Trout Point Nature Trail

Trout Point is presently restricted to military personnel.

A hidden treasure inside Naval Air Station Pensacola, Trout Point Nature Trail showcases fragile coastal habitats from an easy-to-ramble, accessible boardwalk.

This 1.5-mile round-trip walk offers extensive scenic views of Big Lagoon and Perdido Key and numerous benches and observation points for you to sit and enjoy the salt breeze.

Walking the boardwalk at Trout Point

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

The Hiking Trails of Floridas National Forests Parks Preserves book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.

Overview

Location: Pensacola
Length: 1.5 mile round-trip
Trailhead: 30.333349, -87.338438
Fees: Free. Requires check-in at NAS Pensacola gates.
Restroom: none
Land Manager: NAS Pensacola
Phone: 850-452-2453

As this trail is on a military base, it is subject to closure at any time. Otherwise, the trail is open from 6 AM until a half hour before sunset. Pets and bicycles are not allowed.

Directions

From US 98 in Pensacola, follow CR 292, Gulf Beach Highway, west through Warrington to Bayou Grande. Turn left on CR 292A and left on Blue Angel Parkway. Pass through the NAS Pensacola gate. ID required. Tell them you are visiting Trout Point Nature Trail. Continue 0.7 mile to the turnoff on the right. Drive down a half-mile one lane sand route along the oceanfront to get to the trailhead.

Hike

To protect fragile dune habitats, this trail is entirely a boardwalk. Past the trailhead sign, a side trail comes in from the right from a nearby housing community.

Interpretive markers along the boardwalk explain the plants you see around you, like yaupon holly and coastal rosemary.

The boardwalk leads to a broad, open, and beautiful coastal scrub, with a needlerush marsh on the right providing a counterpoint along the edge of the pine flatwoods.

Pine flatwoods and bayou

Big Lagoon sparkles to the left with Gulf Islands National Seashore beyond. An observation deck provides a sweeping view of the dunes of Perdido Key.

The distant end of the key was once topped with a Civil War era fortress, Fort McRee, which succumbed to erosion by the 1960s and toppled into the bay.

Perdido Key across Big Lagoon

Passing a bench at a quarter mile, the boardwalk continues along a straightaway. In the distance, you can see condos along the shore beyond the pine forest.

There are many dead trees dropped across the sand by prior storms. The sand is so blinding white you need sunglasses. Small wildflowers and shrubs show up nicely against its sparkle.

The straightaway yields to a curve in the boardwalk towards the lagoon, right along the edge of an extensive needlerush marsh where yaupon holly sport bright red berries in the fall.

As you follow the boardwalk over the dunes, you hear aircraft activity in the area. This is the air base where the Blue Angels are based.

Davis Bayou

The next observation platform is on the wooded side of the trail, overlooking Davis Bayou. Not far in the distance are marinas and condos along the shore.

In the far distance you can see giant skyscrapers on Perdido Key, beyond Big Lagoon. After a half mile, you pass a bench.

The trail turns away from Davis Bayou and points directly towards the lagoon.

Trail’s end is an observation platform overlooking Big Lagoon, with a small sandy beach along Trout Point.