One of Walton County's most intact coastal dune lake systems.
Campbell Lake
Lake 3 of 15, west to east · Topsail
Aerial photograph of Campbell Lake in Walton County, Florida, from the U.S. Geological Survey National Agriculture Imagery Program, centered on the USGS geographic-names point for this lake. Photo by U.S. Geological Survey, public domain, via the USGS National Map.
About
Campbell Lake covers about 110 acres at Topsail. What sets it apart is not size alone. The watershed, the lake, and the outfall to the Gulf all lie in protected state land. Few of the fifteen lakes can say that the whole run of the system, from upland drainage to the intermittent opening on the beach, is still inside a preserve.
That continuous protection is why this guide treats Campbell as perhaps the purest example of a Walton County coastal dune lake. People paddle, hike, fish, and watch wildlife on that public land. The lake is a full dune-lake system you can see without crossing a patchwork of private shores.
Public access
The basin and its surroundings are on protected state land at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Paddling, hiking, fishing, and wildlife watching are the uses described here. Stay on designated park access.
Access rules, park fees, and reservation systems change. This page is a summary for orientation, not a permit or a promise that a shore is open.
Photographs
-
Sand pine scrub at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Campbell Lake and its watershed sit in this preserve. This photograph shows the scrub, not the lake. Photo by Alexander Hatley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
