5/2 Drive to T.H. Stone Memorial State Park

If you have ever been in a situation where you had to decide whether to evacuate during a hurricane or not, this state park can give you a good example of potential damage.  First, about of information where this state park is located.  It is on the panhandle of Florida, about 30 miles as the crow flies southeast of Panama City Beach.

 

 

In reality, it is about a 50 mile drive from Panama City Beach because it is near the tip of a long peninsula, and you have to drive southeast, then west, and finally north along the peninsula to get to the state park.

 

 

 

After driving about 100 miles through rural farmland from Grayton Beach, hitting Panama City Beach was a bit of a shock with its high rise hotels and attractions like this Ripley's Believe It or Not ship and tilted museum!    

 

 

 

If you look very carefully at this photo taken from Panama City Beach, you can barely see a peninsula way out in the Gulf of Mexico.  That is the St. Joseph Peninsula. 

 

 

 

I was here about 10 years ago, and remember this peninsula as being heavily forested.  Leaving the mainland and heading north on the peninsula, this is what most of it looks like now. 

 

 

in 2018, Hurricane Michael was a Category 5 hurricane, and it completely cut off the peninsula from the mainland. If you click on this site, you can see the before and after:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Michael#/media/ 

It took the state over two years to rebuild this chunk of the peninsula and rebuild the roadway.  The section of roadway that was replaced is now protected by about half a mile of big rocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other odd thing about this peninsula is that almost every building on it is brand new, with a lot of construction continuing.  Also, most of the homes are now on stilts, preparing them to survive the next hurricane.  

 

 

And there are still a LOT of dead standing trees which makes the place look terribly bare. 

There have been a lot of trees and vegetation planted, but it will take several years for enough trees to grow back to provide any shade.  It will also take several years to replace restaurants and shops here.  There is one small market and a handful of restaurants, but if you go here, you really need to bring everything you need with you, especially if you are camping. 

The entrance to the state park is about halfway down the peninsula.