St. Joseph Peninsula State Park Campground

Hurricane Michael did some major damage to this area - it looks completely different from the older photos posted here. It is a long drive up the peninsula to the campground. Loads of topless trees along the route. The campground really has no trees in it (new ones planted) and no foliage between sites. The sites are brand new and beautiful! Large, FHU, enough space between. Beautiful new bathhouse with laundry facilities and a very impressive new boardwalk to a stunning beach! Staff & hosts were the best! The hosts are constantly cleaning - they rake the gravel in the sites between campers. I even stopped at the ranger station on the way out to compliment the hosts.

We visited this state park during November 2021. It continues being a “day use only” park while it recovers from Hurricane Michael.
A park ranger said that the campground could reopen by Fall 2022, but it is more likely to reopen late Spring or Summer 2023.
The Ranger said that Shady Pines will be the only camping loop as Gulf Breeze will become a day use area. Also, Shady Pines will be reconfigured to allow more room between sites plus all sites will be full hookups.
When it reopens for camping, the park will have around 60 sites down from 119 before the hurricane.

A Florida panhandle peninsula called Cape San Blas juts out into the Gulf of Mexico midway between Apalachicola and Port St. Joe. The T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph State Park sits at the very end of this peninsula and just past the Elgin Air Force Base. Scrub oak and pine highlight the native landscape, as well as white sand, towering dunes, and abundant wildlife. The magnificent beauty of this area defies the question of it being so unbelievably uncrowded.

Mornings are especially pleasant at St. Joseph State Park. The wonderful breezes either come off the St. Joe Bay or the Gulf of Mexico. The coolness of our early bike ride goads Bob the dog to run, run, run. Coming upon a number of young deer meandering around the park also added to the pleasure of taking short breaks along the way. Nature brings out the best in all of us. Riding the two campground circles as well as the connecting camp road is just enough to get the old motor running in these steadily advancing ancient vessels. But being a geezer does help sometimes as our senior discount provided us a nightly fee of only $16.

Not all campsites in Shady Pines are created equal. Many are right next to each other with little privacy. Our site #84 was private but had no shade. When the strong Florida sun beat down directly on the Oliver it raised hell with our A/C. But the campsite was surrounded by a five foot wall of bushes and palms, with a healthy boundary of slash pines and oak. Fortunately for us the majority of campsites are more suited to small rigs. Our particular campsite was more private than most, but backed itself into the wild scrub brush where scary creatures live. But we always look down on the ground where we place our feet, and we use a flashlight at night when we take Bob out to relieve himself. The views out our bedroom windows and dinette were tree-filled and amazing.

Maintaining a permanent RV base camp in nearby Apalachicola will afford us easy and almost spur-of-the-moment access to this wonderful state park. Already too familiar with the many irritating insects of the Gulf coast our jury is still out as to how accessible this park really is. Late spring and summer months are probably beastly. Winter months are most likely frigid or at least uncomfortably cold. Temperatures for our October visit were humid and remained steady into the mid eighties. But it was pretty much bug-free. Our first-ever experience of “red-tide” greeted us on this trip however. The air on the beach was said to cause breathing problems even for campers without previous asthmatic conditions. Both Beverly and I coughed a bit on the beach but all in all it wasn’t bad enough to leave for home. The red tide only seemed to affect our beach experience. Riding our bicycles and hiking the long circling trail presented no adverse conditions other than having to wade through standing water due to recent heavy rains. And that is not fun to do in simple boat shoes or sandals as our imagination veered to the dark side with water moccasins and alligators invading our minds. But wet feet is all that occurred along with three separate instances of sand burrs jabbing into the sensitive paws of Bob the dog.

