Torreya State Park
The Underdog of the Panhandle
Because of Covid, our first big trip of 2020 was not until the beginning of July. We managed to book 6 nights at Torreya State Park surrounding the 4th of July, and let me tell you, it was LUCKY that we got in, because by the time we booked, it was slim pickin’s, chickens. Whew! We booked with two of our immediate neighbors/friends since: a) they were already part of our quarantine crew, and b) we alllll needed a little vacay to escape the crazy of the summer of 2020, amiright? Right. So we teamed up and got outta dodge. (More about camping with other families in a future post -- the good, the bad, the ugly, why it's absolutely necessary, and the best thing EVER, from time to time.)
So, Torreya State Park.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I should start by saying that this was probably the LAST pick on our summer camping wish list. We had never been there, so while it would be a new adventure, we tend to hunt for parks with springs or beaches in the summer, Torreya overlooks the beautiful Apalachicola River, but it is not super close to any springs, and doesn’t have swimming on the park property due to swift, dark waters.
At the time we booked, however, there was literally nothing available in any of the other state parks we checked. (We try our hardest to stay in state parks when we can, and use private campgrounds and other types of “RV parks” only after state park options have been confirmed unavailable. More to come on that in another post.) So having found it was the last state park with availability, Torreya it was. We looked ahead and figured we wouldn’t mind driving a bit each day in order to see all that we could see in the middle-panhandle area, using Torreya as our “home base” for the week.
Man, am I glad we went for it!
Our whole crew had an AMAZING time during our week there! This little gem is perched high up on the bluffs above the Apalachicola River. Yes, you read that right. Florida has bluffs. For any of you south of Gainesville this may be a stretch to believe but I promise, they’re there, and they’re worth a drive to see. In fact, at 150 ft. above the Apalachicola River, the Torreya State Park campground is one of the highest campgrounds in all of Florida. Way cool for some breathtaking views over the river and into the valleys below.
The campground at Torreya is just lovely.
It's small (with only 29 campsites), quiet, has clean bathrooms, and excellent near-360 degree views of the semi-forested areas below. There is a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Barracks built out of sturdy logs still standing right in the center of the campground. A functional relic from the time the park was built in the 1930s. Not only does it look and smell cool (I love that old wood smell!), it is used as the check-in point for campers. Bonus: It also happens to afford great protection in the event of a significant lightning storm like the one we experienced while there. Exciting! **cue nervous laughter**
If you don’t feel like bringing your tent or camper, Torreya has an adorable Cracker Cabin which sleeps 6 people, and two even more adorable YURTS which sleep 5 people each. **Heart eyes all over the place** This was my first time ever being inside a yurt, and I definitely understand the hype surrounding them now. Light, open, airy, super spacious… they were pretty cool. And each has its own grilling deck and gorgeous views. Definitely worth checking out.
A short walk or ride down the paved road toward The Gregory House will bring you to an awesome playground with a covered pavilion and a nice bathhouse. The kids had a great time playing there and did just fine with the walk. As you continue walking down the road you end up at the piece de resistance: The Gregory House.
The Gregory House
The Gregory House is currently only open for tours on Fridays at 10am and Saturdays and Sundays at 10am and 2pm. Boy, is it worth it to make it to a tour! Not only is it stunning, you get a healthy dose of the history of Civil War era Florida in this region.
The backside of The Gregory House overlooks the bluffs of the Apalachicola River, and the views are amazing! There is a fantastic family-friendly hiking loop that starts and ends at opposite sides of the lawn in the back of the house. It takes you all the way down to the river and then back up, and passes some marked civil war gun pits that are identified by interpretive signage as you walk the trail.
So if it’s so amazing, why are you calling Torreya an “underdog”?
The Torreya State Park of today is not the same park as the Torreya State Park of years ago. In 2018, Hurricane Michael tore out of the gulf and through the panhandle of Florida on it’s way up to Georgia. Torreya State Park was badly damaged. The entire middle panhandle as a matter of fact, was devastated for miles in every direction. Vast stretches of wilderness were impacted, houses were leveled, and forests were utterly decimated. In Torreya, 80% of the park’s namesake trees were damaged, and many completely destroyed.
The Torreya tree was discovered by botanist Hardy Bryan Croom in 1835 and is one of the rarest trees in the world. It is endemic to the bluffs of the Apalachicola River basin in Liberty and Gadsden counties (It grows here and nowhere else in the world.) The loss of Torreya and other native trees due to Hurricane Michael was, and is, one of the most heartbreaking natural disasters in the history of the area. So when you see Torreya now, the scars are still visible from 3 years ago. There is more sky, more open space, more views, but also a sea of dead or damaged trees on the horizon.
BUT… Take heart. Nature is resilient!
And though the land will be left with scars of Michael for years to come, the healing process is already underway. So when you drive to Torreya today, the remaining trees still look a bit skeletal, but they are alive with new young growth sprouting from the large limbs and trunks that were stripped completely bare.
