St. Joseph Peninsula State Park
St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is at the eastern end of the Florida panhandle. The peninsula is oriented north-south in the Gulf of Mexico with the gulf on the west and St. Joseph Bay on the east. The park takes up the northern 10 miles of the peninsula with 7 of those miles being completely undeveloped. Unlike the more popular beaches around Pensacola, Navarre, or Destin, there are no hotels or high rise buildings, no bright lights, and no rows of people lining the beach. If you ever wanted to have some beach area to yourself, this is the place to be.
There are 8 rental cabins in the park that seem to stay booked year round, but I happened to find an open night in one of them. The cabins are on the bay side of the peninsula with with walkways that lead to benches right at the edge of the water.
The walk from the bay side of the peninsula to the gulf side takes you through a 1/4 mile long trail through the edge of the wilderness area and over some of the very tall dunes that are one of the main attractions at this park.
Once you make it to the beach, you can walk for miles with no people, beach chairs, hotels, or other distractions. There's nothing there but dunes that are taller than most houses. The sun sets on the gulf side of the peninsula and you get a great view from the beach.
The bay side of the cabins offer equally nice views. The peninsula is far enough away from the city lights that there are plenty of stars at night and the sun rises on the bay side in the morning. There is a nature trail that follows the coast line along the bay, and there are deer running around on this part of the park.
