The Lure of the Islands in the Gulf of Mexico
Millions of visitors are drawn to the Gulf of Mexico for Gulf Islands National Seashore's emerald coast waters, magnificent white beaches, fertile marshes and historical landscapes. Come explore with us today!
Today we finally got to a section of the Florida side of this Unit. We took in Fort Barrancas; this fort is on the Pensacola Naval Air Station, so access is limited. We took in the movie that tells the history of this fort and also the sister forts of Fort Pickens and Fort McRee. These forts were part of the Third System of seacoast defense aimed at fortifying major US harbors. We headed out to explore the fort after the movie. This fort is well preserved and offers a few hours of exploring the inner workings of it, we spent three hours here and got in all there was to see. We still have to make a trip out to Fort Pickens but will save that for another visit, Fort McRee no longer exists.
21 Nov 2014
We took in the Mississippi section of this park. We took in the Visitors Center first to get a better understanding of the unit. The Visitor Center offers a movie, and many displays. We then headed out on a great trail walk with Molly. Found an Alligator sunning itself and a few turtles also taking in a sunny day. For this visit we stayed at the National Park campground for a few days and really enjoyed doing that as it gave us more time to explore this section of the park. We missed the ferry season to get to Ft Massachusetts so we will be back here to take it in. We will also have to plan a trip to the Florida side to take in that section.
We took in the Mississippi section of this park. We took in the Visitors Center first to get a better understanding of the unit. The Visitor Center offers a movie, and many displays. We then headed out on a great trail walk with Molly. Found an Alligator sunning itself and a few turtles also taking in a sunny day. For this visit we stayed at the National Park campground for a few days and really enjoyed doing that as it gave us more time to explore this section of the park. We missed the ferry season to get to Ft Massachusetts so we will be back here to take it in. We will also have to plan a trip to the Florida side to take in that section.
Click here for photos of our visit on 3 Dec 2022
NPS Website
Our 109th NPS Unit
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| Molly taking a break on the trail. |
