Getting Onto Lake Powell From Inlet Beach This Winter Takes Your Own Boat and a Cart

At Camp Helen State Park, the stairs in front of the old lodge lead down to the spot where the rental kiosk used to stand. For years the Friends of Camp Helen State Park rented single kayaks, tandem kayaks and paddleboards there. Those rentals were for Lake Powell only, never the Gulf. Then the Camp Helen State Park page changed its notice to read: "Effective May 13, 2026: Kayaks are not offered for rent at Camp Helen State Park."

Florida's largest coastal dune lake still has two public launches within a short drive or bike ride of Inlet Beach, and both are open to anyone who arrives with a hull. For now, Lake Powell belongs to the people who own a kayak or a board. The launch they use is also the spot the state prefers for any future rental operation.

What the Rental Stand Was Carrying

The rental stand was a bigger operation than it looked. In its published answers to prospective operators, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection summarized the old operation's figures:

"In the past 5 years, gross revenue for the CSO kayak operation ranged from $80k-$100K per year. Peak season March-October. Hours/days of operation 9am-4pm daily. They utilized approximately 18 kayaks and 5 paddle boards."

About 18 kayaks and 5 paddleboards on a lake of nearly 800 acres brought in up to six figures a year. The timing hurt, too. The May 13 closure came about ten weeks into a March-to-October peak, so the whole of summer 2026 passed with no rental boats on the lake. The Friends of Camp Helen describe rentals as temporarily unavailable while DEP looks for candidates. DEP's Q&A says there are currently no active concession agreements at the park.

The Friends group works on far more than boats. Its recent projects include Americana concerts, Movies & More, a Fall Festival, the October Pumpkin Patch and International Coastal Cleanup days. Florida State Parks named it the 2023 Citizen Support Organization of the Year for Greener Initiative. The kayaks were one piece of that work.

The Launch Never Closed

The park's kayaking and paddleboarding page welcomes visitors to bring their own equipment and paddle both the lake and the Gulf. Private boats have always been welcome on the Gulf side, where rentals were never allowed. If you own a boat, getting on the water from Camp Helen looks like this:

1. Enter at 23937 Panama City Beach Parkway. The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days a year.
2. Pay at the honor box: $4 per vehicle, or $2 per pedestrian or bicyclist.
3. Head to the North Trail trailhead, where the public kayak launch sits.
4. Carry or roll your boat about 375 feet down a hard-surface path from the parking lot to the water's edge. The park recommends a cart.

The fee structure helps residents on the east end. Someone riding a bike in from Inlet Beach pays half the car rate. For anyone towing a kayak cart, the 375-foot path is the part of the trip that takes planning.

The same trailhead serves people on foot. The Trails at Camp Helen page lists the North Trail at 1.8 miles, including a paved stretch along Lake Powell and an earth-packed loop of about a mile. The Oak Canopy Trail runs half a mile, and the marked beach route is a 0.75-mile round trip from the main lot. If one person in your group paddles and another walks, they can start from the same parking lot.

Inlet Beach Has a Launch of Its Own

For people who live on the Walton County side, the closer launch has nothing to do with the state park. SoWal lists Lake Powell Access on North Walton Lakeshore Drive in Inlet Beach, with a dock and launch for canoes, kayaks and paddleboards, along with parking and a fishing pier.

For an Inlet Beach paddler, the two launches do different jobs. The North Walton Lakeshore Drive dock is the quick in-and-out from home. Camp Helen's launch sits at the North Trail trailhead beside the park's trails, with restrooms and a shower station back at the lot. Without the rental stand, neither launch comes with a boat. For a resident who keeps one in the garage, that changes very little.

What's on the Water

Lake Powell covers almost 800 acres and carries the state's Outstanding Florida Waters designation. Its brown color comes from natural tannins in leaves and minerals. An outfall connects it to the Gulf. Depending on tides and wind, that outfall lets in saltwater, so the lake keeps shifting between fresh and brackish.

That shifting decides what you might catch. When the outfall is open, the park says both freshwater and saltwater fish are in the lake, with redfish, speckled trout, mullet and bass among the common catches. Anyone fishing from a kayak needs a Florida fishing license.

From the water, the park lists heron, egret, river otter, osprey and the occasional dolphin. White-tailed deer show up along the shoreline, and the park asks paddlers to give any snakes plenty of room. The land along that shore has a long human history as well. Middens and mounds show people lived here more than 4,000 years ago, and from 1945 until 1987 Camp Helen was a company resort for employees of Avondale Mills, an Alabama textile company. Some of the resort's buildings have been restored.

What a Future Operator Would Inherit

The Florida Park Service has posted Call for Business Plans SUP-BP #04-26 for a Camp Helen concession, with a mandatory on-site meeting held September 9, 2026. The scope could cover recreational equipment rental, food and beverage, special event management and merchandise, on a term of five to ten years. Proposals were due by 5 p.m. EDT on September 30, 2026.

The answers DEP gave bidders show what a future rental setup could look like, and several of them affect anyone who paddles with their own gear:

• Kayaks can be bid separately. A business may propose only the equipment rental piece, and DEP can award services to one company or several.
• The launch may be shared. DEP named the kayak launch area as its preferred spot for rental boats to go in, while leaving bidders free to propose other areas. The preferred spot is the same North Trail launch private paddlers use now.
• The operator brings its own setup. The park has no secured storage for the concessionaire and no customer service or check-in facilities, though it is open to temporary storage proposals.
• Booking would run through the operator. The concessionaire would use its own reservation system, and a platform like FareHarbor is acceptable if it meets state requirements.
• Hours are up to the bidder. Each proposal sets its own operating days and hours, and the Park Manager approves any later changes.

The old stand opened at 9 a.m. every day. A new operator could propose different hours, and the call covers more than boats. DEP's answers place power for a food trailer about 15 yards behind the designated food truck area. If rentals return at the preferred launch, they will share the 375-foot path with the people who kept paddling after May.

For now, Lake Powell works the way it does for anyone who already owns a boat. You load it on a cart, pay at the honor box or drive to the dock on North Walton Lakeshore Drive, and you have nearly 800 acres of tannin-dark water and an outfall to yourself. The Camp Helen State Park page is where the park posts its rental notices, so it's the place to check before spring.

Lake Powell is one reason the east end of 30A feels different from the rest of the corridor, and it shapes daily life in Inlet Beach in ways the beach alone doesn't, much like the crowd that gathers at the end of South Orange Street. If you're weighing what a home near the lake or the inlet means for how you'd spend your days, Randy Carroll Realty knows this shoreline firsthand. Contact the CJB Group for a private consultation.