High Plains Ramblin', Lowlands Reminiscin' Part I

Funny how time moves so slowly until suddenly its moving too fast.

In less than a month's time, I will be living in Kansas.  Southwest Kansas.  Just three years ago, (which seemed like forever ago until recently when now it seems like just yesterday) I found myself in southern Georgia, thinking "What the hell am I going to do in Missouri!?".  Prior to that moment three years ago, I had lived seventeen years of my life in southern Georgia.  Yes, I do make a point to say "southern Georgia" as opposed to just "Georgia"; I feel that it is an important distinction given my aversion to the northern portion of the state, but that is something for another blog.

Anyways, spending the entirety of my formative years in the aforementioned region, I find myself with an unshakable affinity towards the Southeast, especially its wild places (some wilder than others, of course).  I frequently find myself weighing my outdoor experiences in Missouri against those in the places I grew up exploring in southern Georgia.

As I started writing this blog, I realized that if I talked about all of the amazing wild places from back home it could quickly become a multi-blog event, or one far too long-winded single entry.  So, for this entry, I've opted to share some photos from one of the places I am particularly fond of; one of the places that I had the good fortune to explore many times while growing up in St. Marys, Georgia.  Cumberland Island National Seashore, of course.

If you ever visit southeastern Georgia, a trip to Cumberland Island is a must

Cumberland Island, floating just off of St. Marys,  is Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island. Home to over 9,800 acres of congressionally designated wilderness, this coastal paradise features excellent examples of pristine maritime forest (a habitat quickly becoming scarce on the coast-proper), undeveloped beaches (practically non-existant along the rest of the coast), expansive saltmarsh, and quite an interesting history people-wise.


I had frequented the island many times growing up to camp, however, during the summer of 2011 I finally had a chance to do an extended hike through the wilderness of Cumberland for some camping it its back country.  The trip started from a small dock not too different from the one below.

Looking East from St. Marys, "Gateway to Cumberland Island"

 After loading our gear onto the aptly named "Cumberland Princess", our exodus from the mainland began and we slowly made our way through the estuary that fills the gap between the Georgia coast and it's barrier islands.

Bon voyage!

This sea of green and blue is a common sight anywhere along the coast of Georgia

 After just under and hour of marsh gazing and keeping alert for breaching dolphins, the boat slows to a crawl as we parallel the island's shore.  Looking out from the boat, a dense edge of spanish moss-covered scrub hides the beauty of the island's interior.  Slowly another small dock takes shape ahead. 

Arriving at Sea Camp dock, a location popular with Manatees

After a short orientation by the rangers, my party and I were released to begin our trek to the furthest of three back country campsites, Brickhill Bluff.

Luckily, no hikers were forced to eat each other to survive the journey.

One thing people tend to really find fascinating about the island is it's population of feral horses.  These horses are quite a presence on the island and we had a nice send off by a foal gorging itself on some fallen Spanish Moss.

A young Spanish Moss connoisseur.

Our ten mile hike to our campsite started just beyond the ranger station in the saw palmetto-live oak thicket typical of a lot of the island.  As our group ventured further into the back country, the saw palmetto thickets thinned out a bit and offered us some breathing room allowing a view of the sandy, mixed oak and pine forest more abundant in the inner portion of the island.

A beautiful understory of Saw Palmetto was the main view for the beginning of the hike.

Under more natural conditions, fire helps keep the understory a little less choked with Saw Palmetto.

The season had turned out to be one drier than usual and quite warm, but we were able to enjoy a variety of wildlife and interesting plants during our hike.  Well, mostly it was just me enjoying the plants, but that's okay.
 

We ran into wild turkey several times along the trek.

Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata) isn't a moss at all, but a flowering plant particular to the southeastern coastal barrier islands.

It was hard not to be amazed at every one of the huge Live Oaks we encountered along the way.

This is the coolest Live Oak you will ever see.  Don't argue.

As we approached our campsite, we began to get back into view of the island's inner coastline; the cooling breeze coming off of the marsh was most welcome.

An inlet from the salt marsh, picturesque and cooling.

 Turns out, despite the protest of our tired bodies and blistered feet, the 10 mile hike in near 100 degree weather, was worth it.  Situated at the edge of the forest, just close enough to the estuary, Brickhill Bluff was indeed the most rewarding of the three back country campsites, capturing quite nicely the overall vibe of the island I had come to know over the years.

Our campsite, Brickhill Bluff.

 We were happy to make it before sunset with ample time to set up camp, exchange boots for flip flops, eat some of the most delicious dehydrated-then-rehydrated food on the planet, raccoon-proof our gear, set up a hammock, and watch the sun go down. 

Sunset from Cumberland Island, Brickhill Bluff campsite

 A fine way to end the first day of the expedition.  Day two features ten more miles of hiking, more blisters, and a very welcomed beach.  But I'll save all of that for part two.