Click here to sign up for reminders when new blogs are posted.
Torreya State Park in Florida’s Panhandle is about 50 miles west of Tallahassee and 13 miles north of Bristol Florida. The almost 14,000-acre out-of-the-way state park sits high on a bluff overlooking the Apalachicola River.
Even though the campground sits high on a bluff, many of the campsites are fully sand, as are some of the campground roads. There are several miles of hiking trails as well as the historic Gregory House located on the park grounds. Likely the main draw of the park is the fact that it is remote and away from it all. In this regard, the park has a relaxed feel.
The Gregory House is a pre-civil war plantation house overlooking the Apalachicola River. The house is a nice example of a period plantation house and small group tours of the house are available for a small fee. You will need to check with the park as to availability of the tours. You can walk around the house grounds and nearby trails at no cost.
Here are some campground facts: There is one small campground, Weeping Ridge, with 28 rentable campsites. The campground also has two yurts and a cabin that can be rented. Each of the 28 sites have water and electric, but no sewer hookups. There is one dump station that can accommodate a single RV at a time. The dump station ratio is good given it has to accommodate only 28 RV sites. Most of the campsites are sandy, but several are predominately grass with some sand. There are also two youth camp areas and three primitive camping areas in the park where you would have to hike in.
Likely the main drawback of the park is the general location, the closeness of many of the campsites and the sandy lots. In fact, the lot we stayed at was extremely close to our neighbors, to the point of being able to clearly hear all outside conversations when we were inside our trailer.
There are five criteria we look at when rating a campground. First up, Hospitality and Check-In. We give this only a 3 out of 5 mainly because there was no ranger station check in and we were required to be at the main camp building between 3 and 5 p.m. to get our site tag. Easily doable, but just slightly inconvenient to have to remember to do this, especially after a long drive and having set up the campsite. We missed the timeframe and next day went to get our site tag which was sitting on a table in an open room. Also, these instructions are on a small sign at the entrance to the campground, so it would be easy to miss.
Next in our review is Infrastructure & Amenities which we are giving a 4 out of 5. The main park road is paved and in good shape, but the campground road leading up to the campsites is sandy and rutted. It will shake up the RV quite a bit getting up the road. Each of the RV sites has electric and water, yet there are no full hook-up sites. There are modern bathhouses in the campground section for showering, but we didn’t see laundry machines in the campground. The bathhouses themselves were moderate in age and appearance. The campground is well maintained and clean, and there is a security gate with passcode to enter the campground area after hours.
Site Quality gets a 4 out of 5 as there is a good deal of difference between the quality and privacy of the various sites. Many of the sites on the north side of the campground (sites 1-16) are very close together, to the point of being able to clearly hear the conversation of next-door neighbors sitting outside, from inside your own RV. The sites on the south side (sites 17-29) seem slightly more spread out. The north-side campsites are almost fully sand lots while many of the south-facing lots are more grass with some sand. If you don’t like sand, avoid the north-facing campsites. All sites have electric and water, fire pits, picnic tables and are basically level.
Our Exercisability rating is a 3 out of 5 as there are several miles of paved park road to run on with very occasional slow traffic as well as several miles of hiking trails. There is no immediate park access to the Apalachicola River, and no lakes located in the park, so water sports like canoeing, kayaking and fishing are not readily available. Also, the paved running is uneven at times with significant side-hills going to and from Gregory House that can be tough the on the feet and ankles. There are trails for hiking, but the lack of water access is a certain drawback for those who want these options.
Finally, we are giving a 3 out of 5 for Workability as the bandwidth for AT&T was moderate, with Verizon much less impressive. Using an iPhone 10, we had speeds of 13.4 Mbps down and 0.85 Mbps up on AT&T. Using our Verizon Jetpack MiFi, we experienced slow speeds of 0.41 Mbps down and 0.53 Mbps up. One interesting note is that the campground sits right on the boarder of the eastern and central time zones. Depending on which cell tower our phones were connected to, we would different times!
Overall, we thought Torreya State Park was a fair value. We could work remotely and exercise, but the overall quality and closeness of the campsites and the lack of water sports are certainly marks against the campground. If you are looking for a place to kick-back and relax and do some hiking in the panhandle away from it all, this could be a good choice. If you desire more choice in terms of water sports, you’d prefer some distance between campsites, and don’t care for sandy lots, then you may want to look elsewhere when planning your next trip.
All the best in your camping endeavors!
We’d love for you to join the On The Road Team by subscribing to the YouTube channel. If you want to dive deeper, we put more content and photos on Instagram and Twitter @JohnMarucci. You can also follow John on Facebook @JohnMarucciOnTheRoad.
As always, thanks to our teammates who support the channel by watching the YouTube Ads and by starting their shopping from the On The Road Amazon Storefront at: amazon.com/shop/johnmarucci. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Watch the more than 100 videos from John Marucci – On The Road!