Our walk on the beach this morning took us to the far end of the peninsula. Tomorrow we will walk the opposite direction on the beach and end up at the other campground in the park called Gulf Breeze. This morning we also walked Bob the dog along the raised boardwalk parallel with the beach. The boardwalk connects the two campgrounds and has several benches and lookouts over the wetlands and prairie. A truly wonderful place to ride your bike, walk your dog, swim, hike the beach, and commune with nature. Perhaps it was because of the humid and hot temperatures present this late September but there were no smelly campfires during our stay, and the park remained quiet. It was obvious during our bike rides that the Gulf Breeze section had less shade than Shady Pines, the sites were even more on top of each other, but the beach access was right across from the park and seemed more suitable to larger rigs. What was also different about this park, compared to other parks we have visited since March of 2018, was the clientele. The campers here seemed more beachgoer or shore fishermen types and we felt most at home in their company.

Feb 2018 was my 3rd trip to this park. I love it. I stayed 7-10 days (I don’t remember) total THIS year. There are 1 or 2 “walk in” sites...if you are lucky, once you get one, you can stay up to 2 weeks. This is NOT advertised. I’d booked for 3 days after which a “walk in” became available. Nice site, too. There is a $6.75 reservation charge (I HIGHLY recommend having a reservation if you are traveling in the winter months) plus taxes. I travel in Feb and March. I’ve hit HOT weather as well as long sleeve, really chilly windy weather. Be prepared for both. The park is right on the border of Eastern to Central time so your phone never knows what time it is...neither do you. But, what’s an hour when you’re in paradise? The sunsets are fabulous. The beach is LONG. Most campsites are spacious...some are very private. The closer you are to the marsh, the more private BUT more mosquitoes and no-see-ums...especially if there is no breeze. Dogs are not allowed on the beach (as one photo suggests), but they are allowed on the boardwalks and in all other outside areas. There are beaches just outside the park that DO allow dogs (on lead)...and the beaches are FREE. Within the park you can rent kayaks. Outside the park you have access to horseback riding on the beach as well as some fairly good restaurants. As other folks have said, there are regulated burns that can leave the place looking pretty grim. When you book your reservation, there will be notification if a burn has just occurred. And yes, there are snakes...saw two on one occasion. So far, I’ve seen no rats. If you want a resort time place, this is NOT a good choice. If you want to spend some time in wild Florida, this is the place to go. Rangers/visiting experts offer nature programs.

The other reviews pretty much have it covered...I'd just like to add you have to be prepared for the full Florida wildlife experience if you are going to stay here. Expect deer, armadillos, rats, tons of mosquitos, birds and maybe even snakes/water moccasins to wander through your site at some point. We never had an alligator visit but there were signs saying they are on the nature trails and in some other areas of the park. The Park and Preserve keep this diverse ecosystem in check with prescribed burns when needed. That said, be aware. Enjoy what Mother Nature has going on down there and you won't even notice the lack of cell service.

Beautiful park, sites are right on the beach and the beach is beautiful. Only issue I have is THERE IS NO CELL SERVICE in the park. I use Verizon and our stay was in May 2018. I had to drive to the end of the island, about a 20 minute drive, to use the phone. I know I should be camping and not on my phone, but my job requires me to be in touch so it made it quite difficult.

Aside from that, definitely worth going back. Bring a good book and enjoy this beautiful beach!

Was on way from Texas to Jacksonville FL. Stopped at this park. I could only book one night online. When I got here the ranger told me to come back at 7:30am and get on the site list. Sure enough someone cancelled and I could get up to 12 days more. The bay and gulf beaches are nice. People were catching fish on the Gulf. They have kayaks to rent and a boat launch on the bay side. I stayed at both Shady Pines and Gulf Breeze. Some of the spots are pretty small, so big rigs would have to be careful. I made a youtube video at: https://youtu.be/EYJVHVL8-1U

Cell Download/upload rates (Mbps) measured with Speedtest
ATT 7.36/0.04
Verizon 0.32/0.28
T-Mobile 8.99/0.25

With Weboost Cell booster:
ATT 8.83/2.89
Verizon 0.36/0.32
T-Mobile 17.1/4.41