At the beginning of this year I upgraded from a SUV to a truck and ever since I had been looking for somewhere to go dispersed camping. I had done some trails in the Ocala National Forest and knew that that is somewhere I would want to go again. I spent a long time looking online for a good trail that my friends and I could camp on. The trail needed to be fairly easy due to not having four wheel drive, it also needed to have spots that we could camp at. I decided on Hopkins Prairie which has many nice places to camp and is not a difficult trail.
Trail difficulty
The trail along the prairie is mostly flat with not too much elevation change, at the time we went the whole trail was dry. After a rain storm I believe that some area of the trail could get pretty muddy and could make the trail more difficult. The only obstacles of the trails were ruts that weren’t too deep or difficult and parts of the trail were very sandy. All the ruts were no problem for us, we had plenty of clearance to go through them. With the sand we didn’t have much issue, however without having four wheel drive it was a little worrisome. If we did have four wheel drive I would have been even more confident. Overall the sand wasn’t too bad as long as you know how to get through sand, just keep moving and choose a good line.
Our Site
There were many good areas to set up camp along the trail. We drove the whole trail first and then went back to claim a spot. Ours was probably one of the biggest sites and felt like you weren’t directly on the trail. We had plenty of trees for all three of our hammocks and we could see across the prairie. Someone before us had made a fire pit but we didn’t have a fire. There was quite a bit of wildlife while we were there. I had a very close encounter with a wild turkey and heard many more. We also heard wild hogs throughout the prairie as well.
I brought two friends along and we all camped in hammocks. We didn’t bring too much stuff as we only stayed one night. We brought a cooler to keep food and drinks cold and we used my small butane stove to cook on. We camped in mid May so it was pretty warm during the day but it got cold during the night and early morning so we brought sleeping bags and a little bit of warmer clothes. I think this is a very good place to overland and camp especially if you are looking for a very easy trail that most SUVs and trucks can handle. This trail is also great if you are camping with multiple vehicles because of the large sites.
There were many good areas to set up camp along the trail. We drove the whole trail first and then went back to claim a spot. Ours was probably one of the biggest sites and felt like you weren’t directly on the trail. We had plenty of trees for all three of our hammocks and we could see across the prairie. Someone before us had made a fire pit but we didn’t have a fire. There was quite a bit of wildlife while we were there. I had a very close encounter with a wild turkey and heard many more. We also heard wild hogs throughout the prairie as well.
I brought two friends along and we all camped in hammocks. We didn’t bring too much stuff as we only stayed one night. We brought a cooler to keep food and drinks cold and we used my small butane stove to cook on. We camped in mid May so it was pretty warm during the day but it got cold during the night and early morning so we brought sleeping bags and a little bit of warmer clothes. I think this is a very good place to overland and camp especially if you are looking for a very easy trail that most SUVs and trucks can handle. This trail is also great if you are camping with multiple vehicles because of the large sites.