Nature takes center stage at Little Talbot Island State Park, with more than five miles of natural oceanfront wrapping around the island from Simpson Creek to Fort George Inlet.
With a panorama of the mighty St. Johns River outflow to the sea, it’s a place to contrast the river’s riotous waters with the calm of tidal pools and estuarine coves on the inlet.
Windsurfer taking a break in a cove off St. George InletResources
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Overview
Trailhead: 30.458366,-81.418244
Address: 12157 Heckscher Dr, Jacksonville
Fees: $5 per vehicle
Restroom: At the beach parking area
Land manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 904-251-2320
Open 8 AM to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome except on beaches. Accessible beach crossovers provided.
Directions
From Jacksonville, drive north via I-295E over the Dames Point Bridge and exit at Heckscher Dr (SR 105). Drive east. After the highway passes the Mayport Ferry dock 9 miles into the drive, the road becomes A1A. Continue 5 more miles to the park entrance on the right. The campground is on the opposite side of A1A but campers must check in at the ranger station to receive the access code.
About the Park
There’s beauty at the beach, and while it isn’t specifically concentrated at the big beach access area with its picnic pavilions and crossovers, that’s where you’ll find most visitors.
Shaded picnic pavilions and large pavilions reservable for group gatherings provide shade in a park where shade is at a premium.
Visitors relaxing at the beachSome visitors bring beach umbrellas. Others make do with their hats, but the wind off the river can pick up quickly.
Waterfront activity is a sight to see, with windsurfers and Jet skis playing in the big waves, vehicles at Huguenot Memorial Park and Navy ships beyond at Naval Station Mayport.
A bustle of activity in choppy waterSouth Beach is not a place to swim. Warning signs note you should keep far from the deeply scoured dropoff at the inlet’s edge.
For wading and swimming, pay attention to beach warning flags before heading for the milder surf at North Beach, closer to the park entrance.
Visitors wading in the shallowsWe prefer the beaches north of the first crossover where you enter the parking area, which also serves as the return route for a loop hike on the Dune Ridge Trail.
This part of the park doesn’t face the hullabaloo of river activity and Mayport. Instead, you’re more likely to see terns, stilts, gulls, and crabs along the shore.
Ghost crab on the north beachThe Atlantic Ocean is rarely mild, so expect rollers splashing the beach. This is the northernmost point in Florida where surfers try to catch waves.
Bank fishing is welcome anywhere along the beach, but some anglers prefer the calmer waters of the Fort George River, accessed via a parking area at the south end of the island.
Fort George RiverThe park’s 36 site campground is set amid dunes in a coastal hammock on the opposite side of A1A, a half mile from the beach.
Sites have electric and water and are largely shaded. There is a launch for paddlers into Myrtle Creek and a nature trail.
Myrtle CreekHiking
Right inside the park gates, the Dune Ridge Trail (formerly the Island Hiking Trail) slips through a shaded coastal hammock before crossing massive dunes to reach the beach.
For campground guests, the 3/4 mile Campground Nature Trail makes a short interpretive loop along estuarine shores and the adjoining high ground.
Campground Nature Trail At Little Talbot Island State Park, the 0.8-mile Campground Nature Trail offers a side of Little Talbot that the whole family can enjoy—along the estuary.
Dune Ridge Trail Expect some elevation change along the Atlantic Coast on this traverse of coastal habitats that includes the tall oceanfront dunes and the beach itself.Cycling
Part of the East Coast Greenway, the Timucuan Trail enters the park from Big Talbot Island to the north and continues along the ocean side of A1A.
It slips into the park just past the entrance gate. When it returns to A1A, it’s behind a guardrail on the ocean side.
View of the inlet from the Timucuan TrailThis provides some protection from passing vehicles as you pass Fort George Inlet and curve around to the bridge over the Fort George River.
An underpass at the highway bridge enables access to the trailhead on the north side of the highway.
Trailhead at the south end of the islandA ride from the Big Pine trailhead on Big Talbot Island to the Fort George River trailhead is 4.7 miles, much of it with coastal views.
Cyclists are also welcome to ride the beach up to the northern sand spit and to take on the Dune Ridge Trail, but you’ll want a mountain bike and fat tires to tackle that loop.
Where damp, the beach is largely well compactedTrail Map
Explore More!
Big Talbot Island State Park is immediately north of Little Talbot Island along A1A.
Big Talbot Island State Park Wind and water perpetually reshape the landscape along this rugged Atlantic shoreline with tidal pools, black rock beaches, and a boneyard of sand-scoured trees.Slideshow
See our photos of Little Talbot Island State Park
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Fort George Island Cultural State Park With layer upon layer of human habitation atop the highest natural hill on the southeastern Atlantic Coast, Fort George Island offers a long look at the past.
Kingsley Plantation One of the historic treasures of Timucuan Preserve in Jacksonville, Kingsley Plantation interprets the everyday lives of free and enslaved peoples on an early Florida plantation.
Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park Within city limits yet truly wild, Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park protects more than 4,000 acres along the edges of enormous estuaries draining into the St. Johns River 
Betz-Tiger Point Preserve On a peninsula where the Timucua used the surrounding estuary for sustenance, Betz-Tiger Point Preserve provides more than six miles of breezy trails