You can spend a whole day at Fort Clinch State Park and treat the fort as just one stop. The park covers 1,400 acres at the north tip of Amelia Island, the gates are open 8 a.m. to sunset, and the vehicle fee gets you in. Tickets for the fort itself are sold separately at the visitor center.
Cyclists get two very different rides. The paved park drive runs 3.3 miles under live oaks to the visitor center, and the park suggests riding it early or late because car traffic is heavy from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Beside it, a 6-mile off-road trail rolls over old dunes through maritime forest. It's rated intermediate, bikes ride it one way while hikers can go either direction, and helmets are required.
For a shorter walk, the Willow Pond Nature Trail circles a string of ponds the Civilian Conservation Corps left behind in the 1930s. The short loop takes about 20 minutes and the long one 45 to 50, and alligators and deer are often around. A guided nature walk starts at the Willow Pond parking area every Saturday at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.
Anglers fish the Atlantic surf, St. Marys Inlet and the jetties for redfish, black drum, whiting, flounder, sheepshead and sea trout. The visitor center sells some bait and tackle but no licenses. Take the paddling warning seriously: the inlet has strong, unpredictable currents and an active shipping channel, and the park recommends it only for experienced sea kayakers. The public Egans Creek ramp nearby has less boat traffic and current.
The two campgrounds hold 69 sites and take reservations up to 11 months out. Leashed dogs can come on the trails, the park drive and in the campgrounds, but not on the beach, the boardwalks or inside the fort. The fort's history and the park's beaches have their own entries, and the Egans Creek Greenway trailhead at 2500 Atlantic Avenue is just down the road from the park entrance.