AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Sand Pond Campground is a small, well-maintained campground nestled inside Pine Log State Forest in Florida's Forgotten Coast, about 14 miles north of Panama City Beach. With just 20 sites — all equipped with electric and water hookups — it offers the rare combination of convenience and true forest quiet, making it a beloved base camp for RVers, tent campers, and beachgoers who want to escape the Gulf Coast crowds without driving far.↗↗
The campground sits on Sand Pond Lake itself, complete with a fishing pier and a designated swimming area. Beyond the pond, over 13 miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails wind through Florida's first state forest — a landscape of longleaf pine sandhills, flatwoods, cypress ponds, and titi swamps teeming with wildlife.↗
A Forest Campground with Beach Access
Pine Log State Forest was acquired in 1936, making it Florida's very first state forest. Named for Pine Log Creek that runs through its 8,000-plus acres, it spans parts of Bay and Washington counties in the relatively undeveloped stretch of panhandle between Tallahassee and the Gulf. Sand Pond Campground is the recreation hub — a compact, friendly clearing by the lake where the amenities of an RV park meet the atmosphere of a deep-woods retreat.
