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Gap Point at St. George State Park

Gap Point Trail

At St. George Island State Park, the 5-mile round trip Gap Point Trail offers an opportunity to backpack or day hike to get up close to the desert-like coastal scrub.

St. George Island State Park  |  St. George Island
( 29.718900, -84.749583 )      5.0 miles

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Gap Point at St. George State Park
Gap Point at St. George State Park

Tall slash pines dominate the windswept remnant of coastal scrub forest that St. George Island State Park protects at the easternmost tip of this barrier island dividing the mouth of the Apalachicola River from the Gulf of Mexico.

Starting from the campground area, the 5-mile round trip Gap Point Trail offers an opportunity to backpack or day hike to get up close to the desert-like coastal scrub.

Resources

Explorers Guide North Florida and PanhandleHiker's Guide to the Sunshine State

Overview

Location: St. George Island
Length: Up to 5 miles
Lat-Long: 29.718900, -84.749583
Type: Round-trip
Fees / Permits: state park fee. You must check in at the ranger station before backpacking.
Difficulty: Moderate
Bug factor: Moderate
Restroom: at the campground

With soft sand underfoot, it’s not an easy hike, and it’s hot out there—bring plenty of water for the journey, especially if you’re camping along the bay. Be sure to check in at the ranger station before you backpack out to the campsite. Pack it in, pack it out—this is a very sensitive and rare habitat.

For more information about St. George Island State Park, a popular beach and campground, visit the state park website

Directions

From US 98 at Eastpoint, cross the bridge over to St. George Island. Turn left on SR 300 and follow the road until it ends at St. George Island State Park. The trailhead for the Gap Point Trail is at the campground, 4.5 miles past the ranger station. Use the parking area adjacent to the playground.

Hike

The Gap Point Trail, a 5-mile round trip, leads to a primitive campsite on Apalachicola Bay, over relict dunes topped with oak scrub and rosemary scrub, around salt marshes, and along the coastal strand.

Along the trail, the desert-like landscape is oddly beautiful, a testament to the power of wind and water, where trees and shrubs are twisted and gnarled by the persistent coastal winds.

Interpretive information explains the importance of the naval stores industry in Florida history, where coastal pines were tapped for turpentine.

Category: Backpacking, Beach Hikes, Day Hikes, Hikes, Northwest Florida, TrailsTag: Apalachicola, Birding, Botanical, Developed Camping, Fishing, Florida State Parks, Primitive Camping, St. George Island, St. George Island State Park

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill Pike

    May 30, 2017 at 8:52 am

    A couple of your hikes around St George Island and Tate’s Hell refer to US 90. It’s US 98 that runs along the coast. US 90 is much further north, more or less by I-10.

    Particular pages I noticed with the wrong road:

    https://floridahikes.com/gappoint

    https://floridahikes.com/kendrick

    This hike, also in Tate’s Hell like the Kendrick boardwalk above, is correct:

    https://floridahikes.com/kendrick

    Reply
    • Sandra Friend

      May 30, 2017 at 9:33 am

      Thanks for those corrections, Bill – terribly easy to confuse those numbers for those of us living in the peninsula, although I have driven both highways many, many times. They’re all updated now.

      Reply

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