Camp Helen State Park

One of the rarest lake types on Earth

Camp Helen State Park sits at the far west end of Panama City Beach, bordered on three sides by Lake Powell — one of the largest coastal dune lakes in Florida. Coastal dune lakes are a global rarity, found only in a handful of places on the planet: this stretch of the Florida Panhandle, plus parts of Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the Oregon coast. Periodically the lake breaches the dune line and flows directly into the Gulf — an event locals call an outfall — mixing fresh and salt water into a brackish ecosystem found almost nowhere else.

From company retreat to public park

Before becoming a state park, the property spent four decades (1945–1987) as the corporate retreat of Avondale Mills, an Alabama textile company that brought employees down by the busload for beach vacations. The lodge and several rustic cottages from that era still stand, and the main house — perched over the lake — is on the National Register of Historic Places.

A quieter kind of beach day

The park's Gulf beach requires a half-mile walk from the parking area, which keeps crowds thin even in peak season — you'll often share the sand with more shorebirds than people. Anglers fish the lake for bass and bream and the surf for pompano and redfish (freshwater and saltwater licenses apply respectively). Trails wind through sand pine scrub and around the lake's edge, good for an easy morning hike.

Visiting from Palmeras Marinas

It's a 20–25 minute drive west along Highway 98 toward Inlet Beach. There's a modest per-vehicle entrance fee, restrooms near the lodge, and no food concessions — pack water and snacks. Camp Helen borders 30A's east end, so it pairs well with an afternoon in Rosemary Beach, ten minutes further on.