Fort Pickens Campground

First time here. Their website says this is the most popular CG in the NPS system. But I don't see why.

Fees - When you come in the entrance you are still several miles from the CG. And the entrance fee is not included in the CG fee. I have a lifetime veteran pass so we didn't have to pay the entry fee. This CG is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which is a huge park system. Before coming here we stayed at the Davis Bayou CG in Mississippi which is also part of this NP. But the nightly fee there was just $22 compared to $40 here.

Campground - The CG check-in was closed. We were told at the entrance station to go straight to our site. Our CG pass was clipped to our post on arrival. Over 200 sites in 5 loops. The 'loops' are really just rows in a giant CG. Sites are not right on top of one another but there is no privacy. Parking pads are narrow. I was all the way over to the left and was just able to keep my steps on the pad. Water was conveniently located mid way back. But the electrical post was 5ft tall and 15ft behind the rear of the pad so I needed an extension cord to plug in. Most sites are small and the roads are narrow, with trees close to the edge of the road. So getting my 30ft 5th wheel into my site was a challenge. But the biggest challenge was getting my RAM 2500 into my site without it being on the grass. I did it. But anything longer and you'd have to put your truck/toad in the extra parking down by the dumpsters.

Water went out on our 3rd day. We switched over to our tank but there were many campers who were unprepared.

Bathrooms - The E 'loop' restroom was closed for remodel. And they need it. The ones that have been remodeled have new flooring and paint but weren't really any cleaner. The next nearest was the C bathroom. Small, and not clean. Dirty, broken light fixtures, smelly. Many door closers are broken or missing. The showers are uni-sex rooms. No curtains, but they have a bench and a partition to keep the bench dry, plus hooks. Showers get hot and had good pressure but aren't adjustable. You have to get right up next to the wall for the spray to hit you. And it ran out of hot water after 5 minutes. So we just showered onboard after that.

Park - We're not beach people so this wasn't my first choice, but the CG at Big Lagoon state park was closed and the others didn't have openings. We've been to several coastal forts so didn't need to see this one. But it has some history. We went to a ranger talk at the Fort which was interesting. Other than that, there isn't much to do.

There are a number of easy walks around the park and we did several of them. The visitors center is closed for remodel and there are no maps available. The only map is on the NPS app. Fort Barrancas is part of the park. It's actually inside NAS Pensacola across the bay. Unfortunately the base has been on lock down and civilian access is limited.

We camped at Fort Pickens Campground in a Fifth Wheel.

Camped in loop “B”. Park is beautiful. Sites are very close together. Very well maintained. The new showers were disappointing, if you’re short you’re going to get water boarded. I very much enjoyed my stay.

The campgrounds are great. Fort Pickens is a beautiful spot but the female that was working on 1/29 in the afternoon needs help with customer service. I get taking your job seriously but being an absolutely rude individual isn’t the way to approach your job. Maybe a lesson in being nicer to get your point across would serve her well. I would have given five stars for the landscape alone here and the level sites at the campground but her attitude needs fixing. I usually don’t leave a negative review and find good to everywhere we go on the road but her attitude was a one star.

We spent almost two weeks at the Fort Pickens campground. Many of the spots were amongst trees and very pretty. We were close to the bathroom in the non-electric area that had been remodeled. Very clean!
We used the laundry facilities. They were clean too! One of the washers was having issues with the coins but the other machines were fine. If we would have needed more laundry we would have used the app. We were told by other campers how nice it was and even told you on your phone when your machine was done.
We loved how close it was to walk to the beach over the boardwalk. We did this daily. We also enjoyed the many trails that went to the bay side and to the fort. Seeing and hearing all the birds along the way was a bonus. This campground is sooo quiet. The staff and hosts were very friendly and answered our questions.
We hope to come back again!

Nice campground with beautiful trees all around. Bathrooms and showers are clean and nice! They seemed recently renovated. We had a beautiful spot under a large tree by the bath house on loop d. I liked the orange lights at night. Rangers and staff are friendly.

{"text"=>"First time here. Their website says this is the most popular CG in the NPS system. But I don't see why.\n\nFees - When you come in the entrance you are still several miles from the CG. And the entrance fee is not included in the CG fee. I have a lifetime veteran pass so we didn't have to pay the entry fee. This CG is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which is a huge park system. Before coming here we stayed at the Davis Bayou CG in Mississippi which is also part of this NP. But the nightly fee there was just $22 compared to $40 here.\n\nCampground - The CG check-in was closed. We were told at the entrance station to go straight to our site. Our CG pass was clipped to our post on arrival. Over 200 sites in 5 loops. The 'loops' are really just rows in a giant CG. Sites are not right on top of one another but there is no privacy. Parking pads are narrow. I was all the way over to the left and was just able to keep my steps on the pad. Water was conveniently located mid way back. But the electrical post was 5ft tall and 15ft behind the rear of the pad so I needed an extension cord to plug in. Most sites are small and the roads are narrow, with trees close to the edge of the road. So getting my 30ft 5th wheel into my site was a challenge. But the biggest challenge was getting my RAM 2500 into my site without it being on the grass. I did it. But anything longer and you'd have to put your truck/toad in the extra parking down by the dumpsters.\n\nWater went out on our 3rd day. We switched over to our tank but there were many campers who were unprepared.\n\nBathrooms - The E 'loop' restroom was closed for remodel. And they need it. The ones that have been remodeled have new flooring and paint but weren't really any cleaner. The next nearest was the C bathroom. Small, and not clean. Dirty, broken light fixtures, smelly. Many door closers are broken or missing. The showers are uni-sex rooms. No curtains, but they have a bench and a partition to keep the bench dry, plus hooks. Showers get hot and had good pressure but aren't adjustable. You have to get right up next to the wall for the spray to hit you. And it ran out of hot water after 5 minutes. So we just showered onboard after that.\n\nPark - We're not beach people so this wasn't my first choice, but the CG at Big Lagoon state park was closed and the others didn't have openings. We've been to several coastal forts so didn't need to see this one. But it has some history. We went to a ranger talk at the Fort which was interesting. Other than that, there isn't much to do.\n\nThere are a number of easy walks around the park and we did several of them. The visitors center is closed for remodel and there are no maps available. The only map is on the NPS app. Fort Barrancas is part of the park. It's actually inside NAS Pensacola across the bay. Unfortunately the base has been on lock down and civilian access is limited.\n\nWe camped at Fort Pickens Campground in a Fifth Wheel.", "languageCode"=>"en"}