What to say about Ocala NF? Lots of sand! Anyway here is my take on Ocala.
According too the rangers you have two places you can park, one at the northern end and one at the southern end of the forrest. (it will cost you $4 to park) Once parked at the south end there are very few restrictions on where you can't go. The first day we rode side trails off of a power line, again lots of sand, lots of whoop-te-doos, some water, very little mud and a few hills okay little mounds of dirt that some guy was calling a hill. (very few hills)
The second day we decided to go down the power line and try to get to the ST. Johns river. (26 miles one way by map).Still more sand, less whoop-te-dos, alot more water and some extremely deeeeeeep mup holes.
Nothing really challenging, other than the holes that were wallered out by 4X4 trucks, there are also a couple of sink holes scattered around, but even then the hill climbs do not even compare to some of the stuff that I have encountered in thee mountains.
We put a total of 113 miles on the Sp 500's in two days, never rode the same trail twice. As far as that goes we never rode north or south we only rode east and west. Nice camping area (primitive) and a nice place for kids to ride.

Kuntry
SP 500
ETC..............

 

do they charge to get in? are there any restrictions?

 

Prior to riding we talked to one of the rangers, he said there was two places two ride one north one south. What he didn't say was that if you were up too it you could ride your atv from one site to the other. There are some areas with restriction signs (IE horse trails) but thats about it. I parkd in a designated parking area (Big Scrub camp ground) just for the security of somebody keeping an eye on my truck they charged $4 or you can camp there for the same price. The short version not rules or regs. that will effect 95% of us riders and no fees if you park outside the fence.

Kuntry
2000 Sp 500
ETC...............

 

is it worth driveing from chatt.,tn.to spend a week vac.I have a raptor and my wife has lakota.Is there a safe place to camp,or should we get motel.Are there any jumps.I am in to jumps and speeeeed.How do i find more info on this place or other good places in Fla. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Theres plenty of nice places to ride here in Florida. We have sand, mud, hills, jumps and tracks to ride. Ocala is nice and has most of these things in it. The link to Ocala National Forest is below, write them and they'll mail you any info you may need. Also get my e-mail from my profile and let me know when your heading down. My wife and I go to Ocala often and always looking for new people to ride with.

http://www.r8web.com/florida/Default.htm

 

Pro - I rode in the Ocala National Forest both Sunday and Monday this past weekend. We rode 40 miles Sunday and 57 miles Monday. I enjoy riding from Big Scrub over to the prairies by Wells Pond and Halfmoon Lake. We watched a big bear come out and walk by the lake Monday while we were eating our lunch. After he realized what we were, he walked off into the woods. We've seen bear several times, lots of turkeys, and few deer. For Rapdaddy's information, there are two distrcits in the Ocala National Forest. The North District is that land north of State Road 40 while the South District is south of 40. Road numbers in the south district begin with '5', i.e., 588 is the road in front of Big Scrub Campground. Not many trees at the Big Scrub campground but you can set up next to the woodline and be closer to the trail heads. No showers but decent toilets. There is also water taps scattered around the campground. Nice place to camp in my opnion. If you ever decide to ride in the north district, go to Lake Delancy Campground north of Salt Springs. The terrain looks so much different. The Lake Delancy campground is wooded similar to the campground at the extreme souhern end off of State Road 42. We're planning on riding again Saturday afternoon and on into the night. The moon should be bright this coming weekend and will make for a nice night ride. Rapdaddy, I rode in the upper Tellico last summer; that was a blast. We're planning on going back up this coming summer. Pro, e-mail me if you want to connect this coming weekend. We'll be there both Saturday and Sunday.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I LOVE Tellico! Just went there last summer with my DS and my Jeep and had a blast on both of them. The Jeep and DS did VERY well on the "Most Extreme" marked trails. Preacher, I'll check with the wife to see what the plan is for this weekend. She's just getting over the flu.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]I have never road tellico and only live about an hour and a half away.I have buddies that ride there 2 or 3 times a year.I would love to hook up this summer and ride tellico.I plan on going to Texas and rideing the Kermit dunes in April.That sould be a balst.

 

You'd love Tellico, even on the Raptor. I had no problems there on the DS BUT the wide track of the DS did help alot on the rocks. I'm sure I'll be heading back there this summer to test the Jeep again, except this time I'll tow it up there. Reason being it gets 10 Mpg. and I blew the rear end gears out of it not at Tellico but on the way home in Georgia on the Highway. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

Hey I was at Big Scrub this weekend also. Sat, Sun and Mon. Ya know with all those campers and quads we never seen anybody on the trails. That place is huge! What is Lake Delaney like? I haven't been up there yet.

Kuntry
2000 Sp 500
ETC................