With one last push, my little kayak slips into the tea-colored water of Western Lake, and I suddenly have a decision to make.
If I paddle to the right, toward the reservoir’s sheltered reaches, I’ll find a tony vacation village peeking out from a pine forest along the shoreline—widely considered some of the area’s most iconic scenery. But if I navigate left, I can figure out where that narrow, winding channel leads.
This is the latest in a series of choose-your-own-adventure conundrums I’ve faced in Walton County’s 30A region, which old-timers still call the Florida Panhandle.
The 24-mile stretch of rock-star beaches, rare natural wonders, and artfully breezy neighborhoods takes its name from the highway that slices through it. Postcard-worthy emerald waters and pristine ribbons of oceanfront have drawn vacationers here for decades. But lately, the area surrounding the recently designated National Scenic Byway has been growing.