Saturday, October 1, 2011

Fort Pickens - Third Time Around

We spent last week in the campground at Fort Pickens.  This being our third visit, obviously it is a place we enjoy.  Despite mostly perfect conditions, the place was nearly deserted (except on the weekends); an excellent place to escape.  There was one rainy day, but otherwise we visited the beach, either Gulf or Bay side, every day and the weather was absolutely perfect - warm, not hot, with a nice breeze and warm water, but just enough below bathtub temps to be refreshing.  Most times there were no more than 10 people on the beach as far as we could see in either direction and other times less.  For most of the time we spent on the bay side, we were alone - ok, there were hermit crabs, an occasional blue crab, some ants, a Blue Heron, jumping fish and ghost crabs scurrying all over the place.

A few weeks ago, the road to the campground was closed due to sand on the roadway, thanks to TS Lee.  If you don't remember some of our earlier blogs, the road from Pensacola Beach along this barrier island to our campsite is about 7.5 miles along the beach where, in places, the distance between the Gulf and the bay is less than a tenth of a mile.  The road floods frequently and there is a special phone number to use for checking on conditions before one rolls their rig toward the campground.  During the Lee event there were 60 folks stranded when the road became impassable more quickly than anticipated.  Everyone was fine; some just had their stay extended a bit (at no charge) until the road was cleared. Click here for photos.

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