“Marching” Thru The Panhandle – Friday, Feb 28 to Friday, April 4, 2014

In March, we continued to explore the Panhandle of Florida.  We continued west along the Gulf Coast toward Fort Pickens near Pensacola before making the turn north and back east toward Fernandina Beach.  Unfortunately, the weather this winter did not present the Panhandle to us in a favorable light;o((  Can you say COLD (for Florida), WINDY and WET!!!  Of course, compared to the rest of the country, we had it made:o))  But for Florida, it was a long winter!!

 

A –Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa, Florida
B – Fort Pickens NP Campground, Gulf Breeze, Florida
C – Blackwater River State Park, Holt, Florida
D – Torreya State Park, Bristol, Florida
E – Suwannee River State Park, Live Oak, Florida
F – Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, Florida


(A)  Friday, Feb 28 to Wed, Mar, 5 – Topsail Hill Preserve SP, Santa Rosa, FL


Topsail Hill SP was just a 10 mile drive down the road from Grayton Beach SP!! 

Topsail Hill SP was once a private RV resort and they are still maintaining that atmosphere.  All the sites are paved, 50amp FHU.  There is a pool, laundry and camp store. 
We had a nice site, #123, in the back corner of the campground. 
 

 

 

While this campground is lovely,  we probably will not come back. 

It is just too much trouble to get to the beach:o(

 

 

It is a one mile walk to the beach from the tram stop and about 1/2 mile from our site to the tram stop. 

 

You can ride bikes, but NO cars allowed. In order to get our chairs and fishing stuff to the beach, we had to drive to the tram stop, wait for the tram which only runs once an hour and when we got to the beach, it was another quarter mile walk to the beach.  Then you reverse the process to get back;o((

 

The park did have good bike riding and hiking trails. 

However, we liked Grayton Beach and St. George State Parks much better. They both have much better beach access and a more “State Park” feel:o))

 

 

We had rain three out of the five days we were here ;-((

 

 

One of the rainy days, we decided to finally go to Crestview, Florida to see where we live;o)

Passport America – My RV Mail

 

5715 – #1217 – Home Sweet Home !!

   

 

 

When it wasn’t raining, we did get the chance to enjoy the beach and do a little fishing!!

     

 

Still waiting to do a little “Catching” ;o))

 
(B)  Wed, Mar, 5  to Wed, Mar 19 – Fort Pickens NP , Gulf Breeze, FL


Fort Pickens is a beautiful place, but we were here at the wrong time and in the wrong campground.  We reserved 2 weeks as we figured this would be one of our favorite campgrounds.
 

Unfortunately, the weather was just too cold and rainy to enjoy the beautiful beaches or go fishing;o((  Also, we were in loop C of the larger campground which was very tight with very small sites.   

If we come back, we would only come if we could get a site in Loop A, the smaller campground. 

One other note… do not come during Spring Break!!
 
Now having said all the bad stuff, let me share a few photos of this beautiful place. 

 

 

Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description.

 

 

 

Fort Pickens is fun to walk through and walk the wall around it!!

 

 

Nature was EVERYWHERE!!

 

 

Lots to see along Pensacola Bay!!

 

We’ll be back when we can enjoy being outside…

it is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 


(C)  Wed, Mar 19 to Sun, Mar 23 – Blackwater River SP, Holt, FL

This is a little gem of a campground in the State Park System.  It has recently been remodeled and has all new FHU sites and a beautiful new bath house!!  They are in the process of remodeling the day use area as well.  Make note, there are two loops in the campground.  We were on site 18 in the loop without a playground… much quieter;o))



Unfortunately, all the rain we had at Fort Pickens came through here as well and swelled the banks of the Blackwater River to overflowing.  We drove through about a foot of water to get to the campground which sits up on a ridge above the river fortunately:-) 

 

All of our northern stops across the Panhandle are just for 4 nights each.  We wanted to check out different things at different parks.  Our reason for coming here was to kayak the Blackwater River and ride the Blackwater Heritage Bike Trail.  Unfortunately, there would be no kayaking the river while we were here;o((  But we did get to ride the bike trail.

 

 

The Florida Trail passes quite close to the campground and we spent a day hiking there.

  

 

This is a lovely state park and campground…

we hope to return and kayak the Blackwater River!

 

(D)  Sun, Mar 23 to Thurs, Mar 27 – Torreya SP, Bristol, FL

We chose Torreya SP because of the hiking.   The hikes at Torreya are described as Appalachian style hikes… Yep, they were…lots of Ups and Downs!! You did not think you were in Florida!!

