Hot temperatures and endless beaches

Not meaning to rub it in for my Alaska friends (and I AM missing skiing, so I have mixed emotions about being a "snow bird"), but it's down right warm (OK, hot and muggy!) in Florida and Georgia!  The pics above are my campsite and wanderings at Little Talbot Island State Park, FL. I camped 3 nights there and did some nice beach walking and biking before I headed to Cumberland Island in southern Georgia.

Heading out to the island required taking a passenger ferry and leaving my van for the first time since I moved into it on August 31.  As I was securing my van to catch the ferry, I realized I couldn't lock down one of my sliding windows. You could slide it open from the outside. The problem was the latch was missing a screw, so I thought I'd put in another one and fix the problem. Unfortunately, the screw was too long and shattered the window. So I quickly taped it up (it was going to rain while I was away) and trusted humanity not to crawl into my van (now that it was obvious that you could!) while I was away. I spent over 6 hours on the phone on 2 different days on the island getting past the "It will take 6-8 weeks to get a replacement window shipped" (where am I going to be in 6-8 weeks?) to getting one out of production at the Winnebago factory and finding a place to install it.

Thankfully, my patch job was still intact when I returned to the van, I added a solid covering of duct tape to be able to drive 60+ mph. Now, 10 days after I broke it, I'm using fast internet while waiting to get it replaced. AMAZING what a difference it makes to use a good connection rather than my phone's hotspot linked to my computer and 2 bars of coverage!  So I'll take advantage and get started on catching up here...



Cumberland Island was home to the Carnegies and several other very well-to-do families. Some of those family's descendants are still living on the island, but the rest of the island is now a National Park.  One mansion stands in ruins but they recreated a statue that was originally there; if I recall correctly, this is a Greek God of wealth and opulence.


 The island is also home to wild horses but they are in much rougher shape than those cute ponies I posted pictures of in November. The average life span of these horses is 9-10 years; just a little over a third of the age that some domestic horses live to. They mostly die of parasitism. The herd is not managed at all (no veterinary care or population control). Apparently these guys will kick and bite if you get near; they didn't approach me and I didn't approach them very close.

The trail between campsites on the island.

Plum Mansion; they give free tours.

My campsite was great. Lots of room and a trail to the top of a sand dune behind it, where I could look down on the waves and hear them in the distance.  There was LOTS of noise of critters in the crunchy leaves around camp but they were all little critters -- a plethora of armadillos, some squirrels, and a few raccoons.

A squirrel meticulously peeled this tangerine after it harvested it from the tree in my campsite. I was surprised when it left it -- wanton waste by wildlife! But when I returned to camp later that day, it had been completely eaten.

Raccoon tracks in the sand behind my campsite.

It was a short stroll to the beach. This is sunrise.

This is a church at the first free Black African community in Georgia. 

The most amazing bike riding on hard-packed sand and endless miles of undeveloped beach. I rode 30 miles on the beach and hiked in to see the little church and remains of the community.

A pair of cardinals visited my camp regularly. I thought maybe someone had been feeding them, but maybe it was the squirrel? I ate one of the tangerines and it was extremely tart and full of seeds. I spit out the seeds and there was still a bit of fruit; the birds happily ate it.

My campsite. To the left of the pink in the background (rain fly on my backpack) is a food box to keep the critters out.

Armadillos everywhere; they root around under the leaves and pretty much ignore you.

These big trees (Cyprus I think?) are amazing! They are draped with Spanish moss and host epiphytes.

Between hiking and biking (mostly biking) I covered 90 miles (not counting numerous walks from my campsite to better cell coverage to solve my window problem). I rode the full length of the beach; parts of it several times. There were more trails I could've hiked, but I hiked a few loops on the southern, central, and northern ends so I got a pretty good idea of what the island was like. It was very peaceful because I was there off season and on the island for 2 days with no ferry service. You can head out for a day tour or camp 1/2 mile from the ferry terminal or backpack to wilderness camps along the island. A HUGE group of campers got off the ferry that I was leaving on, on a Friday morning. 

Sunset at the ferry terminal.

I'm going to post this now while I have great internet coverage. Who knew posting could be so efficient!

Paddling with alligators

On my 2^nd and 3^rd days in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia, I deployed my inflatable kayak to explore the swamp waterways. It had rained hard during the first night and the forecast was for at least 3 hours of rain the following day, but with temperatures in the 70s, how bad could it be? This was my first time deploying my kayak since I mailed it from AK to Iowa, so it took a while to get it assembled and inflated. I didn’t get on the water until 9:30. I hadn’t paddled very far when the skies opened and torrential downpour ensued, along with strong gusts of wind. The scenery wasn’t very nice (a narrow, straight canal and dead trees) and I doubted I’d be happy with 3 hours of those conditions, but I decided to hang in there to see if it was just a nasty squall. There was a strange beauty in it; the rain was hitting the water so hard that each drop resulted in a small geyser erupting from the water’s surface. In the background, a mist was rising because of the warm temperature. I would have loved to try to capture the beauty with my phone’s camera, but figured the risk to my phone wasn’t worth the photo.

Thankfully, I was right, the squall lasted a few minutes; enough to thoroughly soak me and add several inches of water to my kayak (no spray skirt). But after that, the rain was over for the day. The sun came out, the humidity was considerably less than the previous evening's 94% humidity (the rain fall wrung most of it out of the sky) and it was a really nice day for the rest of my 8-mile paddle.   About a mile out, I entered a wilderness area and the scenery changed to huge cypress trees, draped with Spanish moss.

