90-degrees to the main road, so it’s not a good place for big rigs.
Pic of concessionaire building just down the road from River Campground. Bike rentals, kayak rentals and boat tours can be booked here.
Pic of canoe/kayak rentals.
Pic of boat tour.
Picnic area near River Campground. Lots of these around.
General park map showing 2 main camping areas
Detailed site-level map with site numbers. Top is Pine Grove Campground, bottom is River Campground (and Cabin area). Click for larger size.

 

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We LOooVE Comments, So Please Do

  1. Richard Oliveria says

    December 17, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    When are you 2 going back to real RVing (Boondocking) or are you going to go into boating like the others?

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 17, 2017 at 1:25 pm

      Definitely NO boating in our futures (unless my life-long sea sickness problem suddenly disappears), and alas no boondocking in our near future either. Family matters are keeping us East again, at least for now. New plans coming in 2018 tho’ so if everything goes through you’ll see us changing things up again very soon.

      Nina

      Reply
  2. TOM says

    December 17, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    JUST SO YOU KNOW, JUPITER IS ON THE EAST COAST.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 17, 2017 at 1:19 pm

      HA! Yes indeed, no excuses there. I had a total brain-fart on the post. I’ve corrected it thanks.

      Nina

      Reply
  3. Jim Barber says

    December 17, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    ” just a few miles north of Jupiter on the West Coast of Florida.”
    West???

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 17, 2017 at 1:22 pm

      Yup, massive error. It’s been corrected. Apologies.

      Nina

      Reply
    • Jim Barber says

      December 17, 2017 at 1:23 pm

      Nina, You’re faster than I am.

      Reply
  4. Mark Wilson says

    December 17, 2017 at 1:37 pm

    Great review as usual. Thanks!!!

    Reply
  5. Pam Kaufman says

    December 17, 2017 at 3:31 pm

    If you haven’t been there yet, Myakka River State Park is another great park. We stayed in the Palmetto loop. It has nice big spots with enough vegetation between spots to provide great privacy. The river and prairie are great for exploring. It’s about 15 miles east of Sarasota. Nice place.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 17, 2017 at 4:05 pm

      We’ve been wanting to check out Myakka for ages! We actually had reservations there twice, and had to cancel twice (for various reasons). One day we’ll make it there!

      Nina

      Reply
  6. Dave Davis says

    December 17, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    We LOVED the park when we spent 4 days last April. Great location, and clean. My only complaint is fires. If you walked around this park, you’ll see plenty of evidence of wildfires. Why any parks anywhere allow campfires is beyond me. When we were there several fires were throwing hot burning coals spread by the wind. Wood fires are one of the least healthy activities, just a damaging as cigarette smoke. Every year Florida has wildfires, most are caused by campfires and farmers.

    A lot of people read your blog, this is why I mention it. Anyone can have an enjoyable campfire if they would only purchase a propane fuel campfire setup.

    Enough preaching, we are full times in our fifth year. I read you blog and you campground reviews whenever they are available. I’ve found you blog entertaining and informative.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 18, 2017 at 12:55 am

      Always important to practice good fire safety, and I agree…we never start one ourselves unless conditions are right (not dry, not windy), and we always make sure the fire it OUT before we leave it.

      Nina

      Reply
    • Debbie says

      December 18, 2017 at 10:17 am

      I lived in this area as a kid. Went to school in Hobe Sound. I can attest to one of those fires that just about destroyed JD park. It almost took out our school too. This was not a camp ground fire, it was a serious wildfire that had been consuming acres for several days when it finally reached JD. In fact it jumped US1 right there too!

      That said.. fire safety should ALWAYS be a priority!! I had a friend pass in a house fire a few days ago – I think smoke/carbon monoxide detectors should be in all HOMES and RV’s as well.

      Reply
  7. Aaron and Beth Jones says

    December 18, 2017 at 5:59 am

    Great post! We loved this park too. Did ya make the hike up the lookout tower? Pretty high up there for FL. Your right about the Dog Beach. Best fun our dog has ever had. Thanks for the info.

    Reply
  8. Anne S says

    December 19, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    Regarding the “west” coast typo… As a west coast gal, the ocean is pretty much always west of here. Once flew to Raleigh/Durham and spent an hour driving west before realizing I had to turn around to get to my parents’ retirement home on the NC beach.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 20, 2017 at 6:39 am

      I’m with you! Spent the last 20 years or so with the ocean on the West side of wherever I was. This Eastern stuff takes a while to sink in 🙂

      Nina

      Reply
  9. Ralph E. says

    December 23, 2017 at 11:37 am

    I thought that full time RVers with solar power were suppose to search out campgrounds with east – west campsites during late fall/winter or aren’t there any in south Florida? I know that location can be more important.

    Since I am in the campground review section, do you have any plans to update your hyperlinks that have gone bad as the BLM website changed urls on several campgrounds on my list and clicked on a couple of yours that went bad as well? I don’t know why the BLM had to change the urls instead of just updating the website.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      December 23, 2017 at 11:43 am

      This campsite had 50A power so no need for solar here. When we do use solar however, we seek East-West aligning sites so we can tilt the panels to the South. But when there’s power, then orientation to the sun takes other priorities (e.g. heat generation).

      As for those BLM links….ugh! BLM revamped their entire website a few years ago and literally removed almost every useful piece of info on there. They removed all their campground links, all their BLM land maps…everything! I’m honestly not sure there’s anything I can do. I’ve linked to wayback machine for archived sites (where I can find them), but there are no current references on their website anymore. So sad.

      Nina

      Reply
  10. Erica says

    February 21, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    Hello,

    I compared site 115 on your photo and the site 115 on the website and they look quite different. Do you know if they changed sites? We have a 40 plus year old popup and like more privacy. I love the idea of the first campground but people from the country I’m thinking the highway noise may bother us?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      February 22, 2020 at 12:33 am

      Hmmm…it’s possible they re-named the sites. Unfortunately that does happen. If you stay in the older section of the campground there’s no road noise. So you could try that.

      Nina

      Reply
  11. Shirley Eshelman says

    February 11, 2023 at 9:50 am

    We are from Lancaster County Pennsylvania and my husband is a photographer. We are planning on a camping trip to Florida in October. We plan to stay at the Jonathan Dickson State Park Campground. We really appreciated your comments and pictures regarding this campground! The sites that are available for our dates are #41 and #43. Would that be a good area for our Motorhome? Also, someone mentioned to us that trains travel through this campground. Does this happen at nighttime and if so is the noise from the train very loud? Thank-you so very much and enjoy your travels to so many areas of beautiful camping!

    Reply

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