Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013

[sunnymw]

So far this was our only kid-free trip so I'm doing it first. Ft Pickens was closed for several years because they had to rebuild the road after it got slammed by hurricanes.

Sites were $24/night. We were on site D24 which according to all the rangers is the "best site in the whole campground" (out of gosh knows how many!). There are hundreds of sites and due to aforementioned hurricanes, not a lot of them have shade. So if you're tent camping, stick to these: B3, B5, B6 (also an AWESOME site), B11, B12, D24, E17. That's pretty much it for shaded sites.

You have to pay $8 to ride down Ft Pickens Rd, and you need to get there while it's open to get the gate key or call ahead. That $8 is good for 7 days. Good thing is, it keeps all the Pensacola Beachgoers out, which keeps your beach experience... uncrowded!


Anyway. Pics.

[sunnymw]

Re: Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013

HS-- the $8 is paid where Pensacola Beach ends and Ft. Pickens Rd begins. You go down that road for about 8 miles (at 25mph!!!) and you get to the campground.

From our campsite (D24) it was less than a 10 minute walk. However you can park at the camp store, or even by the beach area, and be moment away from the water.

I have several more pictures that I'll post, since it only lets me do five at a time. :D

Oh, and if you want one of those sites... reserve six months in advance. Be waiting at 12:01am. The only reason we got the site we got is A) we went Tuesday thru Friday morning, and B) someone cancelled their reservation last minute. Pure dumb luck!! Site E17 was smaller and had less shade, but also had a trail that I believe led to the bay. It's over in the more scrunched up "RV like" section. You can look at a map and see it pretty clearly.

[sunnymw]

Re: Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013

Here you can see how far "back" it goes into the woods. It's the size of 2-3 regular campsites because of the cutaway.



And for comparison here you can also see our neighbor's site.

[sunnymw]

Re: Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013

There was a trail leading out the back of our campsite that took us to this view (literally under 2 minutes walk)



Part of the fort at the end of the island

[sunnymw]

Re: Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013



Empty clean beaches




Osprey everywhere!

[sunnymw]

Re: Fort Pickens (Pensacola FL) camping trip, June 2013

The road floods pretty easily, they have an 800# to call for status (and if it floods, you do get your money back)




Bay side. Lots of fishing going on.


If you leave the campground for lunch, I highly recommend the Native Cafe. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall place in a shopping center which came highly recommended by locals, and it is surrounded by tons of huge touristy places that aren't worth a darn. Food and service were excellent.


I mainly posted this since I couldn't find anyone posting about Pickens while searching. Almost like since it got wiped out in 05-06, it was forgotten about. We'll be going back every year, it was gorgeous and a fun week!