Abbey's Road

On Monday we had a long drive so we didn’t do much besides find a campsite and eat dinner. We stayed at Laura Walker State Park near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia. Tuesday afternoon I took a boat tour in the refuge that started on the Suwanee Canal (of “Way Down Upon the Suwanee River” fame) and went out into the swamp. Our guide, Joey, informed us that technically it is not a swamp. It is a peat bog. It was still cool either way. Joey is a seventh generation “swamper” and a self-proclaimed redneck, though it was obvious he cares pretty deeply about the swamp, or bog if you prefer. His wife, however, is an eighth generation “swamper” and is known to “pull rank” on him every now and then. Poor guy. Seventh generation and he’s still doesn’t have seniority in his own house. He was a helluva guide in any case and spotted most gators long before we did. All in all we saw a dozen or more, several pretty close up including one he snuck the boat right up behind so I could get a good picture from the deck. Don’t worry, the zoom makes it look closer than it really was. I had to be at least 6-8 feet from it when I took the picture. Luckily, I was on the boat! As funny as it may sound, the swamp was beautiful. The water is black, but since it’s not technically a swamp it didn’t stink at all. And the reflections off the water were like looking in a mirror. It’s too bad the cypress trees were leafless, but the moss added a nice touch. We also saw several pair of sandhill cranes. They stand a good 5 or 6 feet tall so we could see them a long ways off. It felt good to be back out in the woods. It’s been great visiting everyone, but it feels good to be back out in nature.
Can you find the gator?

On Wednesday we moved over to Crooked River State Park along the coast near St. Mary’s, GA. St. Mary’s is a quiet little town compared to the rest of the Georgia coast, or so I’m told. It has a nice historic district down by the riverfront and you can take a boat to Cumberland Island National Seashore from there. I didn’t get a chance to check that out unfortunately, but everyone says it’s beautiful and they have wild horses on the island. I was able to set up a kayak tour for Thursday afternoon so I decided to stay another night before heading to Florida. Thursday did not start off too good. In fact, it was downright disastrous. I had something else on my mind when I pulled out of the campsite only to hear a popping noise behind me. Yes, my first RV disaster. I forgot to unhook the water hose and the electric cord. The electric cord just pulled out of the outlet with no damage, but I wasn’t so lucky with the hose. It ripped the “city water” hookup right out of the side of the RV. My heart sank, not to mention I felt really stupid!!! After running through all the worst scenarios in my head I asked the campground host where the closest service center was. It turned out to be in Jacksonville, only 25 miles or so away. To make a long story short, they took me in right away and had it fixed within an hour. And they didn’t even make any comments about how dumb I was. I guess they’ve seen it before. It only cost me $92 – not as costly a mistake as I had thought. Luckily, when we got back I still had plenty of time to take Abbey out for a walk around town before going on my kayak tour. My guide was a young kid and his mother (…still married) decided to come along. He was excited because I was going to be the first paying customer to go on this new route cutting through the marsh that they had recently found. He had only been on it once himself. The night before I felt a cold coming on and my throat was sore. Plus the wind was pretty strong and it was fairly cool in town so I was a little apprehensive about going. But once we got on the water you could hardly feel the wind and the sun was strong enough to make me feel hot. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife but it was cool seeing the marsh from a different perspective – the level of the water. The cut through the marsh was quite narrow and his mom wasn’t thrilled about it being so tight, but we made it without any real problems. We went late in the afternoon so the sun set before we got back. The color of the clouds was spectacular and when we stopped paddling it was so quiet and peaceful. I was pretty tired by the time we got back to the dock, but I was surprised to see we had only been gone 2 hours. It was long enough for me. When we got back to camp I warmed up leftovers for dinner (thanks to the Luckes) and went to bed.

The Ocala NF is not exactly remote. I guess being in the middle of Florida not too far from Orlando doesn’t allow it to be. Plus, being a weekend in January when the temperatures are still bearable I’m sure brings out all the locals to the campground. I was worried about getting a site on a Friday, but it turned out to be no problem. I was pretty tired after the drive and still fighting off this cold so I just took it easy the rest of the day. Saturday was pretty uneventful. I found a decent hike I could take Abbey on to get her some exercise. There was a little water and it wasn’t too warm so she really did well. I never know if she is going to be apprehensive or not, but today she was leading most of the way. On Sunday I was hoping to get in a short hike for Abbey and then a canoe ride for me later on. It was a lot warmer so we didn’t get real far on the hike. After a while I gave up and turned back. She was just too hot. We got back to camp with just enough time for me to rent a canoe before they closed. We were staying at Alexander Springs, one of several in the Ocala. Apparently Florida has the highest concentration of underground springs anywhere. I remember going to Weeki Watchee Springs when we were kids to see the mermaid show. I probably won’t get to see that this time. I seem to remember reading an article saying that it had gone bankrupt and shut down a while ago, but someone is trying to resurrect it. Kind of made me feel sad since it’s one of the memories I have from my first trip to Florida. I wonder if Monkey Jungle is still around.

There were a number of other people out canoeing and fishing, but it still felt peaceful and quiet. I saw several different kinds of birds, turtles, fish and even an alligator. It was pretty big, but luckily it was on the bank. They don’t seem to bother people much. I was more worried that it would move before I got the canoe close enough, but not too close, to get a good picture. It’s a lot quieter here today since all of the weekenders have left, but something is stirring around in the woods and it’s getting Abbey pretty excited. Hopefully, it’s not a bear. Well, that’s all for tonight. I’ll have to let you know later if it was a bear.
Abbey on the St. Francis Trail

Alexander Springs Wildlife