There are no set destinations or “must hike” trails in the Naval Live Oaks Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore, so hikers use a variety of trails, like a road map, to create a route of a specified length that fits their schedule or exercise regime. This is what I did with my Naval Live Oaks Loop Hike, a 5.8-mile hike the uses part or all of nine out of eleven trails in the park. You can read about the route in the following reports and hike along with me, or figure your own route.
All trails are easy to hike, though there may be a few hills. The most difficult obstacle you will encounter is the deep, beach-like sand on some of the trails north of Gulf Breeze Parkway. The northern trails have a distinctly different environment from those south of the Parkway in that they are exposed to the sun and cut through shrubs, small brush, stunted pine trees, and an occasional Live Oak. The trails south of the Parkway are forested, with many more Live Oaks, the tree that gives the park its name.
The trail intersections south of the Parkway are well marked, but those in the northern section of Naval Live Oaks, where most of the trails are located, are rarely marked. The problem is compounded by the many “social trails” in the area—unofficial trails hikers have blazed over the years to create shortcuts from one place to another. Since the official trails aren’t marked, it is often hard to tell which is which. I pretty much made my way without error only because I had a GPS that used Google Maps, and the Naval Live Oaks trail map is on Google. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have turned down the wrong way at least once and would have gotten completely lost. Fear not, however, because you can’t get lost forever. There’s only so far you can go before you come to either Pensacola Bay, the shopping centers and residential neighborhoods that line the east and west boundaries of the park, or Gulf Breeze Parkway.
My hike starts out on the Brackenridge Nature Trail at the Naval Live Oaks parking lot on Gulf Breeze Parkway. Each trail that is part of my hike has its own trail report. Trails are listed in the order hiked. A link at the bottom of each review takes you to the next segment of the hike.
- Brackenridge Nature Trail
- Fishing Trail
- Boy Scout Trail
- Andrew Jackson Trail
- North South Trail
- Old Quarry Trail
- Beaver Pond Trail
- Brown’s Pond Trail
- Old Borrow Pit Trail
- Loop Hike Conclusion
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Last updated on April 28, 2022