Are there any rivers in Florida that are remote where you can kayak and camp on the river? I'd prefer to find a place where I can be away from it all and pull over wherever/whenever I want and wilderness camp as opposed to a place there there is a designated non-primitive campsite with other campers.

I did a kayak trip down the Myakka (about 16 miles) and had an absolute blast. However, they don't allow camping by the river

In my misspent Florida youth, we used to do it all the time. Whether is was legal or not, nobody ever bothered us. These days, I am not so sure. It seems most of the land along the banks of most creeks & rivers is private property so you would have to get written permission in advance. The waterways through the State Parks have their own rules about how and where you can camp. I'm betting that generally they are not going to allow you to set-up a campsite without sanitary facilities nearby.

You might try calling some of the canoe rental places on some of the rivers and ask them about primitive camping along the paddle routes.

Check out the Suwannee River, on the upper part it has little huts on the river for camping, on the lower part we just hammock camped on the river. Took us about 6 days to do the trip to the gulf in kayaks, i think we averaged around 30 miles a day. Very nice.

Yes, that's what I'm finding. It's mostly private property and if not, the park or whatever .gov entity owns it doesn't want any primitive on the fly camping. I know Myakka State Park does not.

Good information. Thank you. Do you know if the lower part is privately owned?

Anything below the high water mark is Sovereign land, as long as you camp on the bank , you should be fine. Water is low this time of year. Lots of folks paddle and camp the Suwannee.

Check out the Little Big Econ, several primitive sites for camping on State land along the river. I have often run across them while hunting there.

https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Florida-Forest-Service/Our-Forests/State-Forests/Little-Big-Econ-State-Forest

Also, the Upper St. john’s has lots of sites on islands.

And the Kissimmee River.

Lots of opportunities to paddle and Camp in Florida.

Suwannee, Santa Fe, Withlacoochee are my three choices. I know for a fact there is a state-owned tract/park in Citrus with a primitive camping site right on the water.

I've done several trips on the Suwannee. I made some pretty long posts a few years ago, but not sure if I can find them again. The upper Suwannee, from the Okefenokee swamp down to south of White Springs is probably best. Further downriver from there, it gets bigger and more crowded with boats, people etc. We never had problems with finding spots to camp along the way. Suwannee Canoe Outpost in Live Oak has good info. We used our own canoes, but had them take us upriver and drop us off. They have several different spots they take you to based on how long of a trip you want. They have a pretty good chart on their website about the water levels. The river can be entirely different based on the level. Too low and it's slow going with some areas actually too low to paddle. Too high and the current can be so fast it can be dangerous.

Another really nice trip we did was the Blackwater River out west in the Panhandle. It's the onle complete sand bottom river in Florida. It averages only 2-3 feet deep and there are sandbars perfect for camping at almost every corner. Blackwater Canoe Rental will take you up river and drop you off at a spot based on how long you want to stay. I only did that river once, but have wanted to go back ever since.

Edit: I found a couple of the old posts...

https://www.ar15.com/forums/hometown/Another-canoeing-camping-trip-on-the-Suwannee/10-552865/

Lopez River where they just extracted a guy lost for 12 days.

There are camping docks with huts.

I’m camping on the Suwannee River right now.  Stopped for the night along the river at the Shoals.  We were shuttled to Cone Street boat ramp and will finish Sunday at Spirit of the Suwannee Park.

3 days.

Blackwater would fit the bill.  I've floated it but not camped there. I have kayaked an camped on Juniper Creek which feeds into Blackwater.

Several choices here on the Oaklawaha in Ocala NF offered by the outpost in Eureka. https://www.outpostresort.com/rivertrips.html The Silver River is an amazing run, for those that haven't seen it it is a must see. one of our favorites.

Peace river on the right hand side of the river while going downstream.

The Federal refuge is the lower part and you can camp on the river  , i cannot recall the couple small private campgrounds we camped at about halfway down, the little huts require a reservation, they were nice. we did stay at Manatee state park and rented a cabin one night due to a really bad storm coming off the gulf.  I want to stay there again,they are nice.
i do more hammock camping now, on islands and up creeks on federal property and haven"t seen anyone, at all. I got the onx hunt app and it shows all the property lines everywhere in Florida for 30 dollars a year, even shows primitive camp sites on state property along rivers i had no idea existed. You can download large sections of the river and use it when you have no phone service.

I’ve done the Suwannee, Little Econ and Wekiva in the past (as a scout, a while ago). Knew people who did the Peace River as well.

Those little huts you're talking about are called River Camps, they're actually part of the state park system. I believe there are five of them running the length of the river. They are designed to be a day's paddle between them. You can google Suwannee river river camps and get info. You can make reservations and they are free. We have stayed at the one below White Springs. There are five camping platforms and a couple of primitive sites there. The platforms are basically raised screen enclosures allowing you to sleep inside without needing a tent. They actually have a fan and electricity and a shower house at each. There is a camp host there and ice and firewood for sale. Very nice. You don't have to have a reservation, but I'd recommend it.

Edit to add:River Camps

Guys, just wanted to thank everyone for their input. It seems as though there are options for kayaking & camping. I am very interested in doing the Suwanee and a few of the others that were mentioned. I'm still getting info and think i need to call the local canoe outposts in some of these locations to get more info.

http://www.floridaparks.com/floridatrails/north/stmarysrivercanoetrail.html

The St. Mary's River on the GA/FL border has some spots.

Also up towards the Rodman Dam end of the Ocala Forest is the very-little-known Davenport Landing, which has primitive camping in the woods as well as an interesting history.  It was once a landing for steamboats, with a trading post.  Before that it was an Indian village with a 1200 year old burial mound.  The mound is still there, and there are some of those brown national-park style signs that talk about the area.

It's one of my favorite places to be since no one knows about it, it isn't advertised, you have to walk down an unlabeled trail to get there, and the burial mound spoops most people from camping there.  There's a Confederate soldier buried nearby as well.

The Landing itself is on the Oklawaha River, it would be a cool place to start or finish your excursion at.  Great fishing, too.

Definitely do the Suwannee. Put in in GA and paddle down. Check the water levels, though, or you'll be portaging over dry spots.

You also have the juniper runs and Alexander runs that can be done as well.

Guy, just popped back in to check out this thread. I thought it had died but am pleased to see more great information. After reading through the whole thing and seeing the response, it makes me think that we should have an FL form/Arfcom kayak/camp trip!