Also, and this can be a good thing for many people, and not so good for others, Torreya is not close to ANYTHING. It’s surrounded by semi-forested wilderness for a hundred miles in many directions, with the nearest grocery store being 14 miles away in the town of Bristol. So make sure you plan accordingly so that you’re not caught without essentials. This is wonderful for many of us wild Florida lovers and campers, but it's also isolated from other wilderness experiences, state parks, points of interest, and most importantly for my family, springs.
If you're willing to take some day trips away from camp, you can enjoy some of the BEST of real Florida that the middle panhandle has to offer, without having to book weeks or months in advance! We reserved a full day to explore Torreya State Park, then hit the road to explore some other areas of the panhandle that we could reach, all within an hour or two round trip drive. We’ll talk about those places in just a minute… I’m so excited to share.
Here’s the short list of the state parks and other points of interest we hit on this trip. Every one of them is worthy of a blog all its own, so I may just keep to some basics so that I can do a full review in a future post.
Beautiful green foliage 2 years after Hurricane Michael
- - - Our 5 Day Middle-Panhandle Itinerary - - -
Day 1: Central Florida → EB Wakulla Springs State Park → Torreya State Park
Who can make a four and half hour drive across the state with kids and not stop to play somewhere in between?
Not us! We almost always use our travel days to stop in and visit at least one state park or point of interest on the way to our destination. Even if we don’t have a ton of time to do all there is to do, we like to take a peek to see what we may want to plan for a future visit. Luckily we had the buy-in of the rest of our crew and we stopped in at Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park in Crawfordville, FL for some lunch, swimming, platform jumping, and ice cream. Now how’s that for a stretch of the legs?!
I’ll be making a separate post on Wakulla Springs in the future, but suffice it to say it’s one of our favorites. We stop there nearly every time we pass through the panhandle.
If any of you are in search of nostalgic Florida, EB Wakulla Springs is calling your name.
Once a renowned location for glass bottom boat tours, the water here is still crystal clear but no longer blue, due to a change in the flow of the water and tannins leaching in from surrounding vegetation and leaf litter. There’s a double decker platform that thrills even the most seasoned jumper, and two floating platforms for swimmers to rest on in the main swim area. Boat tours still set off daily in the spring run and offer both history and ecology information to interested passengers. The historic hotel/lodge is phenomenal and a must see, and the old fashioned soda shop gift shop still sells ice cream sodas, malts, milkshakes and more! The kids absolutely loved this stop, and talked about it non-stop for days.
After lunch we pushed on to Torreya State Park and set up our campers and tents with time for a gorgeous sunset looking over the Apalachicola River basin.
Day 2: Pitt & Sylvan Spring and Williford Spring - Youngstown, FL
After an early breakfast on day two we all loaded up and drove about 50 minutes to Pitt and Sylvan Springson the Econfina Creek. These Springs are managed by the Northwest Florida Water Management District, and while not state parks, they are 150% worth a drive to visit! Pitt Spring is a very small, crystal clear sand spring surrounded by naturalized rock and native vegetation. A tiny, non-navigable spring run leaves Pitt Spring to meet up with Sylvan Spring Run, just a little less than 20 yards away. A boardwalk takes you to a really nice kayak and tube launch upstream where you can float down to the takeout near Pitt Spring.
Our whole crew enjoyed the spring run immensely, and only hubby and I were bothered by the tree damage still present from Hurricane Michael. When you have had the pleasure and fortune to see these areas prior to the damage, it makes you a bit heart-sick to see them in the aftermath of such devastation. Although, they are healing beautifully!
After some good time at Pitt & Sylvan we followed the dirt road to Williford Spring, another of the many springs along Econfina Creek. Williford has some of the prettiest infrastructure of the springs we’ve seen in the area. Large, beautiful covered pavilions, lovely boardwalks to a canoe launch, and elegant stone pavers around the spring entrance. Williford is a hidden gem that most people don’t know about. Be sure you don’t miss it when you’re in the area!
Day 3: Merritt’s Mill Pond and Jackson Blue Spring - Marianna, FL
Day 3 was 4th of July!
To celebrate, we booked a “pontoon boat” through Cave Adventurers on Merritt’s Mill Pond in Marianna, FL, so we headed that way right after an early breakfast. We knew absolutely nothing about Merritt's Mill before we got there, except for the fact that it was a long, narrow pond fed by 7 springs, including it's headwaters, first magnitude Jackson Blue Spring, located inside a county park at the northern end of the pond. Talk about breathtaking!!! I've never seen anything like it! The entire thing, from end to end is crystal clear. Beautiful sea grasses mix with a white sandy bottom, and huge cypress trees line the banks of every side to create a gorgeous body of water.
