While vacationing in Cape San Blas, Florida, we decided to take a drive to the north end of the peninsula to visit T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

There is an entrance fee to enter this park which I think was $6 while we were there.

We drove into the park and stopped at Beach Access #3 which had a really nice boardwalk to take visitors over the sand dunes to the beach. The beach was really nice and we even saw a dolphin swimming in the Gulf of Mexico!

There are two hiking trails available for daily use. We first hiked the Bayview Trail which is 1.6 miles long. This trail follows along St. Joseph Bay and then circles back to the trailhead. It was interesting seeing the different types of vegetation that grow along the coasts.

The following day we came back and hiked the .5 mile Maritime Hammock Nature Trail. If you only have time to do one trail, I recommend this one over the Bayview Trail. The trail is right inside the entrance gate (be sure to still pay the fee). A boardwalk leads over a swampy area and then the trail forms a loop around the hammock. A hammock is a shady area. This trail also had signs marking what different types of plants were that we found really interesting.

Overall, visiting this state park was a nice, short activity away from the house and it was interesting to hike in sand!