Defending the Beach: Fort Pickens, Florida - July 24 to 26, 2019
After leaving Crystal Beach in Texas, we spent a non-tourist day in Port Arthur getting caught up on chores and visiting with relatives. The plan for the following day was to cross four states to reach Fort Pickens Campground in Pensacola Beach on the western end of Santa Rosa Island, as part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
We were originally going to boondock in a Walmart parking lot in Orange Texas after visiting with our relatives. However, we were a little concerned about how hot it would be that night and, after the port-a-potty fiasco in Crystal Beach, Right Buddy (RB) was ready for a clean bathroom. We decided to check out an RV park in Port Arthur. It looked like it was either new or recently remodeled so we booked a site for the night. It cost a little more than we were expecting, but it was clean and had hookups so we could run our air conditioner. It also had a nice club house with drinks and wifi where we could get caught up on work, inside, in air conditioning. After running errands later in the day, we met up with our relatives for dinner and spent a wonderful evening of long conversations. We have yet to spend a night in a Walmart parking lot, but that will have to wait for another time, when there is less heat and humidity.
Since we had a lot of ground to cover the next day, we opted to stay on Interstate 10 and Interstate 12 most of the way to Pensacola Beach. The interstate is somewhat scenic over that stretch of the country. It has the Rainbow Bridge across the Neches River as we were leaving Port Arthur, which is the tallest bridge in Texas. However, since the Rainbow Bridge is for the west bound traffic and we were heading east, we crossed using the Veterans Memorial Bridge which runs parallel to the Rainbow Bridge. In Louisiana, we crossed the 18 mile Atchafalaya Basin Bridge which is the third longest bridge in the US, with views of the surrounding swamp land. From the Jubilee Parkway bridge across Mobile Bay in Alabama, we got a good view of the USS Alabama sitting in the Battleship Memorial Park.
For lunch during our long drive, Left Buddy (LB) found a park in Baton Rouge within a mile of I-12. The park met two important criteria for us. It had both a nice picnic shelter to enjoy our lunch as well as bathrooms. There were also tennis courts, a swimming pool, walking paths and a fishing pond. After lunch we strolled over to the fishing pond and RB gave her macro lens a workout, taking pictures of the critters and plants that we saw, such as turtles, dragon flies, bees, butterflies and Spanish moss.
As we got closer to Pensacola, we noticed Google Maps was directing us way out of our way. It was going to take an hour or more longer to our destination than what made sense. While debugging the app, we felt silly and realized that we had the “avoid tolls” turned on. Once we turned it off, Google re-routed us over the Pensacola Beach Road toll bridge which instantly saved us an hour. We’ll pay a toll to save an hour. How much is the toll? One dollar per vehicle. It’s a good thing we noticed that. We would have felt extremely foolish going an hour out of our way and burning over five dollars more in gas to save one dollar.
Our campsite in Fort Pickens Campground was not on the beach, but there were beaches close by. The campground has electric hookups, flush toilets, fresh water, a dump station, and free showers. The risk with the campground is that Fort Pickens Road, the only way into Fort Pickens, is prone to flooding. The road closes about a dozen times a year due to flooding. Campers need to be prepared to evacuate with an hour’s notice or shelter in place, perhaps for days, until the road is cleared or fixed. Luckily, this was not an issue while we were there. We had reservations for two nights so we could have a full day exploring the area. We arrived at the campground around 6 pm, in time for dinner, but after the Campground Registration Office closed, so we had to go back to the office in the morning to check in. As we finished setting up camp, we caught a glimpse of an armadillo dashing into the bushes behind our campsite.
The next morning after breakfast, we hopped on our bikes and rode a little over a mile along the Florida Trail to the Campground Office to check in. The Florida Trail runs right through the middle of the main campground. Taking the Florida Trail to the east leads to the Campground Office and Langdon Beach. Taking the trail to the west leads to Fort Pickens, the main fort itself. We had not heard of the Florida Trail before. It is one of the eleven long distance trails that are part of the National Scenic Trails. The most well-known of the National Scenic Trails are the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. The Florida Trail is 1300 miles long, with the southern terminus at the south side of the Big Cypress National Preserve in the Everglades and the northern terminus at Fort Pickens. Even though the Florida Trail was started in 1966 and became a National Scenic Trail in 1983, the USDA Forest Service is still trying to close the last remaining gaps in the trail. The Florida Trail Association also helps maintain the trail and more information about the trail can be found on their website.
