Gulf Shores: Coast, Trails and Nature

In Gulf Shores, you can plan your trip around different themes: trail systems and outdoor activities, beaches and wetlands, or exhibits at the Gulf Shores Museum.

Trails and Outdoor Activities

The Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail is a paved, multi-use, ADA-accessible trail system through Gulf State Park. It spans at least 28 miles. Its surface, permitted uses, accessibility, and length are all clearly specified.

Gulf State Park offers hiking, biking, fishing, geocaching, and paddling. Kayaking and canoeing are available at the Lake Shelby day-use area. Together, these offer different ways to plan your visit: you can focus on trails and exercise or include one of the activities on the water.

Coast, Wetlands and Nature Trails

The Gulf State Park area in Gulf Shores has more than 3.5 miles of white-sand beach. For a different natural setting, visit Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores: the refuge covers about 7,000 acres and stretches from beach dunes to rolling pine-oak forests. Its trails pass through dunes, dune swales, wetlands, maritime forests, and scrubland.

At Wade Ward Nature Park, an elevated boardwalk offers views of the wetlands connecting Little Lagoon and Lake Shelby. The park is also a site on the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail. Wetlands Park offers a different experience: a gravel loop trail circles a fishing pond, and the park has benches, a pedestrian bridge, and a fishing pier.

If trail surfaces matter to your plans, the difference between the paved Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail and the gravel loop at Wetlands Park is clear. The types of trails also differ: a trail system spanning at least 28 miles in one case, and a loop around a fishing pond in the other. At Wade Ward Nature Park, the focus is instead on an elevated boardwalk with views of the wetlands.

Little Lagoon Pass Park offers public parking, restrooms, and outdoor showers. The public beach is across the street. These details provide a practical guide if you want to include park facilities and the beach in your visit plans.

Museum and Zookeeper Presentations

Admission to the Gulf Shores Museum is free to the public. The “Portrait of a Fishing Village” exhibit features the families who settled along the north side of Little Lagoon in the 19th century. “Hurricanes - What you Need to Know” offers a different perspective: the exhibit explains how hurricanes form, the destruction they cause, and how a community rebuilds after a hurricane. The exhibits therefore present settlement history and dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane as distinct topics.

At the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, zookeeper presentations take place throughout the park at different times and locations. If you want to plan one into your day, check the current times in advance; presentation schedules may change.

Discover more destinations: Daphne, Perdido, Foley, Spanish Fort, Loxley, Fairhope, Orange Beach, Bay Minette

For the broader travel overview: Baldwin.