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Big Lagoon State Park in Florida’s Panhandle is just 10 miles southwest of Pensacola Florida. The 705-acre park encompasses Big Lagoon that connects to Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Long Pond is also within the park and is home to many alligators.
Besides access to lagoons and waterways that lead to the Gulf of Mexico, Big Lagoon is also a “gateway site” for the Great Florida Birding Trail, so there are definite opportunities for birding. It hosts 9 distinct natural communities and features a number of endangered species. The park has many different recreational opportunities, including boating and fishing, with excellent access to the aforementioned waterways.
Unfortunately, at the time of our visit just a couple of months after Hurricane Sally hit this area in September 2020, much of the park remained closed due to structural damage. A large portion of the hiking trails, beach access and biking paths were not accessible because of storm damage. Fortunately, the path to Long Pond was still open and we were able to see tortoises and an alligator there.
Here are some campground facts: There is one medium-sized campground centrally located within the park with 75 electrified campsites with water hookups, but no sewer connections. There are also a few group campsites available. The campground has three modern bathhouses with showers nicely spaced within the campground loop and a dump station that can accommodate one RV at a time. The dump station ration of 75:1 is fair, meaning you may have to wait if you depart at busier times. There are two boardwalks directly from the campground to points of interest near or at the beach, yet these were partially closed during our visit due to aforementioned hurricane damage.
There are five criteria we look at when rating a campground. First up, Hospitality and Check-In. We give this a 5 out of 5 as we simply pulled up to the ranger station and checked in while remaining in the vehicle. The ranger handed us our site tag and we were on our way. Very easy.
Next in our review is Infrastructure & Amenities which we are only giving a 2 out of 5. The main park road is paved and in good shape, but the campground loop road has quite a few significant potholes. 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. The main reason however for our lower rating is the recent damage due to Hurricane Sally. While this is no fault of the State Park itself and will eventually be remedied, it is still a significant infrastructure blow and as of the time of our visit, severely restricted access to much of the park’s amenities.
Site Quality gets a 3 out of 5 as there is a good deal of difference between the quality of the various sites. Many sites are loose sand, some are hard-pack sand, others are gravel, and a few have concrete pads. Some of the sites are not very level, but most are. All sites have water and electric, and fire ring and picnic table. Some have 50-amp service, and none have sewer hook-ups. Generally, the sites don’t feel new and could use some material updates, including new gravel, yet electric and water service worked well as expected.
Our Exercisability rating is a 3 out of 5 as there are a few miles of paved park road to run on with very occasional slow traffic. We were able to get both 5 and 6-mile runs in with a bit of backtracking on the main road. Unfortunately, again, there is a significant length of park road closed due to Hurricane Sally which should be open at a future date. While hiking is now very limited due to the closed trails, there is significant water sports opportunity on Big Lagoon. Boating, fishing, kayaking and canoeing are all prime opportunities.
Finally, we are giving a 5 out of 5 for Workability as the bandwidth for AT&T was exceptional with Verizon useable but less impressive. Using an iPhone 10, we had bandwidth speeds of 35.5 Mbps down and 27.7 Mbps up on AT&T. Using our Verizon 8800L Jetpack MiFi, we experienced slower speeds of 6.03 Mbps down and 1.14 Mbps up. There is very little noise in terms of trains or airports near the campground which would impede conference calls. In short, this is an excellent place to work remotely from in terms of bandwidth.
Overall, we thought Big Lagoon State Park was a fair value. We could work remotely with no issues, and exercise was doable. However, until the infrastructure damage from Hurricane Sally is fully repaired, there is a significant portion of the park that remains closed. In light of this, we would not recommend staying here until the park fully reopens. You’ll want to check directly with the park to confirm this before reserving a spot. If you’re looking for hiking, you may want to look elsewhere for now. If you are looking for a place to kick-back and relax and primarily desire access to Big Lagoon watersports, you may still be interested in staying here even before the park fully reopens.
All the best in your camping endeavors!
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