Cumberland Island Adventure Weekend (Camden County, Georgia)

Off for another fun-filled adventure weekend. This time I'll be revisiting one of the first destinations I hit after my move to Georgia, Cumberland Island. It was almost exactly two years ago that I joined REI for my first bike-packing adventure during a long weekend on the largest and southernmost of Georgia's barrier islands. It was fantastic time and I really enjoyed it, but I found myself wishing I had a little more time to explore the island. For this trip, I'll again be joining REI, but for a simple camp out. The REI guides will be leading several hikes during the weekend, but they are all optional and I will have lots of time to explore on my own. REI simply provides the campsite, meals, and ferry to the island . . . oh, and some optional wine and beer in the evenings.

It's a long drive from Atlanta and with the ferry leaving the dock at 2:00 PM sharp, I need to get an early start. I packed the night before and was able to get quick shower and hit the road just after 6:00 AM, which should give me more than enough time to stop for lunch somewhere along the way. It's raining most of the way down and I note that my driver's side wiper blade is starting to rip. I start alternating the wiper speed in relation to how hard the rain is falling in the hopes that it will last me the trip. As I start approaching Savannah, the rains seems to dwindle down to and eventually disappear completely.

When I arrive in St. Mary's, Georgia, our meeting spot, I find a parking spot and walk over to the check-in. The guides do the standard COVID-19 screener and then tell me I can put my gear anywhere as we wait for the ferry to arrive. I have almost an hour to burn. I head back to the jeep and do a quick change of clothes. I had worn very comfortable items for the drive down, but I'm hoping to get a hike in once we get to the island and after getting my tent set up. So, best to change into some more outdoor-ready clothes while I have the time.

At the appointed time, we load up ourselves and our gear onto the large ferry. About sixty-five of us in all, which includes our guides, some backpackers, some adventurers going on the bike-packing trip that I did two years ago, and the rest filled in by those just going for the camp out, like I am. The ferry ride is pretty quick and I get to know some of my fellow campers as we make our way through the coastal waterways on our way to the Sea Camp Dock on the western side of the island. We quickly disembark and after a few words from the lead guide about the plan for the evening, I quickly head off to Camp Armadillo (my assigned area) to set up my tent. Some of the folks here have never been camping before and require some assistance to erect their tents. While I do help with a couple of quick questions, I have my tent and sleep system ready to go in a matter of minutes. I tell my neighbors that I'm going to head off and get a few miles in before dinner. I know they are doing drinks and hors-d'œuvres at 5:15 PM, which gives me about an hour-and-a-half to explore. 

I head out to the eastern beach, which is just short stroll from our campsite. From there, the great Atlantic Ocean opens up before me in all it's glory. I turn right to head south along the shoreline. In the distance, I see a large yellow buoy that has washed up. After about a mile-and-a-half along the beach, I see the marker for Dungeness Beach and decide to head inland to wards the ruins of the old mansion. Along the way, I encounter several wild horses busy about their business. They are cautious of me, but don't seem to feel overly threatened. Still, I give them a wide berth as I walk around them. I also encounter several armadillo, none of which seem to have gotten much wiser since my last visit to this place. 

Along the way, I spot a sign for a cemetery and decide to head through the salt-water woods a bit to check it out. Here lie the remains of some of the Miller-Green family, overlooking the southern salt marshes. Beyond, a well constructed observation deck affords me the opportunity to enjoy a spectacular sunset  It seems almost magical. Further on, I walk through the re-purposed housing of the former estate staff, now residences for the Park Service personnel. I note the magnificent live oaks here. Some of which sprawl out almost like a gigantic spider on the land. The resurrection moss is thick on some of the large low-hanging branches and with the lush green color of the moss, I assume it has been raining recently.

As I turn to head back, I had down the main road of the island, which is a combination of dirt, sand, and gravel. I spot a couple of deer running off into the palmetto woods at the site of me. One turns back to get a better look and I snap a decent picture of her, before she follows her friends. 

Arriving back at camp, I covered roughly five miles this evening, though I didn't track it. After dropping my pack, I had over to the kitchen camp and I'm greeted with a nice cold craft beer. Now, this is the way it's suppose to be. The guides have prepared some trays of charcuterie for us, while they work on dinner. A campfire is just starting to roar and I take the opportunity to chat with some of my fellow campers. They seem somewhat surprised that I was able to get in such a nice hike already, but after showing them some of the pictures on my phone, the surprise changes to mild jealousy. 

