The parking on the west end includes rest rooms, water and picnic facilities. Parking on the east end is without facilities. Dune restoration along the first 2.5 miles of the bike path allows sand to flow and drift against snow fences, creating hills of sand, sea oats, sea grape and scrub oak. There are times when the path cuts be tween the dunes, and there are spots where you need to watch out for loose sand that drifts across the pavement and makes the surface slick to thin-tired road bikes. There are several such walkways scattered along the trail, admitting people to the beach while saving the sand dunes.
Dune restoration prohibits people from walking or climbing over the sand mounds.
On the right just beyond the 1-mile mark, at the peak of one of the restored dunes is a cross commemorating the first religious service in the Pensacola area, performed by Dominican friars accompanying Span ish explorer Tristan de Luna in 1559. At 2 miles, a beachside parking lot with a boardwalk over the dunes marks the beginning of a stretch without commercial development that extends into the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The path ends at 2.5 miles in a parking lot that serves another beach area with picnic tables, rest rooms and water. Cyclists can cross the road to take a rest break and a dip in the Gulf, or turn around and head back to the beach community's commercial district and the other half of the Pensacola Beach Trail. The road to the park has only light traffic.