Said to be the highest point anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico at a whopping elevation of 64 feet, Blue Mountain Beach is hardly a mountain. Hey, it’s hardly a speed bump, but at least they got the beach part, right? Local surfers take the occasional break here, lugging their boards up and down the steep wooden stairs. These guys bring a sense of legitimacy to the term boardwalk. As for the blue, well, locals say it likely originated from the blue lupine flowers that still find pockets of floral resistance between the homes here at one time, they completely blanketed these undeveloped Gulf side hills, giving, passing fishermen the seasonal illusion of a blue luster.

Today, Blue Mountain Beach consists mostly of private residences surrounded by miles of pristine and protected state forest.

Before scaling Blue Mountain Beach’s, daunting eastern face, you might want to acclimatize yourself first at a base camp in Redfish Village or provision up with some ice cream, which has been handcrafted by the locals who call these foothills home.

Once you finally ascend to the peak, you won’t be rewarded with much of a view, but you will find an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, and shops, including a health food store and a bike repair shop. Hey, it’s all downhill from here, folks.

Finally, if you delve deep enough into this mysterious mountain range, you might just find a local wise man artist, Justin Gaffrey.

“It’s interesting, with Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain is only just now starting to seem like it’s growing. It kind of stayed really quiet for a long time,” said Justin. “I really liked that. Our area here, we’re really lucky to have these dune lakes. I’m surrounded by water. I have this lake behind me. I have the forest here, and it’s just nature everywhere, and you go down to Draper Lake and you’re down in the Gulf. So there’s always been an inspiration, and I feel like this is kind of an escape for me from the real busyness of 30 A, and I think just the quietness and that escape inspires me.”

Over the years. Justin’s colorful works have become the region’s signature artistic style, capturing every color of the coastal rainbow, including of course the blues.

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