Lesser known Special Places.........

[CajunCamper]

We all know about those special places that we have either camped at or plan to camp at such as, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Tetons, Yosemite and all the other magical National Parks, but what about those lesser known places you've camped at. Tell us about some of those places and why they are special places to you. It may be a private campground you enjoy or a state park, a national forest campground or whatever, let us know about it.

For us, up until Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, we enjoyed camping at Fort Pickens which is part of the "Gulf Island National Seashore" operated by the National Park Service. Fort Pickens is on Santa Rosa Island just south of Pensacola, Florida with Pensacola Bay on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the South. The beaches are sugar white, the water is very clear and is a great place for hunting and collecting shells. The campground is shaded with water and electric hook ups, bath houses with showers and a campstore that offers all your camping needs including gasoline and a coin operated laundry room. (The only campground open right now is the primitive campsite without hookups.)

West of the campground on the tip of the island lies Fort Pickens which was built in 1829 to protect the inlet to Pensacola Bay and its port as well as the Naval Station.

We started camping there when our boys were young and they of course enjoyed the beach and the water, but we also enjoyed the many different programs that the Park Rangers put together for the entire family.

The last time we were there we went on a candlelite tour of the fort and that was outstanding. The two female Park Rangers took us through the history of the fort including the year that Geronimo and members of his tribe were imprisoned there. There is a section of the fort wall that was blown away by an accidental explosion and at night when you look at the wall with the glow of city lights behind it one edge of the wall appears to have Geronimo's silouette and the other edge the face of a baby, which they say is the silouette of his youngest child that died there. We also went out in the bay with the Park Rangers, one of them being a marine biologist as they gave all the kids glass bottom buckets, a net and flashlight and the kids caught starfish and crabs and all sorts of sea creatures and the Rangers held a hands on classroom while we were all knee deep in the bay. The kids loved it. On another night the Rangers took us all to a clearing where there must have been 20 telescopes set up by the local star gazing club and they let everyone look through the scopes as they explained what you were lookng at.

There's also a fishing pier there that is very good for catching your dinner and if you you want to get away from the beach and the sun for a while, The Pensacola Naval Station is the home of the Blue Angels and has a museum there featuring Naval Aviation that is wonderful, and it's free. If you're lucky, you can catch the Blue Angels rehearsing and you may also get to see an Aircraft Carrier if one is in port. Pretty coolo stuff.

During Katrina a large section of the 7 mile road that runs from the park entrance to the campgrounds was washed away, but I understand that it will be open again in the spring of 09. The park is still open and camping is allowed, you just have to hike in, or use your boat to get there. I also believe they have limited water taxi service running to the island.

Anyway Fort Pickens is one of those places we enjoyed camping as a family and we look forward to the roads leading in to re-open in 09.

CajunCamper

[JimS]

This brings back many good memories.  I lived in Pensacola for 8 years when I was a kid and spent many days at Fort Pickens.  The YMCA would have "day camps" and take a bunch of us kids to the fort and we would spend the day playing capture the flag.  We would have the run of the fort!  Depending on which team I was on, we would either hide the flag in the refrigerator or in the bomb proof tunnels next to Geronimo's cell.  The road to Battery Pensacola would be the dividing line.
The campground near Battery Worth was a nice campground and I spent many a night there.  If you go off into the woods to the north of the campground, towards Santa Rosa Sound, you can find old military installations, fragments of exploded ordinance from the War for Southern Independence and Indian pottery shards.  Every time I went out there, I would find something new.
It has been almost 40 years now and I often think that of all the places I have lived, Pensacola is the only place I would go back to.  What a place for a kid to grow up!
My older brother went to Santa Rosa Island last year and told me that all of the sand dunes have since been washed away.  Oh well...

[Clarabelle]

South of Jackson Hole, and about 10 miles of rocky road off the highway is a National Forest campground, Granite Creek.  Lots of wildlife (moose, sandhill cranes, beavers) and not too many people, especially during the week.  Locals come out on the weekends.  There is a hot springs/swimming pool to swim in, good hiking, and and great scenery.  

We enjoyed our stay here more than Teton or Yellowstone.