Thursday, September 24 - We traveled a little over 200 miles this morning down I-95 to Hobe Sound, Florida. We are about 75 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. This is a huge park – over 10,000 acres. It is one of Florida's largest and most diverse state parks.
The park is named for Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker merchant whose vessel shipwrecked nearby in 1696. His party became victims of Indian wars and disease and died shortly thereafter.
During World War II, the land the park now occupies was home to Camp Murphy, a top-secret radar training school. It became a state park in 1950.
There are two campgrounds available. One is designed for smaller RV's and tent campers with water and 30-amp electric. Those sites are grass and have fire rings. The other is newly remodeled and predominately designed for RV's including being “big rig” friendly. This is where we are parked in Site #73. The streets are paved with compacted gravel sites. We have a 50-amp full hook-up site. This surprised us. Our research showed the site to have only water and electric, but we were pleasantly surprised to be told we had a sewer hook-up as well. There is a very large attached patio of gravel with a fire ring and posts to string up a clothes line. There are large grassy areas between the sites making it nice and private. The price is $27/day + tax. This does include entrance to the park each day. Possibly a disadvantage to some is that there is no shade in this bigger camping area. With 50 amp, we are plenty comfortable even in the 90 degree weather.
Looking right.
Looking left.
There are cabins available to rent, canoes, kayaks, motorboats and bicycles also for rent. There is a picnic area and a playground. There is also a network of over 20 miles of hiking trails maintained by the Florida Trail Association.
The Hobe Mountain Observation Tower offers awesome views of the park, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.
Hobe Mountain (should actually call it a hill) is an ancient sand dune that rises a whopping 86 feet above sea level, making it the highest natural point in South Florida south of Lake Okeechobee
That is the Intracostal Waters in front. The Ocean blends in with the sky in the back.
There is a very nice nature center and Visitor's Center with exhibits of many of the animals calling Jonathan Dickinson State Park home. They also have many programs including guided hikes, night hikes, guided platoon rides on the river and guided canoe and kayak tours. We've signed up for a kayak tour tomorrow morning – our first experience in a kayak. So ya'll come back and experience a first kayak trip with Marsha. This should be an experience!
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
