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In this blog, we’ll review Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Jupiter Florida on Florida’s Southeast Atlantic coast. Jonathan Dickinson seems to have it all, with outstanding mountain biking trails, excellent hiking through several different natural environments, and great full hookup campsites. There are also water sport opportunities on the Loxahatchee River, making Jonathan Dickinson hard to beat for its incredible diversity of recreational activities.
Jonathan Dickinson State Park contains 10,500 acres and is named after Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker merchant whose ship was wrecked off the coast here in 1696. During WWII the area was used as a top-secret radar training school and after the war, the land became a state park in 1950.[1] More recently, the park has become a haven for mountain biking, hiking, water sports and camping. There is also a good self-guided driving audio tour available at the ranger station that is worth the time.
As far as the campgrounds, there two: The Pine Grove Campground, near the ranger station, has 90 full hook-up campsites with four modern bathhouses with showers and laundry machines. The campsites at Pine grove are generally large, private, and flat with picnic tables and fire rings. Given the full hookups, all campsites at Pine Grove have sewer connections along with water and electric.
The River Campground has 52 campsites with only water and electric and is located near the Loxahatchee River approximately four miles from the ranger stations. The River Campground also has modern facilities with hot showers and laundry machines. There is one dump station, primarily for guest of the River Campground that is located near the Pine Grove campground at the exit of the park. Given the 52 campsites at the River Campground, the ratio would be 52:1 of campsites to dump stations, making for a relatively easy time of dumping tanks upon departure.
There are five criteria we look at when rating a campground. First up, Hospitality and Check-In. We give this a 4 out of 5 as it was easy to check-in. We did have to leave the vehicle to check-in at the ranger station, but it was a simple matter of having the ranger confirm our reservation and giving us our site tag.
Next in our review is Infrastructure & Amenities which we are giving a 5 out of 5. All of the park’s amenities are in excellent shape, including the campground roads and spacious main park roads. The bathhouses, laundry machines, trails, signage, and playgrounds are all in excellent shape. Like most Florida State Park campgrounds, the campground is well maintained and cleaned by the campground hosts, and there is a security gate with passcode to enter the campground area after hours. An interesting point of interest is Hobe Mountain Tower, from which almost the entire area of the park and parts of the Atlantic coast are visible.
Site Quality gets a 5 out of 5 as the campsites are quite frankly outstanding, especially in the Pine Grove campground. Most sites are relatively private, large, and level and given full hookups are an exceptional value. It would be possible to have more shade at some of the sites, but generally it is a reach to try and find fault with the campsites at Pine Grove. Some of the sites at the River Campground are slightly less private and lack sewer connections, but they are still generally very good and provide close access to the water sport options on the Loxahatchee River.
Having stayed at many different state park campgrounds in Florida, the campsites at Jonathan Dickinson State Park are easily some of the best stayed at. Given the large, level and full hookup sites near great recreational activities, the campsites are hard to beat – all with a great Florida State Park price.
Our Exercisability rating is a 5 out of 5 for the many great ways to recreate at the park. Besides the miles of lightly traveled park roads to run on, there are also miles of quality trails to run on. Likely the greatest opportunity for recreation lies with mountain biking, as there are dedicated courses of various levels which are in high demand from locals. If you do plan to mountain bike at park, be prepared for an array of challenging trails and lots of people, especially at busier times. Moreover, there are miles of good hiking trails of various terrain, and opportunities to canoe and kayak on the Loxahatchee River. Basically, there is something for about anyone in terms of exercise and recreation at the park.
Besides these great opportunities for recreation, be aware that there are also specific trails dedicated to bird and wildlife watching. These would include the Eagles View multiuse trail system within the park. There is also opportunity for guided horseback trail rides on the many miles of back-country trails if interested.
For our final rating, we are giving a 5 out of 5 for Workability as the bandwidth for AT&T was stellar and Verizon just as good. Using an iPhone 10, we had speeds of 75.1 Mbps down and 13.9 Mbps up on AT&T, making it exceptional to use. Using our Verizon 8800L Mifi, we experienced outstanding speeds of 92.9 Mbps down and 21.2 Mbps up. These excellent bandwidth speeds made it very easy to work from the campsite.
Overall, we thought Jonathan Dickinson State Park was one of the best values we have ever experienced at a Florida State Park or at any campground for that matter. The outstanding infrastructure, incredible varied recreational opportunities – with campsites that are among the best stayed at, all catapult this state park to the top of our recommended list. On top of this, you are only paying a Florida State Park price! If you can possibly snag a full hookup campsite here, it would be well worth the effort, especially during the cooler Florida months. Remember that Florida State Parks have an 11-month booking window, so you will need to plan out that great trip well ahead of time.
All the best in your camping endeavors!
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