Savannah, GA

Note – I am posting 2 blogs today.  I am currently staying at Watson Mill Bridge State Park where my internet connection is almost non-existent, but I drove into Athens today and am currently in their library. 

After leaving Crooked River State Park in St. Mary’s I headed to Savannah where I stayed at Skidaway Island State Park.  I was there March 6 – 18 and I had one of the largest camping spots that I have ever had. I believe it was site 60. 

The picture above was taken from one of the corners of my spot.  I love Spanish Moss and Skidaway has plenty of it.

The 2 pictures above were taken on one of my morning walks.   Unfortunately the first week I was there high tide was in the morning and it was an extremely high tide so in some places water was over the trail.  The first time it wasn’t too bad so I walked thru it.

The next day I tried a different trail (the Connector trail) and it was worse.

So I decided to walk later in the day or walk somewhere else until high tide changed.

While there, I took one of the trolley tours around Savannah.    Did you notice that I was there over St. Patrick's Day?  Savannah has the second or third largest St. Patrick's day festivities in the US (depending on who you listen to) so it was a bit crazy for a few days.  I stayed out of downtown during that time.  But I did see where they turned all the fountains green.  It is a bit hard to tell but if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can tell the water that is coming out of the swans  (?) and the horns is green.

While I was in downtown they were preparing for the large crowds. I heard they moved more than 400 of these into the area.

  Above is my trolley headed down to River Street.

One of the things I enjoyed most this trip was watching 2 Barred Owls that were in the campground.  On 2 occasions I saw both of them and most evenings I saw one of them.  Several nights I heard them “talking” to each other.

 

I have learned how curious owls are over the past several years.  A while back I posted a picture of a Screech Owl who turned his head to watch me leave.  In the picture above you can see the owl on the left looking at the owl on the right who is peaking around the Spanish moss at me. 

One or both have a nest in this hollowed out tree.

Many people could not see him because he blends in with the tree.  If you are at Skidaway, ask the Camp host that is near restroom #1 where they are.  The above tree is just across the street from the camp host, close to site #39.

I also went to the Oatland Wildlife Center.  It is a “zoo” that has animals that can not be released to the wild and uses them to educate people.

One day I went to the McQueens Tybee Island trail in front of Fort Pulaski.  This is a rails to trail path that I had read mixed reviews about but I thought I would give it a try.  It was not very good! They have had a lot of erosion problems.

The first 3 miles were not too bad, with the exception of the soft sand and gravel they used to fix the eroded areas.  That’s not fun on a bike. 

Then it got a bit rougher and looked like this part was used less. 

The above is where I pushed my bike as I didn’t trust the trail or myself at this part!  There were some machinery around that made it look like they are still working on it, so maybe one day it will be fixed.  But if they continue with the soft sand and gravel it will not be that good.