Find the top rated birding trails in Fort Walton Beach, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
One of our favorite ways to spend Saturday and Sunday mornings is riding the Blackwater Heritage State Trail. It’s a beautiful, well-maintained trail that’s perfect for a relaxing ride. The entire trail is paved, and there are plenty of stopping areas with restrooms along the way, which makes it super convenient for a longer ride.
The park service does a fantastic job of keeping the trail clean, regularly clearing away leaves and branches to ensure a smooth ride. There are two access points to the trail: you can start from Caroline Street or Old Bagdad Highway.
For my wife and I, we prefer parking near the waterfront park and picking up the trail around the visitor center, though we’ve done both starting points and they’re both great options. No matter how you approach it, it’s always a peaceful and scenic ride. If you’re looking for a nice way to spend a morning, I highly recommend giving it a try! Plus, there are 3 different breweries when you finish that serves up a very nice cold brew.
I spent the month of January, riding this trail. The area was a strange interface of crowded developments and state parks. There are many roads and driveways intersecting the trail. I imagine, at the height of the Spring Break Season, the crowds would be terrible.
It does not get much better than this, plenty of parking and access points, bathrooms clean and well spaced along the way, nice visitor center and plenty of benches to take a break if need be. 12' wide nice smooth paved trail, slight elevations, nice scenery. In town plan on some stops at road crossings but people are very bike friendly. There is a great bike store too along the downtown trail head if you need something. I just moved about 15 miles from this trail and will be using it often!
I really enjoyed this trail. Lots of different entry points and nice wide trail. A few streets to cross but they are spaced out. Will be riding here more
Wide for the most part, paved, water stops on east side section that is in town. Crosses a lot of driveways, both residential and commercial so you have to be aware of vehicles entering and leaving. The few miles on the eastern end are out of any residential or commercial development, At the eastern terminus of the trail there is a bike lane that begins on the road that you can ride another approximately 15 miles Navarre Beach.
Had a blast with my wife! Rode to Seaside for some good Greek food from one of the food trucks. Easy riding! If you want beach scenery you’ll need to leave the main trail. This is one we will do again. We rented our bikes from Rideit on Santa Rose ¿ Beach.
Took my dog with me and literally wore us both out. Very nice trail with lots of shade, flora and fauna.
Loved this ride-- rode it in late Feb, 70° and very little traffic through the national seashore portion. Loved the pristine dunes and having the ocean on one side and Santa Rosa sound on the other. Plenty of places to stop and rest or have a picnic.
My wife has limited use of her left side but enjoys riding her e-trike. We stayed in Panama City Beach for 10 days and this was our go to trail to ride.
We parked at Frank Brown Recreation Complex with easy access to the trail. The surface is very smooth and well maintained. We would ride south to the colony, taking the side trail and two other paved paths that went along the highway. Traffic at the crossings was very courteous and stopped to let us cross each time. We could get nearly 10 miles in without retracing our side trails this way.
On one occasion we did ride to the other park, crossing the busy highway at the light. A note of caution however, I guided her trike halfway across the road before letting her go under her own power. I did not realize there was a sharp left turn on the other side. Just as she needed to make that turn, her e-trike surged, and she nearly lost control. She could have ended up going down an embankment and into the water. Thankfully she did not.
We sure appreciated the effort put into developing these trails. Although not crowded, lots of people were enjoying them.
The trail is narrow & crosses the road several times as it passes through beach towns on the Gulf of Mexico. The scenery is pretty decent. I rode it on a weekday in February & it was pretty busy. It's worth the time if you're in the area.
Left Rosemary Beach and headed west on Friday, February 2nd, 2024. Road and trail was completely closed around Mile 13..no way to detour…planning on 30 miles plus with lunch in Seaside..had to turn back. Deer Lake Park was worth the visit.
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