Along windswept shorelines, a dense hardwood forest persists between Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa Sound.
Created by an executive order by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, Naval Live Oaks Area remains federal land, now in Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Resources
Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.
Overview
Location: Gulf Breeze
Address: 1801 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the picnic areas
Land manager: National Park Service
Phone: 850-934-2600
Open 8 AM to sunset. The visitor center at park headquarters has closed permanently.
Cyclists are welcome to use any of the trails at the Naval Live Oaks Area except for the Brackenridge Trail.
Directions
From Pensacola, follow US 98 east over the Pensacola Bay Bridge to Gulf Breeze. Continue east on US 98 another 1.9 miles past the exit to Pensacola Beach to the main entrance for the headquarters building and visitor center.
About the Park
Set aside in 1828 by President John Quincy Adams as the first federal tree farm, Naval Live Oaks was deemed strategic to the young United States Navy.
Florida was only a United States Territory at the time. As a deep water port, Pensacola Harbor immediately acquired a naval presence which included a shipyard.
Pensacola Bay in 1861 (State Library of Florida, Florida Map Collection)Henry Brackenridge was hired as a forester to tend to the old-growth live oak trees. Shipbuilding was an important enterprise in Pensacola.
Live oaks provided a strong, heavy timber for ships and were especially prized for their thick curved limbs for ship hulls.
Interpretation of how the live oaks were usedBy the Civil War, ironclad ships were in use. Wooden ships became a thing of the past. Most of the original Live Oak Reservations were released to military and agricultural use.
We were fortunate to first hike at Naval Live Oaks Area decades ago when there were still many ancient live oaks to be found.
Interpretive sign among the live oaks in 2006Protected for nearly two centuries, this oak grove became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, which preserves coastal military sites from Fort Walton Beach to Biloxi.
Unfortunately, the oaks’ advanced age and battering by a barrage of hurricanes means there are now very few left. However, the preserve remains deeply wooded.
The main parking area for Naval Live Oaks is at Park Headquarters on the south side of Gulf Breeze Parkway (US 98). A paved bike path leads here from Gulf Breeze along US 98.
Live oaks along the Brackenridge TrailHeadquarters Area
Park near the headquarters building. An easy-to-reach observation deck behind it provides a sweeping view of Santa Rosa Sound and interpretive information.
The 1.1 mile Brackenridge Trail begins at the west end of the deck. The shortest of the park’s trails, it has two loops largely in shade.
Brackenridge TrailA quarter mile boardwalk loop tunnels into the woods. Off the west end of this accessible portion, join a footpath through the oak forest.
Start a second loop counterclockwise. It leads to a scenic overlook on the bluffs above Santa Rosa Sound. Return back along the sound side of both loops.
Anglers have access to a small sandy beach on the sound. Kayakers can launch here.
A sidewalk leads east to connect the Brackenridge Trail with the Santa Rosa Sound Day Use Area. It’s a little less than a quarter mile between the two.
Sound side beachSanta Rosa Sound Day Use
At the east end of the parking area shared with park headquarters, a picnic area along Santa Rosa Sound adjoins the park’s restrooms.
Some picnic tables are waterfront, others are tucked in the pine forest. There is one large picnic pavilion in the complex.
Picnic area on Santa Rosa SoundPensacola Bay Day Use
The entrance to the Pensacola Bay side is on the north side of US 98 about a half mile west of the Headquarters entrance.
Follow the entrance road back to where a right turn leads to the trailhead parking area by the maintenance shed.
Naval Live Oaks Trails trailheadThe Naval Live Oaks Trails start at a kiosk at the north end of the parking lot. A short connector trail leads to the Jackson Trail.
Naval Live Oaks Trails One of the most compelling hiking destinations near Pensacola, the trails on the Pensacola Bay side of Naval Live Oaks Area offer outstanding scenery and surprisingly hilly terrain.A backbone to the trail system, this historic linear path stretches east and west the length of the preserve, with walk-in entrances at its ends.
The Jackson Trail is broad and sandyTake it west briefly to meet the gated portion of the entrance road and walk up the road to the Youth Group Camping Area.
Centered on a large picnic pavilion, this waterfront complex has gorgeous views across Pensaola Bay between the pines and direct access to its shoreline.
Pensacola Bay view from the camping areaHikers can go east or west on the trail system by using the Jackson Trail to make loops with trails that branch off it.
Our trail map below illustrates the 5.4 mile route we explored. The highest sand bluffs are to the west. A freshwater pond is an unexpected feature to the east.
Hiking in scrubby flatwoodsTrail Map
Explore More!
Slideshow
See our photos of Naval Live Oaks Preserve
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Shoreline Park Explore a network of well-maintained and signposted nature trails threading through natural habitats atop bluffs and within wetlands along the shoreline of Santa Rosa Sound.
Fort Pickens With more than seven miles of beaches along Santa Rosa Island, the Fort Pickens Unit at Gulf Islands National Seashore is a compelling destination at Pensacola Beach.
Florida Trail, UWF/SRIA Dunes Preserve 3.2 miles. At the UWF/SRIA Dunes Preserve on Santa Rosa Island, the Florida Trail traverses a series of coastal habitats cradled by the sweeping dunes, providing a one-of-a-kind hike.
Garcon Point Trail Pitcher plants and orchids accent expansive coastal prairie landscapes and diverse pine flatwoods along a series of trails at Garcon Point. 
- Hal Scott Red Trail - November 13, 2026
- Baseline Trails - November 7, 2026
- Hal Scott Yellow Trail - November 3, 2026