Torreya State Park, Bristol

We absolutely love this State Park. We live in western New York but enjoy travelling, camping and hiking throughout the U.S. We visited this park about 15 years ago and this year we decided to come back. There have been dramatic and devastating changes in the park since we were last there because the park is located within a path frequented by intense storms in the last decade, including Hurricane Michael in 2018, which damaged all of the forests in the park. Despite these challenges, park staff have made amazing efforts to make sure that park visitors can safely visit as much of the park as possible. The campground is great, with spotless bathrooms and water and electric outlets in most sites. We stayed in one the two yurts, which offer a delightful deck with a picnic table, a campfire ring and a gorgeous view into the adjacent forested ravine. We went on the 6-mile challenge hike and were impressed with the work the park has done to make the trails passable despite the many trees that fell during the hurricane. We thought the trail was great as it meandered back and forth through so many beautiful and interesting plant communities giving the hiker a real sense of adventure. Some of the bridge crossings over small streams still need to be repaired and may look intimidating but this 64-year old woman with advanced arthritis in both knees had no trouble getting across any of them. If you don't like an adventure, however, this might not be the best trail for you as stated in the park's description of the trail. We found all of the park staff to be friendly, helpful and hardworking. Please thank them for all they do if you have the chance.

We stayed in the Cracker Cabin at Torreya — super cute one bedroom on one side with a queen bed (yes a bit to soft but not bad) with a window unit and portable heater (heater worked great on coldest day in Florida ) the middle is a screen patio which on the right side of it is another Pom but has two bunk beds with a unit a/c unit and portable heater - not sure about the beds as we did not sleep in it. Back porch view of woods and nice sunrise - has a fire pit - only bad thing is there is another camping spot super close however no one was there so not sure if they book it. Lots of hikes and state parks in area - no gas station or food venues near