Cumberland Island, GA

So, today I booked for another attempt at Cumberland Island in early 2020. For a recap on past attempts:

2018 trip didn't happen because I woke up sick the day I was to go to the island. Did the drive, paid for a hotel, then woke up sick and drove 500-ish miles back home. I lost a couple hundred dollars and three vacation days on this attempt.

2019 trip didn't happen because of the government shutdown. I got all my money refunded for this failed attempt.

On my substitute trip when that fell through, I went back to Ocala National Forest because I love Juniper Prairie. On night three, I had a run in near Hidden Pond with this habituated bear a week or so before they shut down several miles of the Florida Trail to deal with the bear. He got my food bag down, but didn't get into it*. The bear repeatedly prowled my camp that was away from the main group of sites. I eventually moved down to the main sites where a couple of very kind Venezuelans took me into their site for the night. The bear prowled there all night too, but there were more of us to keep running him off.

* I had food in a "scent-proof" zip-top bag inside a kevlar Usrack bag (for bears) inside a wire mesh bag (for other critters), and all that was wrapped in a contractor bag because it was going to rain that night. I heard my food bag hit the ground because I had bells tied to it. I hadn't cooked in camp and had been careful about food, but he showed up in my campsite. He'd leave my camp after yelling and whistle blows, then go terrorize the main sites until they ran him off, then return to mine. I finally decided I couldn't stay there alone. After I ran him off another time and heard folks at the main sites yelling, I quickly packed up while I knew where he was and headed down to be closer to more people.  Early the next morning, I went to see if I could find remnants of my food bag to pack them out. I was surprised to find the bag intact with just a few claw marks in the contractor bag. I thought he'd come to my camp because he couldn't get into the food bag, but he had hardly tried---he was looking for something easy. 

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So I booked Cumberland Island again just to see what zany stuff will happen this time around. With my files from the last two years of attempts, my route and food are all planned out. Now, I just have to get back into walking shape and hope for the best.

Finally made it to Cumberland Island Jan 23 - 26.

Day 1: Visited Dungeness grounds, then walked to Stafford camp for the night. 

Day 2: Picked a route to hit Roller Coaster Trail that null recommended and loved it. Camped at Brickhill Bluff. Had some bugs there, but they weren't too bad as long as you kept moving, so I walked around camp a lot. Phenomenal campsite.

Day 3: Headed back south. Toured Plum Orchard Mansion, then hit the beach for the last three miles back to camp for another night at Stafford.

This was the first time I've hiked something completely new in several years. I love maritime forest and beach hiking and don't get those often, so this was a really nice trip. 

Saw 9 horses, 4 deer, one armadillo, dolphins from my campsite on night 2, whole bunch of birds. Heard an alligator go into the water on day 2 that apparently spotted me before I spotted it---I saw big ripples and watched for it to surface, but never saw it. It was loud enough and moved enough water that I don't know what else it could have been.

Many thanks to null for answering questions I messaged him about and the trail recommendations.

Glad you made it.

They were all within first 24 hours of being there. Pic below was on the Dungeness end of Nightingale Trail. Saw one on Parallel Trail and heard another with it that I didn't see. Next morning, I was stretching my legs right after first light and left my camp at Stafford walking back up Pratt's and saw two there---we just kinda watched each other for a bit, then I kept going and left them to their business and they were gone just a few minutes later when I came back through on the way back to camp. After seeing so many at the start of the trip, I was expecting more, but that was it.

Yes, but ...

the end of the trail is anti-climactic. It just ends on the West Side of the island south of Dungeness. You can't walk there directly from Dungeness because there's a waterway separating that part of the island. So expect to see no one.

Anyway, despite the end of the trail just abruptly ending, cutting across is really interesting. The one time I was there, the trail was about 1" deep water among some kind of sea grass. And as you walk through this area, hundreds of tiny crabs scurry away from you. You end up stepping on several of them since there are so many.

The beach walk itself down to the the trail is about the same as the beach walk further North. Oh, and the South End Trail gives you a view of the nuclear power plant across the state line, if you care.

Dang, I had a 4 night reservation this week at Stafford Beach I had to cancel because of my cataract surgery.
I love Cumberland Island.