Next Up, Fort Pickens...

Discussion in 'New Roundtable' started by locoguano, Apr 21, 2015.

  1. locoguano

    locoguano Founding Member

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    Our next camping trip will be at the end of May when school lets out for the summer. We will be spending a few nights at one of the Fort Pickens campgrounds on Santa Rosa Island. We will be within walking distance of the bay beach, the gulf beach, and the fortifications and museum. This will be our first real car-camping trip (big tent, air mattresses, ice chests, etc.).

    I've never been to Fort Pickens. My wife spent some of her childhood in the area but doesn't know the campgrounds. Anyone have any experience over there? Anything in particular about the Fort that we should see?

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  2. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Damned interesting brick masonry in the fort. They have one casement excavated to show how they created inverted arches that are buried to support the weight of the masonry and the guns on the soft sand. They have some Spanish-American war-era gun batteries on the grounds as well, one of which still has some rare guns still in place.

    Fort Barancas, across the bay near between the Navy base and the Naval Air Station is a rarely visited but more more interesting fort and is in much better condition that Fort Pickens. It has a Spanish colonial-era bastion still standing and in perfect condition. If you go there do not miss seeing the Naval Air Museum at Pensacola NAS. It is one of the biggest and finest aviation museums in the world. The Blue Angels base there in the summer and sometimes you can see them practicing.

    Fort Pickens is a state park near a city and is kind of touristy in the summer. I've never camped there. The good thing is that you can drive down to one of the beach resorts or into town and eat some good seafood just a few minutes away or even go down to the Flor-Bama bar for some drinks and music.

    But my favorite Gulf Beach camping is on Ship Island. There is also an old masonry pre-Civil War fort there, Fort Massachusetts, that is part of the National Park System. There are no roads and you must take the ferryboat out of Gulfport to get there so it's not highly trafficked by tourists and most of those are only out for the day. I have been there nights when there was no one on the island but me and the rangers at the fort. It is a very secluded camping area, except on holidays. But even then you can find room to be away from others. The beaches are much cleaner out there.
     
  3. LSUDad

    LSUDad Veteran Member

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    First place we ever camped when I was a kid. Like Red said, the Naval Air Museum is not to be missed. A little over an hour East is another museum, it too has some nice things.
    http://www.afarmamentmuseum.com/
     
  4. HalloweenRun

    HalloweenRun Founding Member

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    I have on good authority, "Moccasins in the bottoms and copperheads in the woods; coral snakes in the brush and rattlesnakes everywhere. Don't freak your lady out, but keep your friggin' eyes open."
     
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  5. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    And sharks, stingrays and jellyfish in the water.
     
  6. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    No snakes to speak of, the inherent danger on the barrier islands is the weather. If the seas get up, you get stranded on Ship Island. If the wind gets up on any of the gulf beaches it can make a mess of your tent in an instant. And you don't want to be there if there is a hurricane in the gulf. Storm surges wash over them regularly.
     
  7. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    Seriously, stingrays can give you a really bad sting. I got stung by one one and it was the worst pain I've ever felt. There is really no way to look out for them. You never see the one that stings you. I got stung while wading in less than knee deep water. My first thought was that somebody had shot my right above my ankle with a high powered rifle.
     
  8. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    Then you weren't wading, oh and slide your feet. Might get a sea urchin under the toenail but it's better than a stinger in the ankle
     
  9. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    I know about the foot slide. It doesn't work.
     
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  10. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    You did it wrong
     
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