Beautiful off the beaten path park with lots of shade, and surrounded by nature. There are two very nice full service restrooms, an outdoor shower for rinsing off, and a pavillion with a couple of barbecue grills. The river is shallow and perfect for wading and cooling off. We visited mid-morning on a Saturday in early summer and then were only a few other families there. About an hour north of Fort Walton Beach.

Ecstatically amazing environment! This place is so quiet and beautiful. We went there with family (2 adults and 3 kids) everybody was amazed with what mother nature offered us to see. There’s an easy access to water and beach front. Beach sand is white and free of sharp items. Park’s staff do a great job keeping the place clean and presentable. They also have a picnic pavilion should you decide to have some lunch time in the nature. Park stays open until dusk. Access to park is $4 per vehicle. Overall we had a very memorable time with family. We’ll be definitely coming back here again.

Amazing place to stay! River water was pretty high due to rain, however, we still had a blast kayaking and tubing as well as swimming and fishing. Very well maintained with daily trash pick up and some recycling. Fire pit and picnic tables make camping easy and enjoyable. Recommend slots 5 or 6 if you want concrete in the Magnolia Loop. We still had a very large parking site at #11 though. Clean restrooms and showering area as well. Highly recommend. Everyone was friendly and there were both families with small children as well as tent campers. Will definitely come back ❤️

A beautiful place to stop and stretch your legs! On a warmer day the beaches would have been absolutely wonderful for relaxing on. The sand is like white sugar! I went on the 1.5mile loop hike and it was easy, informative and really pleasant. It was really quiet the day I was there and I hardly saw anyone else. There is a $4 fee.

If you are looking for some place off the beaten path, this may be it. The locals know about it and frequent it. Tubing, canoeing, kayaking floating anything, amazing small white sand beaches on a river bank. Navarre & Fort Walton beaches 32 miles due south on 87. No real amenities, no laundry facilities, no ice, no campstore. Does have one shower house shared by 2 loops of 30 total campsites. So small park but very well maintained roomy level fenced lots, in most cases very private with room for tent or canopy along side trailer or RV. Pea gravel surface is kept immaculate on all campsites. They blow-off leaves sticks and rake down every site after use. Cost us $27/nite +taxes. Everything is at least 10 miles away so pack accordingly before going in for the nite. Overall it's a hidden gem to some, others may find it disappointing. Personally we liked it.

This place is absolutely phenomenal, my wife and I wanted something secluded and away from the hustle and bustle of the beaches and boy we found it! Upon first entering we could tell that we had made a great decision. We found our campsite very easily and set camp up. Camp sites include, fire pits, water hook ups, grills, clothesline’s, and I believe sewage hook ups too!! We are tent campers, we travel often and our tent stays in the truck 100% of the time. This was one of the most relaxed places we have been in a while! By 10:00 the only outside noise was the crickets and frogs, that mixed with the small drizzle put us to sleep in minutes. We woke up this morning and decided we were jumping into that beautiful water!! Pictures just don’t do it justice!! It’s absolutely stunning. The beaches are sugar white, and as clean as could be!! The water was the perfect temperature! They also have close restrooms/showers that were very very clean and kept up! The only con to the entire time was that I couldn’t drive my tent stakes into the ground...luckily the wind was very calm so it wasent a very big deal at all! When we woke up the neighbors offers us breakfast!!! Super nice folks, super nice area. 10/10 would recommend for tents or rv’s!!

Great little get away for the kids. Private little sandy beach on the river, nice walking trail, several pavilions with grills, clean facilities for restrooms. There are signs to watch for alligators and bears. The far right side of the beach seemed a little sketchy with murky water but for the most part it was clear. It says no pets on the beach also.

I always hated walking alone and exploring different parks, but over time i have enjoyed going alone it’s so peaceful .and quite nothing but the birds chirping. Looking for another park to explore!

A great park! Large sites, level sites, clean and spacious. On our way back to Washington State and randomly picked this park. Walking trail to the river, enough space to park a car next to your rig. 20/30/50 amp electrical, water hookup and sewer. They even have posts with string to hold you clothes to dry. Boardwalks going around the campgrounds along with trails. Paths down to a beautiful river. Amazing place. Next time we will make this a destination. The only downside is it’s off the beaten path. But it’s worth it! The ranger was very friendly, helpful and cordial. Another perk…the ranger comes to your site, the next morning at 8:00am, to collect bags of garbage you put out at the road!