There were alligators everywhere; many of them bigger than my inflatable kayak. During my first hour of paddling it was very disconcerting to see these giant beasts slip into the water and submerge into the murky (shallow) depths. I couldn’t help but be nervous, knowing that there was only canvas, rubber, and air between me and those giant jaws, and my arms a mere 8-10” above the water’s surface as I paddled. But after observing them for a while it was clear that they are as well behaved as Alaska’s bears. They really want nothing to do with humans. If they had a clear view of my passage and had access to a water entry in front of them, they generally stayed on shore; even when the wind pushed my kayak close to their shore as I was taking photos. When they entered the water, they moved to water deep enough to let them submerge and move unencumbered. I confess to attempting to keep my elbows higher over the water as I paddled when a particularly large gator had moved closer to the path my boat was on before it sunk below the surface, with no hint of where it went after that. 

A couple of times my paddle hit something below the surface and I felt a rush of adrenaline as I wondered whether I had connected with a gator that would raise up with jaws open to retaliate. But I likely just hit bottom or a submerged log. Other than the occasional rush of adrenaline (all for naught), after my first hour on the water while observing gator body language, the next 5 hours of my paddle were very peaceful. The occasional motor boat, loaded with tourists, passed by. Otherwise it was silent, but for the calls of birds.

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Here's a better look at the kayak as I was paddling and in the background, on the cement boat ramp, you can see a gator. He's not as big as many I'd seen that day.

 

My bike ride, hike, and first day’s paddle were on the east side of the park via the main entrance.  I got off the water at 4pm and put my kayak on top of my van (for the first time) and headed around the south end of the park to the west entrance and a campground. The night before I’d just pulled off the side of the road before it entered the park. I got to the west side campground after dark and could already tell it was quite different habitat, with lots of pine trees and many deer along the road on the way in. The next morning I hiked the 2 miles of available trail with coffee in hand and then launched my kayak at 10 am. 

The paddling was quite different too. On the east side, as far as I paddled, it was narrow canals; a fair bit of which had been hand dug long ago, over an 18-month period, in a fruitless attempt to drain the swamp to liberate the land to establish plantations. The west side was all natural, but for the small access canal from the park road and boat launch to the swamp waterways. In the morning I wasn’t seeing near as many gators as on the east side but in the afternoon there many; including gators much bigger than I’d seen the day before. I only had a few moments of mild concern when the really big guys swam out, seemingly on a path to intercept my kayak, before they submerged. But I am 99% sure they were seeking water deep enough so that they could move in whatever direction they needed to, to keep as much distance between me and them as possible. Besides gators there were a lot more birds (egrets, ibis, king fishers, and blue and green herons) than on the east side and a special treat – I encountered 2 different groups of river otters. They had a lot to say (various vocalizations) as they checked me out. The first group was so curious about me that they almost blundered into a very large alligators, hauled out on a log. The otters and the gator were all startled and a great deal of splashing ensued. But the otters didn’t get eaten and the gator hauled back out on its log to continue soaking up the sunshine; so all was well. I was hoping I could upload a couple of videos here, but it looks like that's not going to work. Too bad!  The otters were such fun to watch! And I have a good video of 2 giant gators, one slipping into the water and the other staying on shore. And a good video of a blue heron with feathers blowing in the wind. Oh well... 

ooof

I paddled down a variety of narrow passages, lined with moss-draped cypress trees. I really enjoyed the paddling; I’m now a swamp fan. It was so quiet, with only the sounds of nature. I saw one woman paddling a canoe and 3 motor boats during my 5 hours of paddling. The rest of the time it was just me and the critters. I have to admit; I’m disappointed with my photos. The full-frame close ups of the gators looked great on my tiny phone but when I looked at them on my computer, they weren’t sharply focused. I’ll either need to look into the snap-on telephotos lenses I see advertised for phones, or get serious about figuring out what sort of ‘real’ camera I want to get. Of course ordering anything online is challenging when you live on the road with no mailing address… But I can deal with these minor inconveniences as I continue to enjoy my transient lifestyle in my rolling ‘Bitty Bago’ home.

After finally getting the last of the service needs taken care of for my van this morning I did some grocery shopping and headed for a campground on a northern Florida beach. It’s a beautiful place (Little Talbot Island) with (short) hiking and biking trails, a salt marsh system to paddle in, and 5 miles of undeveloped white-sand beach. I walked the beach, barefoot, for several miles, wading in the water before I settled into my campsite.  I chatted with a surf fisherman for a while and watched him pull in a Pampano (fish). I could be happy staying here for several days, but they could only promise me one night when I arrived.

My campsite

Endless beach for walking.

Salt marsh to paddle in.

I’ll find out tomorrow if there are options to stay more nights. It could be that folks will cancel their weekend plans due to inclement “cold” weather in the forecast. It’s supposed to be a high of 54 tomorrow with lows in the 40s. The ranger I talked to was delighted that he had inside duty tomorrow; he hates the cold. He gave me the best campsite available for my one night. While most of the sites are heavily shaded, under live oak and cypress trees (which I’m sure is a blessing in the hot summer), I’ve got one of 2 sites that are on the periphery of the salt marsh, in the open but for a few small trees that give privacy between camp sites. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to have the folks that reserved this gorgeous camp site cancel so I can stay here. But time will tell…