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. 

St. Marys, GA

I camped at Crooked River State Park in  St. Mary’s, GA Feb. 21 – Mar 4.  I have stayed here before and enjoyed it because there are a good many things to do within an hour or so drive.

A while back some Lazy Daze friends mentioned that they have had a couple of delivery problems using General Delivery to receive their mail.   I haven’t had any problems with getting it (I probably shouldn’t say that so I knocked on wood just to make sure it wouldn’t happen!), but this is the second time that it was damaged! 

That is how I received it.  In addition to the rip it was open all the way across the top, but the St. Mary’s post office had taped it closed and put a sticker on it saying they received it that way.  Of course I don’t know if anything was lost, but the 2 things I were expecting where there. 

One of my day trips was to go back to Cumberland Island.  I used to tent camp on the island a long time ago.  A few things have changed.  One in particular that I may take advantage of next time is they allow up to 10 bikes on the ferry to the island.  Next time I go I might take my bike and ride to Plum Orchard.  It would be a long day hike, but biking it would be fun. 

While there, I saw several wild horses, a Pileated Woodpecker, a couple of Oyster Catchers  and plenty of beautiful scenery.  I noticed the Dungeness Ruins have been “restored”.  Not really restored but they have added some cinder blocks to keep the remaining ruins from completely  falling.  Also the old gym/pool building which was partially fallen down last time I was there is basically gone.  But it has been more than 30 years since I started going to Cumberland so I it makes sense that these things happen. 

Another day trip was to Amelia Island.  The plan was to sit on the beach and eat lunch and then go ride on the bike trail.  I ended up not riding, but enjoying my view from the beach.  While there I saw lots of Skimmers, one of my favorite birds.  They were on the beach and most people would go around them, but a few people walk right up to them and of course they would fly away but they came back to the same spot several times.

Since i hadn’t been riding my bike much, I drove to Jekyll Island one day and did the trail around the island.  Afterwards I enjoyed sitting on the beach and resting!

Also while at the campground I saw Georgia’s State Reptile, the Gopher Tortoise a couple of times.