Natural communities, ranging from saltwater tidal marshes to pine flatwoods, attract a wide variety of birds, especially during the spring and fall migrations. If you are a fan of bird watching than Big Lagoon State Park is a place you will love! However bird watching is just the start of your adventure, the park has a wide range of activities to enjoy! Big Lagoon State Park is located at 12301 Gulf Beach Hwy in Pensacola, Florida. For more information, click here.
Big Lagoon State Park is open from 8 a.m. Central time until sunset daily. There is a $6 per vehicle fee to enter the park. If you are traveling alone the price is just $4 per vehicle, or $2 per person if you are on foot or bicycle!
Think of Big Lagoon State Park as a gateway. It not only offers swimming, boating, fishing, camping, hiking and paddling, but adventurers also can begin or end a 1,515-mile sea kayaking journey on the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail around the entire state. The top half of a kayak embedded in sand marks the launch site along with a box containing a weathered log book.
The park is also a gateway for the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. The park is a stopover for more than 23 species of wood-warbler and a variety of ducks, sandpipers and black-bellied plovers. Bring binoculars or borrow a pair from the ranger station and roam the shore and extensive coastal forest, or climb the three-story observation tower for a bird’s-eye view.
The park has a wide range of activities you can partake. If you enjoy hiking, the park offers more then five miles of hiking and nature trails! Bicycling is popular along the 2.5-mile-long paved main park drive. Fishing brings in redfish, bluefish, flounder and sea trout seasonally. Crabbing and cast netting for mullet in the lagoon are also popular. Swimming is available in designated areas along the Intracoastal Waterway.
There is also several small beach areas along the quiet waters of the Intracoastal Waterway (not Gulf of Mexico beaches) these are the perfect place to relax or play.
If you want to spend the night, Camping is available in designated areas. Surrounded by beautiful pine flats, the campground has 75 sites, each equipped with 30/50 amp electric, water, a picnic table and a fire ring/ground grill. Three full-service restrooms and a dump station are available. Pets are also welcome within the campground!
Pictures used in this article are owned by the Florida Department Of Environmental Protection. Begin your outdoor adventure at Big Lagoon State Park!
For more of Florida’s Amazing locations, click here. For nearby lodging, click here. For a list of amazing family activities, click here.
