Absolutely phenomenal park!!! I am blown away! Gorgeous landscape, beautiful sunsets, the flora and…read morefauna have me in awe. 28 miles of trails for biking and walking. I've spotted alligators, blue heron, turtles, lizards.. very cool! All the campsite hosts are friendly and our check-in was very easy and we were also greeted with welcoming service. We chose campsite number 479 right next to Mission Lake and the pedestrian bridge that takes you to the ocean. This campground is so clean, beautiful, and offers multiple bathrooms with showers and restrooms. The bathrooms are clean and the showers have enough space to shower and change. Each campsite I've seen has a dump station and water, which has come in handy. There's also Wi-Fi! There's also a restaurant on the campgrounds and tomorrow night we are going to listen to live music and have a few drinks. I've truly loved my stay here and would highly recommend it to anyone! We were only going to stay for four nights but we extended it to a week because we are having such a great time.

We stayed at the campground for 5 days. We have stayed at multiple state parks in many states, and…read morethis one is top notch. We have a 36 foot camper and the roads were wide enough for us to navigate with other large campers. The sites are paved and ours was perfectly level. Bathrooms were clean and nice, and the staff was very friendly. The park is well kept and nice too. There are over 20 miles of trails to walk or bike (we recommend e-bikes) with all sorts of wildlife. I cannot recommend this enough, plus you get free parking at any of the state park beaches. The campground is full of walkers and bikers of all ages. Be warned: there are fire ants, and they bite, so be aware of that as you wander around barefoot. You may also encounter various snakes and possibly an alligator (we only saw one little guy on the trails). The campsites in the first loop (I think they start at 83) have good afternoon shade and are close to multiple bathhouses. The pool is saltwater and very family friendly too!

Nice park with beautiful mature oak trees! It has a nice playground and plenty of room for…read morepicnicking! Why did they stop their spring concerts?

It's a nice family park in gulf shores with great facilities. The city is always hosting events…read morehere.

Playground and obstacle course just to the right of gulf state park entrance. Great lol at ground…read morewith plenty of things to keeps kids entertained. Looks relatively new and well maintained. There is a little pond next to it that some people were fishing from. Across the drive is a very nice area that has picnic tables and grills. The dog pond dog playground is close by. There is a building that looks to rent bicycles, Segway, and kayaks as well. You can then walk the wooden bridge over the highway to the beach. This is a perfect little spot for a family to have picnic or playtime for a spell.

We went by the Preserve to walk after Breakfast today and discovered they were decorating for their…read moreHaunted Forest. This looks like so much fun for the whole family! I can see teenagers having a blast with each other and siblings driving each other crazy. Support the Preserve and get your tickets on their page. Have fun!!!

Let be going there. Well maintained and plenty of safe trails to navigate…read more Archery, disc golf, fishing...

Great little beach section we found, had a nice time and time beach weather…read more I do always think about alligator, however this spot was clean and safe.

We hiked this from the main parking lot at the preserve to pine beach and it was just a little over…read more4 miles total. The beach was pretty and we found some large shells. We also ran up on a baby cotton mouth on the trail, so keep your eyes open! I think there is public parking available on mobile st so you wouldn't have to hike the full way to get to the beach. I didn't know this until afterwards.

Not much luck fishing but great pier. It has a sign at the front which tells you what fish are…read morebiting daily. They updated it every hour or so. Pier has restrooms, hoses , cutting boards, bait shops, tackle shops. Ice cream bars and a restaurant. Although it is 10 dollars per fisherman and 3 dollars for sightseeing to enter the pier, it is worth it. There is also an15 dollar parking fee but it comes with a fishing pass for a day.

The Gulf State Park Pier has been seriously upgraded since my last visit. It had been damaged and…read morethey have done quite a lot of repairs and updates. I had no idea that they had started charging to go to the far end of the pier as that wasn't the case when I last visited. As a veteran I get free parking and also free entrance to the pier. I never saw any signage that indicated I had to pay to walk out to the pier but I did get yelled at for just walking out on the pier past the "commercial zone" and had to show my military veteran ID to proceed. I found it odd that I was somehow magically supposed to know that there was a fee or requirement to show my veteran ID when I never saw any sign to that effect. The lady that yelled at me came out of a door so she was inside where I couldn't have seen her so they should certainly add some signs that explain what they want more clearly to avoid weird situations like this. They also have a restaurant and bar here but I would suggest eating somewhere else. The pier does seem to be a decent place to fish and I saw several people bringing in some nice sized fish. Overall this seems like a good option if you want to fish off a pier or just enjoy the great view here. If I had to pay to just walk to the end of the pier I wouldn't have done that as you can get a good enough view from the "commercial zone" where the bar and restaurant are located. Overall this is an interesting spot to check out but I just heard they have raised the price of parking so that might make this area less attractive to visit.

Gulf Shores' motto is "Small Town, Big Beach" and just over a mile from those beaches is a lovely…read moreand unique park where you can see how much this community cares about their children and its residents. Spread over 12 acres Lots of slides and activities. A miniature zip line, tire swing, regular swings, swings for smaller children plus a skate park, tennis courts, ball fields, indoor swimming pool inside the recreation center much more. There's picnic areas, a pavilion, grilling options, clean rest rooms, nicely landscaped with plenty of shade and it's wheelchair accessible with loads of parking. For address, directions and more: https://www.gulfshores.com/sports-facilities/johnnie-sims-park/ There's a number of special events around the year like music, movies, festivals and more but I'm so impressed with how community comes together for to support one another. For example, last night was a very nice event in our neighborhood for the Sims Park Christmas Celebration! There was the Rudolph movie playing, a petting zoo with camel rides, vendors, Santa taking pictures, holiday treats, crafts, hot cocoa & chili provided by our fire department and the 6th Annual Snowball Drop with prizes and more. After the cancellation last year it was a beautiful night that we were able to get out and meet up with friends and neighbors as meet some great folks. Bottom line: I'm feeling the Christmas spirit officially so Merry Christmas everyone!!

This is the infamous field where I won a state championship with my travel team! I even scored a PK…read moreto send us to the final. This event was particularly rewarding because we were such underdogs. What took place on this field was one of the happiest moments of my travel soccer career. There were lots of lows but this was definitely a high!

Amazing nice clean park for kids. So much to play, slide and swing on. Great place to get the…read morelittle energy out on vacation that's free.make sure you walk down to the water. We saw Dolphins swimming around during our visit.