Bay Side Trail

The Bay Side Trail loops through the estuarine margin of St. Joseph Peninsula State Park along the shore of St. Joseph Bay—a remarkably intact estuarine system that supports one of Florida's healthiest seagrass meadows and the largest bay scallop population in the state. The trail follows the tidal wrack line and transitions through coastal scrub, pine flatwoods, and salt marsh fringe, providing exceptional shorebird and wading bird habitat accessible on foot.

St. Joseph Bay is designated a Florida Aquatic Preserve and an Outstanding Florida Water. From the shoreline trail, visitors routinely spot bottlenose dolphins hunting in the seagrass shallows, oystercatchers prying mollusks from oyster bars, and reddish egrets performing their distinctive dancing hunting behavior in the tidal flats. In summer, snorkelers wade the seagrass beds just offshore collecting bay scallops during the recreational harvest season. The trail also passes through a stand of black mangrove at the bay's fringe—the northernmost limit of significant mangrove development on Florida's Gulf coast. Roseate spoonbills increasingly winter in the bay, and their vivid pink plumage against the white sand bottom creates memorable wildlife encounters.