Merritt’s Mill Pond is utterly breathtaking, and warrants a full write-up of it’s own in the very near future. While we absolutely adore the good people of Cave Adventurers, the pontoon boat left just a wee bit to be desired. We learned after we got there it's usually used to take cave divers and all their equipment out to the different caves on the pond (hence the no-sides, haha!)... not usually as a recreation boat. Still, it provided our whole group a way out onto the water, and for that we were so grateful. We learned that Merritt's Mill Pond is a cave-diving and kayaker's hotspot, and even saw some divers around a few of the caves. For us, just being able to swim, putz around on the boat made for an incredible 4th of July.
Day 4: Torreya State Park - All day
Day 4 was our day to take a break from the long rides to other destinations and just enjoy Torreya.
Day 5: Ponce De Leon Springs State Park and Morrison Spring - Ponce de Leon, FL
Ponce de Leon Springs State Park
After resting up at our home base the day before, we were ready for another spring adventure. This was the farthest distance we drove the whole time for a day trip… but it was so worth it. We drove an hour and 20 minutes west on I-10 to the little town of Ponce de Leon, FL. There are three major springs here that are 100% worth putting on your bucket list. Ponce de Leon Spring State Park, Morrison Springs (county park), and Vortex Springs (privately owned).
Ponce de Leon Springs State Park
We only had the time to visit the first two on this trip but will most certainly be visiting Vortex on a future trip. Each of these springs is so spectacular they deserve a writeup all of their own. We have now been to Morrison Springs four times, and each time I renew my assertion that it’s my favorite spring in Florida. Ponce de Leon is all around amazing and on my top springs list as well. It has something for everybody. Beautiful hiking trails, amazing crystal clear, shallow spring run for the littles to play in. Jumping platform for some epic jackknives and cannonballs, and pavilions and grills spread out all over to take cover in the rain and set up for picnics.
Morrison Springs can get a bit crowded in the summer, but is totally worth the visit.
The water at Morrison Springs is some of the prettiest in all of Florida.
Day 6: Pack up and Head Home
Ahh day six. The last day of any adventure is such a bummer. Packing up is always so much harder than getting set up, but we’ve got it pretty much down to a science. We were overjoyed with the experience of the week. Hundreds of amazing photos captured countless memories that will last a lifetime. We ended up having an incredible time, checked 3 gorgeous state parks off of our list, saw a total of 7 sensational springs/spring systems, and had an adventure for the record books. We would excitedly return again to every single place we visited.
If we did the exact same trip again, we would probably skip Ponce de Leon Springs and Morrison Springs and do Three Rivers and Florida Caverns state parks instead, just for the sake of proximity and time in the car. Then we’d make a separate trip to visit Morrison, Ponce de Leon and Vortex Springs, maybe combined with some of the state parks due south on the gulf. The only reason we didn’t do Florida Caverns on this trip was that tours were closed due to Covid.
I highly encourage you and your family to take a chance on Torreya, the underdog of the middle panhandle. Torreya is neck deep in restoration efforts that will last for years to come, and she needs our love. Plus, there is always adventure and wonder to be found in the unexpected. Our travels have taught me so many lessons. One of the big ones is, don’t judge a state park by what you think you know about it if you haven’t yet been there.
Word of caution:
Photo by Karl R. Studenroth Jr. http://www.nwflec.com/ecologyonlinejournal/id9.html
Torreya State Park is a natural habitat for one of Florida’s six venomous snakes: the Copperhead. We were warned by the ranger upon check-in and asked us all to keep closed-toe shoes on around the campground and on trails, as there had been bites reported. That was a difficult task for this barefoot family, but we managed. The good news is, Copperhead venom is fairly mild compared to other venomous snakes, and bites to humans, while painful, are very rarely (almost never) fatal. We learned they are most active on trails at night, where they are waiting for prey, and that the campers who had been bitten had stepped directly on top of them. So we just used caution going to and from the bathrooms and watched where we were walking. Never saw a single one the entire time we were there, and since the Copperhead only occurs in this small area of Florida, I was actually kind of bummed we didn’t at least see one. Either way, it’s something to keep in mind when you visit!
Just the details:
2576 NW Torreya Park Road
Bristol, FL 32321
Park office: 850-643-2674
Park Hours: 8am - Sunset Daily
The Gregory House Tours: Friday 10am, Sat & Sun 10am and 2pm
Lodging Options:
26 Campsites (water/electric).........................$16/night
2 Yurts (2 beds, 5ppl) ….…………………….....……....$40/night
1 Cracker Cabin (4 bunks 1 queen, 6ppl)…………$50/night
Reservations:
Up to 11 months in advance, call (800) 326-3521 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern) or online at Florida State Parks.
Here are some additional fun pics from our Fourth of July Trip.
Thank you so much for sharing in our adventure with us! Please take a moment to leave us your comments and tell us your thoughts or ask any questions we didn't answer in the post!
Happy Adventuring!