Torreya State Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s.  The campground is small and more rustic than others.  Big Rigs need to be selective about their site selection.  We were in Site 16 and just fit even though the site is 60 feet long.  Much of the site is just not useable.  If we returned, we would probably choose sites 25-29.  They are much more level, wide and 50amp:o))



There are two trails as long as 7 miles (the orange trails) and some short spur trails (the blue trails) as well. You do not feel like you are in Florida, but rather in the Appalachian Mountains. There are deep ravines, streams, red sandstone cliffs and bluffs that overlook the Apalachicola river, Florida’s largest river. The park is named for the extremely rare species of Torreya tree that only grows on the bluffs along the Apalachicola River.

Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description.

 

 

Bill and I hiked the lower half of the trail that circles the campground the first day! We left from the campground, walked to the Picnic Area and using blue trails hiked to Stone Bridge.  There we picked up the Orange Trail and followed it clockwise to MM1.5 where we picked up the Blue Trail back to the campground.  It was a total of 6.5 miles.  Day Two, we hike the other half of the Orange Trail from MM1.5 to Stone Bridge and back to the campground. That hike was 5.5 miles.

Both hikes were quite strenuous and really reminded us of hiking in Acadia NP!!!  It was so hard to believe we were in Florida with all the ups, downs and changing environments.

 

 

Torreya SP was built by the CCC and one of the projects they completed was moving

The Gregory House from its spot along the Apalachicola River

to this bluff in the state park above the river.

Click Here to read about the History of The Gregory House which is open daily for tours.

 

We really enjoyed Torreya State Park

 and

will return to hike again!!

 


(E)   Thurs, Mar 27 to Mon, Mar 31 – Suwannee River SP, Live Oak, FL

This was our first trip to Suwannee River SP.  Our reason for coming was to kayak the Suwannee River.  Well… again, because of all the rain, that was not going to happen;o)) The Boat Launch is closed;o((

 

I took the photo on the left and pulled the photo on the right from the State Park web site!!

Normally, the Suwannee River is a slow moving, lazy river… but right now, it is over it banks and running at about 8 mph.  No way you could paddle against that current!!

Never having been here before, we lucked out and got a very nice site:o)

     

It is a small campground with some tight sites, but it does have 50amp FHU sites!! 

 

We spent our time hiking and biking.  There are several hikes within the park and the Florida Trail is just outside the park and connected to the state park by a hike over the old railroad bridge across the river.  Our first full day, we headed to the Florida Trail first.

 

 

At the end of our hike, as we were crossing the railroad bridge back to the state park,

we were treated to a visit from this Swallow-tailed Kite soaring over the river!!

 

 

 

 

Before heading back to the campground for lunch,

we made a short detour to find a geocache on the Sandhill Trail;o)

 

 

 

There are two more hikes within the state park: The River Trail and The Lime Sink Trail.

 

After lunch, we headed down The River Trail.

 

The trail ends at Balance Rock and we planned to return by way of The Lime Sink Trail.

 

However, The Lime Sink Trail was under water, so we retrace our hike along The River Trail.

 

 

Day 2, we were rained out;o((

 

 

Our third and final day at Suwannee River SP, we drove about 35 miles to Branford, Florida to bike The Suwannee River Greenway Bike Trail.  The trailhead is located at Ivey Memorial Park, the city park.

 

 

We were glad to get some exercise, but the trail is not one we would come back to ride.

 

Suwannee River SP was OK. 

 

If we come back to kayak the Suwannee River,

we will probably go to

Stephen Foster Cultural Center SP instead.

(F)  Mon, Mar 31  to Fri, Apr 4– Fort Clinch SP, Fernandina Beach, FL
Our last stop for the winter is at Fort Clinch State Park which is located in the northeastern most point of Florida.  It is directly across Cumberland Sound from Cumberland Island, Georgia.  Other than our 3 beautiful days at Disney World back in early February, our 4 days here were the best weather we had this winter.  It couldn’t have happened at a better time!!!

Fort Clinch State Park is WONDERFUL!! 

 

Great Location… Pretty Town… Half Mile Long Fishing Pier… Hiking Trails…

Miles of Biking… Two Nice Campgrounds… Excellent Beach Access...

Nature Everywhere!!! 

 

We liked it so much that we have already booked 3 weeks in November!!!

I’ll just let the photos do the talking….

 

Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description.

 

  

   

 

 

 

 

Nature, Nature, Nature:o))

 

 

 

Oh Yea…  We’ll Be Back!!!

 

 

Currently we are at Huntington Beach SP in Murrells Inlet, SC and we’ll be here catching up with family and friends!!  We have a few short trips planned… one is to the Spring RV-Dreams Rally in Tennessee:o))  Otherwise, we will be in this area until June 25th when we run away from the beach for the summer;o))