St. George Island State park

We were keen to try a new campground and were going to do a show in Tallahassee so St. George Island State Park was a natural choice. St. George Island State park is located on a barrier island south west of Tallahassee. It has 60 campsites. The sites are behind dunes in a pine forest so there are no ocean views…approximately ¼ mile to the beach from campground. Bring your bike.

The ride from Cedar Key was an easy sleepy ride…no highways just back roads. When we are rving we like those back roads! Arriving on Saint George Island…it had a small tourist section but then quickly gave way to rolling little dunes with houses dotting the island. It was about 8 miles from entering island to getting to our campsite; 4 miles to state park entrance from entering island.




We had selected a nice site and really none of them are bad. Maybe it is the time of year, but it seemed rather lush greenery under those tall pines. Mosquitos were rather aggressive so we
whipped out the thermaCell lantern to make life pleasant again. ThermaCell Lantern works when there is little wind…perfect for this sheltered spot underneath the trees.



After setting up the trailer and unhitching, we took off for a quick jaunt to see the beach on our bikes. We went to the most easterly day use area and found a gated hard sand/gravel road (no cars unless you have a permit but bikes were okay)….off we went to explore.

All I really wanted to see at this point was the beach! It was four o’clock and I was getting hungry. So baited by the thought of seeing the beach, we rode and rode….five miles later we were at the beach (couldn’t give up too soon don’tcha know!). But all along the way we saw great dunes, heard birds, and had a quietly good time. When we arrived at the beach no one was there so we had a nice walk on the beach. Coming back to our bikes, we found a group of young men had ponied up the money to buy the car pass so they were fishing and their chariot would await to take them back…

Note our MIFI services was almost useless here…very, very slow. My tracphone service blinked in an out so I shut it off. David’s phone was a little better and he carry on a conversation. I was able to get maybe four tv stations without a satellite dish.




Saint George Day 2: Before breakfast, we decided to bike off to the ranger station/park entrance area from our campsite. It was nice ride with the wind at our backs…whoopee! Got the information that we were looking for about the hiking/nature trail. On the way back we stopped at the first boat launch area to have a look. (bathrooms here).

Now when I am biking my normal visual area is pretty much the several feet in front of my tires. I think I need to fix that to a broader visual field…like maybe 40 feet. Today, David yelled to me
Stop! He had just zoomed by a rather large snake (5 feet and about 2 inches in diameter and a rust coloring…neither of us got close enough to see its specific markings and it took off after a minute). I would have ran right next to it. David couldn’t stop because by the time he saw it
That would have put him right next to it. The mileage for that jaunt was 10.5 miles.

The nature trail is approx. 2.5 miles one way and leaves from the western end of the campground.
There are benches every ½ mile for those who care. I always like when there are benches to give
My back a break and a stretch.

Needing to get strawberries for our pancakes we located two grocery stores on the St. George Island. Both were on the road leading to the bridge gaining you access to the island…right across the road from each other. One was higher end than the other but BOTH were seriously expensive!
The going rate for strawberries at this time was about $2.00 on sale. One wanted $5.99 and the second wanted $4.99…out of desperation I took the $4.99 ones. So, bring in all your food if you
wish to save any money as from what I saw on other items, they are really overpriced.

We decided midafternoon to go take a walk. We started our walk on the primitive hiking trail accessible from the end of the campground to the day use area and turned left to go on the East Slough Trail (to the day use area). The primitive hiking trail (2.5 miles one way) continues straight were the East Slough Trail turns left (save that one for tomorrow). Again, I thought it would be a very short 1 mile walk but turned out to be about 3 miles. I was walking in crocs without socks (not a wise choice but I survived). It was hot (about 87 degrees…what was I thinking?) and we brought no water (duh!) and those benches I mentioned….every single one of them was in the sun! Got my exercise in for the day. Pass me a cold beer!

It is April and we are staying in Saint George State Park for four nights and it is quiet. Staying during the week, the day use areas are not used much.

SAINT GEORGE DAY 3:

Today we decided to walk the primitive hiking trail (five miles return)…so off we went early to avoid the heat this time…smart choice. As an afterthought, I slathered myself with Avon Skin So Soft due to bug issues in campground. As we were entering trail a women was walking rather
Quickly muttering about mosquitos. David chose to remain bugbait (no repellent). Fortunately aside from a fly or two, he wasn’t bothered. I did catch about 3 mosquitos landing on me.
Nice walk, a few mosquito ponds, just saw two people on trail and one tent at the end. Sand is soft in parts and somewhat annoying to walk on.

Indigo Buntings (blue colored birds for the uninformed) seem to like this campground. It was the first time we have ever seen them and they are fabulous deep turquoise blue. A group of them were playing together all over the campground. David is out there now trying to take photos of them...let’s see what he comes back with as they are not being very compliant

SAINT GEORGE DAY 4:
Today we spent biking down to the east end of the island and hanging out there, walking the beach for a while. Then it was off to the beach for our last day of beaching. A nice way to end our last free day in Florida.