First Time on the Gulf Coast

Our First Visit to the Gulf Coast | Biloxi, MS | Gulf Islands National Seashore | January 2024

After spending over a week driving South, we finally made it to the Gulf Coast for our first time! When planning this trip, we thought that January would be the perfect time to visit: we knew we didn’t want to be there during the summer when it’s ungodly hot and crowded, or hurricane season in the fall, or in the spring with all the spring break vacationers, which really only left the winter months to visit. In some ways, we were right — there weren’t tons of people here, we had some good weather days, and we were missing out on an arctic blast and back to back blizzards that were hitting most of the country. However, there were several rounds of severe storms that we had to plan around, and after enjoying some warm and sunny days, the cold caught up to us and it even snowed in these areas a few days after we left. Basically, we’ve come to realize we were right all along and that the South isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but we’re also very thankful for the few nice days we did enjoy while here, and we feel that we made the most of our time here.

We began our time on the Gulf Coast in and around Biloxi, Mississippi. While we could have found places to stealth camp in the city, we decided to camp in DeSoto National Forest, and were very happy to find a couple different free spots where we could camp in the woods and enjoy the peace and quiet. On our first day after driving from Rocky Springs on the Natchez Trace Parkway, we simply found a dispersed spot in the woods and spent the entire afternoon relaxing there, walking Charlotte, and soaking up the sun outside. We even heard some sandhill cranes somewhere off in the distance while here!

The next morning, we drove the final miles between us and the coast, and stopped in Biloxi for a long walk along the shore. We parked in a free lot next to the Biloxi Lighthouse right off of US-90. Charlotte wasn’t allowed on the beach here, but thankfully there was a sidewalk that ran along the sand where she could walk. We walked over a mile before turning back, and on our way back we crossed the highway and stopped to walk around a park, which had a short boardwalk going over a swampy area. After that, we took US-90 East across the Biloxi Bay Bridge and drove to Fort Maurepas Park, where we went for another short walk since Charlotte was allowed to walk on the beach here — though this was definitely an artificial beach. The history was interesting though, with Fort Maurepas being one of the first permanent French outposts in what would eventually become the Louisiana Territory – yet more French explorer history that we are eager to learn about. There was also a long pier here where we were able to walk out and have better views of the Biloxi Bay, bridge, and city across the bay.

Following our second walk, we had a few errands to run while in the city, so we went about doing those. Along the way, we stopped to see the Mississippi Whispering Giant statue — but learned that this one is actually a replica of the one that Peter Wolf Toth created. When the original statue needed to be replaced, they didn’t realize that Toth was still alive (and living two states away in Florida), so they just had someone else recreate it. This begs the question, do we still count this as having seen a Whispering Giant statue in Mississippi?

After our errands, we drove to the Davis Bayou Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore for a late picnic lunch, national park cancellation stamps, and another walk. This was all we were seeing of the Gulf Islands National Seashore on this trip, because the recent big storms and upcoming ones had closed most attractions or campgrounds out on the shelter islands, and some other things were just out of season. I think the main places we were disappointed to be missing out on were all the coastal forts: Fort Massachusetts in Mississippi, Fort Morgan in Alabama and Fort Pickens in Florida. According to their website, the forts were closed indefinitely because of all the storms. I guess that leaves some things for us to do someday if we ever find ourselves back in the area, but I can’t say we’re too eager to plan a trip back here. So instead, we simply enjoyed the visitor center and the short walk here, then feeling satisfied with how we had filled our day with lots of time on the coast around the city, we drove back up to DeSoto National Forest to enjoy another peaceful night in the woods…while waiting out the next storm which was due to arrive the next morning.