Bayside Campground

Site as described in previous posts, but wanted to add the following. If you are coming from the South (Navarre/FWB), DO NOT trust Google maps. We showed up in the late afternoon and ended up going down 4+ miles of rough that had we stopped would have most likely swallowed the RV up pretty quickly.

After finding a piece of solid ground we pulled over to reassess the situation. At that point the sun had set and thankfully one of the local Law Enforcement officers from FWC saw our lights and came to find us and point us in the right direction. The officer mentioned that this happens all the time and that people were towed out as recently as the previous night. Pretty grateful that he showed up when he did.

So if you’re coming from the south, DO NOT trust Google Maps. Follow the route that takes you up and around the Choctaw Navy Outlying Airfield (picture included) and make sure you follow the red hard packed road. Do not venture off the red road and do not take the Google suggested route south of the airfield as the situation declines very quickly with no easy way to turn a rig around.

Beautiful area with amazing kayaking and trail opportunities. Park ranger was by every morning to check on new arrivals.

On Verizon pUDP I had 30down and 12up. That was great for work.

The bad: spots are super close together and there is zero privacy due to that. This ruins the experience of wild camping. No site has any decent solar exposure so expect to all be running your generator if youre working or don't have a 4k in Lithiums yet :)

Locals showed up often and late into the night, nothing beyond some off leash dog issues occurred but it's not a place I'd leave my gear for long.

So I arrived towards sunset, and unbeknownst to me you had to get a free permit online. Not an issue although it said it was all sold out even though there were multiple spots that were empty? I went into one of the walk-in sites and barely fit my small travel trailer. Luckily there was help from another camper there. Beautiful views, but another camper got mad when my dog ran up to her and her puppy who was also off leash. My dog didn’t see her puppy at first and kind of ran into the little guy, although he did not hurt her. The other camper got mad at me, and I apologized. I usually always have my dog on leash, and always pick up after him. He’s not a problem off leash, he just wanted to play because he was in the car all day, and usually other campers are OK with it. Unfortunately this camper was not and like I said I apologized to her, and no harm was done. Although it did make my beginning of my stay slightly uncomfortable. That and the fact that there are tons of beachfront sites that weren’t even used, and I have to go in overflow because the system won’t let me sign up for them. That’s a huge turn off in my eyes with this permit system.

Really nice sites right on the water. We arrived on a rainy day, if you do the same your equipment will be covered in the orange dirt/sand from the drive in. The road itself is nice hardpack red dirt/sand wide enough for two vehicles all the way in. Right under the approach course for Pensacola Airport so again if the weather is low you will probably here the jets go by overhead every now and then. Watch the turn around at the west end of CG low hanging branches there I would estimate about 10 to 12 feet off the ground. However there is plenty of room to turn around or maneuver prior to getting to the turn around. Had to find a library to print out the permit, was no issue. Tall trees around but not completely shaded, if you need solar.