Hands down, one of the best state parks we'd ever stayed in. The Rangers are so attentive and nice. We had a minor issue with our electrical hook up, and they found a solution and apologized for days. The place is so clean, they even rake the gravel like a Japanese garden. Thank you everyone at Blackwater State Park for a great 2 weeks.

Stayed here and camped with my family during October. Cannot say enough wonderful things about the entire park, but the campgrounds are kept immaculately! We stayed in the loop where there’s a playground in the middle. Our kids loved circling the loop on their scooters and playing on the playground throughout the day. Short walk to the “beach” down by the river and a great nature trail close by that’s super easy for kids (all our kiddos are 5 and under). We’ve already booked another stay in the Spring and can’t wait to go back.

Smaller campground with about 30 FHU sites. Sites are level, spacious and well kept. Electric is 30&50 amp. Picnic table, grill and fire ring at each site. Lots of hiking, kayaking and swimming available. Beautiful area.

Such a beautiful lazy river trip. They dropped us off at the top of the river and we floated down for about 3 hours and landed where our car was and drove home. It was fantastic.

The state park was great and there was so much wildlife fair warning to anybody staying overnight to bring a bug zapper because they do not use any spray or bug repellent at all

Beautiful park with nice trails. Seemed like a great place to kayak and canoe as there were outfitters along the way. My husband desperately wanted to see a gator, but they hide well and are not in the river only the surrounding swamps. We had a nice walk through the park and the park rangers were extremely helpful!

Impeccably clean bathrooms and very well maintained sites, nicely spaced from each other, included a clothesline.. White sandy river beach and easy trails along the water and through tall pines forest. They even hd daily garbage pickup! Only drawback in the one day we were there was constant helicopter flights overhead from training site nearby.

Great place to cool off on a hot day! We love floating down the river with family and friends. We buy our $6 river floats (at Walmart), but you can rent them. We also bring a lunch in a cooler so we can stop along the way and eat (cooler gets its own float. I think it took us about 4 hours to float down, which is with a couple of stops along the way

My husband and I are working toward visiting all Florida State parks. This park is about a 30 minute drive from our home. Close to Pensacola, and not what you might expect to find in Florida. There are three nature trails, with the longest being about 1.25 miles. For our visit the river had just overflowed the banks, so the trails were quite muddy/wet. There was water in the swampier parts. There are boardwalks over the swamp areas. The river name comes from the dark tea color of the water. We visited in Janiary, but it's probably better when you can swim, tube, paddle. It's very quiet, tucked away in the Black River State forest.

Great, small, clean campground with friendly staff and tons of nature-ey things to do around the area. Hiking, kayaking, biking (on and off road), forest roads to go jeeping... It was a fantastic trip!

Very nice park. Excellent pavilions and restrooms. The trails meander through beautiful landscapes.

This place we great! I got a year pass to do the trails and sit in the sand bars of the river. Both trails there were flooded/marshy but we pressed on. I carried the baby over the muck and the older two learned to use a walking stick for stability. After the flooded spots, we were free to run alone.

The Blackwater River Forest personnel keep the wilder areas clear od underbrush, so we experienced a controlled burn evening. A bit smoky, but manageable. The park is beautiful, especially if you enjoy swamps, and they've done a great job on the boardwalks and pathways. The gators were still tucked in somewhere because of the chilly weather, but we saw one early in the morning.

What I got up see if it was absolutely beautiful. I would honestly drive the 9 hour drive from Texas just to stay there for a few days!! The entire derby team loved the river, the wildlife, and of course the bathrooms haha.

Very nice park for camping. Nice clean campsites. (Maybe a little close together but not bad). Nice and clean bathroom and shower facilities. Very friendly staff. My only reason for not giving it 5 stars is the amount of small airplanes and helicopters flying around. It seemed like every 20 to 30 minutes one was flying nearby. At least it stopped a dark and didn't start back up till 8 or 9 in the morning.

Very beautiful place! We will definitely be bringing the RV there to camp. Not every site is private but we did find a few campsites we really like. The campground is well maintained, white crushed rock makes it very inviting with the woodsy feel of camping. Very clean and did say nicely maintained?! I cant overemphasized how manicured it was. Very lovely, can't wait to go back for camping adventures. I kick myself for not taking pictures to share on this review.