Having lived in the midwest for more than a decade, we have been very lucky to have camped at some of the most beautiful places. Just to name a few, we have camped at Sleeping Bear Dunes MI, Pictured Rocks MI, and Peninsula State Park WI. While all these spots provided excellent camping opportunities, none of these were next to an ocean beach. When we moved to Florida, our mission was to do some beach camping, and that’s exactly what we got camping at Fort De Soto Park.
Fort De Soto park is the largest park in the Pinellas county park system and is always very busy with folks kayaking, biking, fishing, sunbathing, and camping. The campsite consists of 238 spots split between two zones: one where you can bring your pet and the other that is pet-free. All the sites have electricity outlets and a drinking water spigot. Be warned though, the campsites fill up almost 6 months in advance. We got lucky when a waterfront one randomly opened up for Saturday.
Day 1 of Camping at Fort De Soto
We woke up nice and early to go camping at Fort De Soto Park. After pulling into the campground, we checked in with the park office (1PM check-in, 11AM checkout). Since we had already pre-paid for our site, all we had to do was provide our car tag number to the park ranger. Then we were handed a receipt that was taped to our windshield as proof of reservation. After that, we made a stop at the camp store to pickup some firewood. We were a little shocked to learn that a bundle of firewood costs $9 and you have to rent a bucket for $3 to burn the firewood in as there are no fire pits at the campsite. Having always paid $4 – $5 for a bundle in Midwest, we were a little surprised by the high price. The store owner said that it is a little hard to get firewood in Florida, and that’s why it was more expensive here. Umm… Really?
We then drove to our camp site and were excited to find that the kayak drop off was merely a few feet away from where we would be camping. The site was nice and flat with plenty of trees that provided shade and privacy. There was a picnic bench, a charcoal grill, two power outlets, and a water spigot. After setting up our brand new Coleman Hooligan tent, we decided to explore the park on our bikes.
Fort De Soto Park has over seven miles of multi-purpose trail meant for biking, running, and rollerblading. The trail goes all the way from the North Beach to the East Beach. Best of all, if you’re on your bikes or on foot, you don’t have to pay the $5 park entrance fee. Yay! After biking up to the giant US flag just beyond the main entrance, we made a left turn and biked to the North Beach. The beach had beautiful white sand and plenty of shaded picnic areas. The most charming part of this beach is the breathtaking views you get of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. You can see the whole span of the bridge and truly get a sense of the height when huge cargo and cruise ships go underneath it.
Next up was Bay Pier. The 500 foot pier provides a haven for the casual fisherman and people looking to jump off into the warm waters of the Gulf. There are sweeping views of the bay and folks enjoying the beach. There is also a shop selling fresh bait, snacks, and ice cream for the hot summer FL days. We spent about an hour here and even saw somebody try to reel in a seven foot hammerhead shark!
The next stop on our bike tour was the longer 1000 foot Gulf Pier. After locking our bikes, we got some much needed ice cream at the little shop overlooking the pier. It was nice to sit under the hay umbrella and just take in the turquoise blue waters of the gulf while enjoying some cold soothing ice cream. The water was crystal clear under the pier and there were talks of many manatee sightings earlier in the day.
From the Gulf Pier, the trail makes a 90 degree turn heading north. Along the way we came across the historic Fort De Soto after which the park is named. This 1900 era military fort was build to defend citizens of Tampa after the onset of the Spanish American War. It’s neat to walk around the big guns and then take the steps to the top of the fort, but since we did this on a previous trip to the park, we just took in the views from a distance this time.
After the fort, we made our final bike stop at North Beach (obviously named since it is the beach at the northern tip of the park). The beach was packed with a lot of sunbathers lying on the white sands and kids playing around in the water. There was also a protected shorebird habitat area south of the beach where we could see many species of birds roosting and wading in the water.
Since it was getting towards the evening, we decided to head back to enjoy our campsite. We sat around by the fire chatting, eating a campfire cooked pizza log, and making some s’mores. Don’t forget to check out the sunset here because the campground has awesome views.
Day 2 of Camping at Fort De Soto
Ashley was too tired to get up before dawn because of an annoyingly loud bird that chirped all night, but I got up and watched the sunset over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It was awe inspiring!
Today was our last day in the park, but since we didn’t have to check out until 11am, we decided to get some kayaking in. Since our kayak drop-off was just mere yards away from our campsite, we carried our kayak and dropped it right into the water. We kayaked to a little island and then went around the campground. When we ended up back at the shallow water where we had earlier dropped off our kayak, we were pleasantly surprised to find two dolphins on their morning hunt. They were bobbing up and down every few seconds while chasing around the fish in front of them. It was truly a memorable sight to see and hear the dolphins breathe from just 10 feet away.
Camping at Ft. DeSoto was well worth it, and we’re already looking forward to camping there again!
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Have you been camping at Fort De Soto? Comment below!