After checking in at the Campground Office, we went over to check out Langdon Beach. Langdon Beach is the only swimming beach with lifeguards inside of the Fort Pickens area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, although there are several other trails that lead to other sections of the beach, both on the Gulf side and the bay side of the island. The beaches are beautiful, with white, sugary sand and an assortment of small seashells. The white sand comes from the rivers draining from the Appalachian Mountains hundreds of miles to the north. Small birds were wading in the swash zone, scrambling and pecking for a meal as the waves retreat before the tasty morsels burrow themselves back into the sand. We waded in the surf, up and down the beach a little ways, taking in the wonderful views and observing the wildlife around us, and getting a nice sunburn on the tops of our feet.
Across the road from Langdon Beach was Battery Langdon, the ruins of a World War I gun battery. You could not go inside, so we climbed up the little hill that was created during World War II to camouflage the battery and stood on top of it. You couldn’t see much more of the battery from above, but the views out over the island and the water were stunning.
We noticed there is a tram service running within the park. It is a free service that has three stops: Langdon Beach, the campground, and the Fort Pickens Plaza (at the fort). According to the park website, the tram runs daily between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm. Since we had our bikes, we did not use the tram service so we don’t know how long you have to wait between shuttles.
For lunch, we rode our bikes back to our campsite. While LB was finishing up, RB took her camera and followed a short path from the campground which led to a small beach on the bay side of the island. There were only a handful of people at the small beach, with some of them standing out in the water fishing with the skyline of Pensacola beyond them across the bay. The small beach was not as nice as Langdon Beach, but it was more secluded and still beautiful.
In the afternoon, we hopped back on our bikes to head west on the Florida Trail to visit the historical Fort Pickens. The fort was built between 1829 and 1834 using slave labor. It was built to protect Pensacola Bay and a US Navy Yard. During the Civil War, the state of Florida, which had seceded from the Union, tried to seize Fort Pickens, but the fort remained under Federal control. Battery Pensacola was built inside the fort in 1899 to help modernize the fort. The fort became obsolete after World War II. There was a ranger-led tour lasting 30 minutes that day, but we missed it. Instead we toured the fort on our own. It is amazing how much of the structure is still in tact, with much of the original fort built with bricks.
We chatted a little with the ranger working at the check out register in the small gift shop. She was so excited to tell us about Grey Beard (The Grey Beard Adventurer - Dale Sanders) who had just come in days before to sign the Florida Trail registry. He had just completed the Florida Trail in 84 days at the age of 84. He is now the oldest person known to thru-hike the Florida Trail. Grey Beard also holds several similar records, like the oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail which he completed in 2017. Way to go, Grey Beard! He gives us hope that we have quite a few years left to travel and have adventures of our own.
With plenty of time remaining before dinner we rode our bikes back east, past the campground and back towards Langdon Beach. Along the way, ospreys were flying overhead. We lost the trail at Langdon Beach, but we think it headed down the beach, which we couldn’t do on our bikes, so we rode down Fort Pickens Road instead. We stopped about a mile down the road, to where the beach was pretty close to the road. Ditching our bikes in a sand dune, we walked up and down the beach again, adding more exposure to our already sunburned tootsies. There is just something about a beautiful sandy beach and the lapping of waves that keeps drawing us back. After we had our fill of sand and sun, we rode back to the campground to make dinner.
At the end of a very fulfilling day, we refreshed ourselves by taking advantage of the showers in the campground. We slept well that night with smiles on our faces. What is better than a day filled with wildlife, beaches, and history along with a little exercise and fresh air?
Check out our related YouTube video: Defending the Beach: Fort Pickens
(RB)