One Night in Ocala National Forest: Camp Cooking, Car Camping and Lake Dorr

Location: Ocala National Forest, near Lake Dorr, Florida

I love Ocala National Forest. It’s close, it’s huge, and every time I go I find another sand road I’ve never driven. In 2020 my buddy Matt and I took his Jeep and my Land Rover out for one night of camping and a long, lazy morning on the trails.

It wasn’t a big expedition. It was dinner over a camp stove, a night in the back of the Rover, and a drive home the slow way. Honestly, that’s most of what overlanding is.

The campsite that wasn’t

We made it to a campsite, and I couldn’t tell you exactly where we were. My original plan for where we’d camp was a bust. I think I got the coordinates wrong somehow. So we found another spot, set up, and got dinner going.

Matt cooked. Dinner was sausage with onions and mashed potatoes, piled on rolls in a way that looked like something you’d get in Jersey, which I’ve never been to, so I couldn’t tell you. It was a mash-up. Nobody complained.

How I sleep in the Rover

People ask about this all the time, so here’s the whole setup. It’s very simple and it’s very comfortable.

• A four-inch Sea to Summit sleeping pad with a cotton blanket over it.
• An unzipped sleeping bag on top as a comforter.
• A pillow. Normally mine. This trip I forgot it and borrowed my daughter’s doll pillow.
• Small lights up top that light the whole interior without being harsh on your eyes.
• A battery-powered fan from Amazon. It runs on medium all night and still reads full in the morning, it charges while you drive, and it swivels so I can point it right where I want it.

The fan’s only flaw is a power light that’s blindingly bright late at night I face it away and keep threatening to put tape over it. I’m 6’2″, so I slide the front seat forward a little and I sleep extremely comfortably. That’s sleeping in your car like a bum, only it’s fun.

Skottle breakfast

I’ve always liked the Skottle and never liked the price, which is why I never bought one. I won this one from Overland Bound. As a cooking surface it’s great: the heat is highest in the center, so you cook in the middle and slide the sausage and bacon out to the edges to stay warm while the eggs go on. Everything comes off piping hot at the same time.

Lake Dorr and the long way home

We packed up and pointed ourselves toward I-75, the long way, with Lake Dorr as the first stop. Some of the trails we followed were surprisingly real trails, according to the Forest Service map. My ham radio was acting up, so we switched to FRS radios, and for the first time all trip we could actually hear each other.

Then, of course, the Rover threw a suspension fault. That’s the truck’s way of saying it has no idea what’s going on with the air suspension, and neither did I. We pulled over, reassessed, and kept going. The sand out here is soft enough that the Rover floats and wobbles on top of it, and Matt had a great view of the sand spraying out from under my undercarriage.

Somewhere in there the conversation turned to minivans. I said I’d never drive one, and I’d also spent the past year convincing my wife we needed one. Matt pointed out you can always find a tricked-out Honda Odyssey. As of the day this video went live, I was a minivan owner…

CONCLUSION

You don’t need a two-week expedition to get out there. One night in Ocala National Forest with a buddy, a good camp dinner and a comfortable bed in the back of your rig is a great reset. Sort out your sleep setup, test your radios, double-check your coordinates and go find a sand road you’ve never driven. The whole trip is in the video above, and if you want more Ocala, here’s the Rally Point run on Hopkins Prairie.