Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge — Attraction in Crawfordville

We drove here from PCB after reading reviews and looking for a day adventure. Between the beautiful low key drive to/from and about a two hour stay at the refuge it was a lovely day. The refuge itself is lightly manned, as stated on their site due to pandemic. The front gate area is self serve, and while we have a national parks pass -- we left $5 (per car) in the envelope/lock box.

The drive through the expansive park was gorgeous with the marshland type vibe. LOTS of folks out birding. I am not a super big bird lover and was there to see some alligators/turtles and the light house but was immediately drawn into the various unique birds that call St Marks home. In fact there was a guy there who was telling us that there was an allusive flamingo that people were there to see. We loved the light house and its interesting history. The area is so lovely sitting against the Gulf. We did end up seeing a couple small alligators and turtles, but the extensive bird watching is obviously what people come here for.

They do have open restrooms about a couple miles in from the front entrance (do not use that portable bathroom near the main gate!) with actual...

My family moved to Tallahassee from Jax in 1976. Born and raised in Florida, the refuge became my very large back yard from '76 until 1999. My father and I brought down every form of water craft we had over the years, from canoes, to small john boats, to small power boats to our final 20-foot center console. I learned to fish, hunt, scallop, cast a mullet net, watch for and identify several types of snakes and got up close and not quite personal with alligators. I've hiked and mountain-biked, made it to the beautiful Pinhook River on several occasions. Earned my hiking merit badge in Scouts after a 20-mile full-day-into-the-evening tromp on the Florida Trail across SMNWF many years ago. I've seen the lighthouse from every angle and waited patiently for it to come into view on the horizon from many a spearfishing trip far offshore. It is truly, truly an amazing place. It holds a lot of history as well. From the vanished town of Port Leon and its long-gone railroad (tho the road bed remains in places), to spots where Confederate forces made salt, to, of course, the lighthouse. It is a treasure and as another reviewer put it, a true...

We had our National Park Passport to use, but no one was on duty to collect fees when we drove in. There was a self-service box, but we were not going to leave our lifelong pass. We came upon the visitor’s center and education center, but because of CoVid, both were closed. Next we drove to the lighthouse, loving the trees and natural areas all around us.

The lighthouse is right on the Gulf of Mexico. When we got out of the car, we held on to the car doors - strong breeze! Several other cars were parked by us. Those folks were either down by the water, talking in the parking area, or on the hiking trails.

We went down behind the lighthouse to watch the thousands of sand crabs. We could have watched them for hours! It was muddy, but we didn’t mind getting stuck in the muck. We walked over to the observation deck, and down to the water. Saw only a few water birds. The lighthouse was closed, again due to CoVid.

We will definitely return after the pandemic. This is a beautiful, engaging area. It will be better when the visitor center and...