Gulf Islands National Seashore ~ Fort Pickens Campground

Description: This park is great! It has wonderful hiking trails, swimming beaches, and boardwalks. There were also numerous picnic areas. Pets are welcomed in the park, on all of the hiking trails and boardwalks but not allowed on the beaches. When we were here the mosquitoes & bugs were not bad at all. They also have a lot of beach areas for swimming along the intercoastal waterway. The swimming areas were long narrow white sand areas, and there were plenty of shallow areas for wading and splashing around. Bathrooms were always clean. Firewood, ice, and soda machines available at the bathhouse areas or the campground host areas. There is a little store where you can get limited groceries, and a few lunch items. Also in that building is a laundry facilities. There are 2 washers/ dryers . Staff was nice and knowledgeable. Binoculars for birding (free for check-out), canoes, and kayaks for rent at the office. Also they have a pretty extensive activities program run by the rangers.

Date of Stay: July 29th (14 nights)

Weather During Stay: Mostly sunny with occasional rain storms. Temps around 88-90' and 70 at night.

Site Description: There are 4 loops in this campground which fit anything from tents to big rigs. There are a lot of sites that are plenty big for big rigs especially in the A loop. Just check recreation.gov for site descriptions & length. All sites & roads are paved with 50 amp electric and water. Each site has a fire rings & picnic tables.

Favorite Sites: We stayed on A47 and it was a very nice site. Just a little unlevel, low in the back. It had some grass and sand mix with a few trees. Behind the site is Marsh land, scrub oaks and Palmettos.

Rate: $20.00 per night unless you have the National Park Senior pass then it is $10.00

Phone/TV/Internet: We had great service from both Verizon & AT&T service out here. Our roof satellite picked up TV with no problem on the site we were in. Also Verizon Internet 4G service was very good with our Mifi card.

Elevation/Landscape: 33ft' above sea level with a typical Florida & seaside vegetation. Scrub oaks, palmettos, sea oats, marshlands. A lot of sand

Lighting/Noise: It gets pretty dark and quiet at night... and while we were here there were no rowdy campers.

Hiking/Walking/Biking: There are many miles of beaches, trails and roads to walk or ride bikes on.

Comments: We will be coming back to this campground over & over again!!!! It is a wonderful place to relax and enjoy.

Things to See & Do: Right here in the park is Fort Pickens built in 1836. It is a great fort for exploring and one of the largest we've seen. Also if you are a bird watcher there are many osprey and othe sea faring birds to watch here. You can go to Historic downtown Pensacola, the Pensacola Naval Air Station and Naval Aviation Museum, the Pensacola Lighthouse and other historic sites. Also at the Naval Base is Pensacola National Cemetery. There are miles & Miles of the beaches of the "Emerald Coast" of the Gulf of Mexico and Pensacola Bay. Plus many good restaurants & nightspots.

Rating: (9) This park for us is a ideal place to spend a couple of weeks and having fun in the sun... if you like the beaches it can't be beat. It doesn't have sewer or it would rate a 10 in my books.

Come & Enjoy beautiful sunsets

Have Fun & Travel Safe