For dinner tonight, we enjoy a hearty vegetable stew along with some sauteed chicken. It's actually pretty tasty. We all enjoy more alcohol while we finish our dinner and then two our guides announce that they will be leading a night hike in a little bit. It's completely optional, but what else would I do I have to do. After we've had time for our dinner to settle a bit, those of us going on the hike group up and head out. The pace is purposely set pretty slow and I catch myself having to walk with purpose to prevent myself from getting to far ahead. Our goal is the Nightingale Trail, which I passed the trailheads for earlier, but did not explore. I'm glad it will be something new and the added benefit of the darkness adds a great element.

We spot a couple of armadillos as we make our way through the woods. An somewhat elderly gentleman ventured off at one point to find a "facili-tree" and after he doesn't return, the guides begin to get a little concerned. One of the guides starts retracing our steps, while the rest of us wait. Soon, the gentleman shows up from the opposite direction that we were expecting him from. He's fine and just got turned around a bit, but now we're stuck and the other guide is hastily making her way back the way we came looking for him. After discussing it with the remaining guide, I offer to run back and let her know that he's safe and with the group. We agree and that's exactly what I do. After about a quarter-mile, I get within earshot of the search party and let them know that they can come back, which they do.

Heading back to camp, with the entire group, we say our good night' and head off to our respective tents. This night hike was about 3.5 miles, bringing my total for the day to about 10 miles, which includes carrying my gear from the dock to the campsite. As I lay down on my sleeping pad, I think about the remainder of the weekend and look forward to what tomorrow may hold.

I awake a little before sun-up and head down to the restrooms, a short stroll away. I also decide to take advantage of the showers available there. The water is freezing cold, but it's suppose to be near 80 degrees this afternoon. I think the chances of becoming hypothermic are pretty remote. That said, I don't think I was truly prepared for that ice-cold water hitting my chest. It was quite a body shock and certainly stirred me from any thought of falling back asleep any time soon. I quickly lather up and then do my best to rinse the soap and dirt off of me under the shower-head. I'm not sure I got all of the suds, but I've had enough of this for now.

Returning to camp, I grab my mug and eating utensils before making my way back over to the kitchen camp. This morning, we have something of a continental breakfast, including bagels, fruit, oats, and the remaining charcuterie from last night. I fill a plate and chat with other campers, while I roll around plans in my head. Originally, I had considered making my way all the way to the northern end of the island, a round-trip distance of approximately 24 miles. I'm confident I could do this, but after finding out that all the water north of hear requires purification treatment and me without my filter, I decide to settle for something a little more south.

In addition to breakfast, the guides have also put out trays of meats and cheeses and other food-stores for us to make our own lunch. I opted for a ham and Swiss, along with a couple of granola bars.This should serve me well on my solo adventure across the southern end of the island. The guides will be leading a hike through the Dungeness Ruins, which I want to explore as well, but I want to get an earlier start and after cleaning my bowl and spoon, I grab my day pack and head south on the main road.

Quickly, I run directly into the shadow of the once expansive Dungeness Mansion, owned by the Carnegie family. They built the mansion in the 1880's and lived in it for roughly 40 years. The mansion was destroyed by fire in 1959, leaving a massive ruin for modern visitors to admire and explore. The grounds include several other structures a garden, a boat house, and an ice house. It must have been something in it's day with 59 rooms, but now, it just provides an interesting rest spot for black vultures to land on and wild horses to tromp around.

After passing through the main part of the grounds, I head off along the marsh trail, which is mostly on an elevated board walk above the salt marshes. In the distance, I can see a small group of wild-horses feeding on the tender grasses and overhead, more black vultures circle in search of their next meal to scavenge. That won't be me. Popping out from the boardwalk I encounter a sandy area with dead and dying trees poking out from the white sands. Even more of these flying black harbingers of death can be seen here, perched on the branches of these trees. It resembles what a post-apocalyptic landscape might look like and I capture what I think is a great shot of it.

From here, I make way back out to the beach. If I were to turn left, I would essential follow the same route as yesterday, but in reverse. I decide to head right and further south instead. I'm hoping to explore the South End Trail, should it still be there. After nearly two more miles along the beach and following in the footprints of more wild-horses, I see the black and white pole marking the trail. Heading in, I quickly get confused as to which is the man-made trail and which trails were made by the horses. Further still and I encounter an area overgrown with thorn-bushes. I try to force my way through them only to snag my shirt several times. The reports I had read suggested that this trail might be difficult to find and follow, but I'm not even sure I'm on the trail and I decide to head back to the beach. 

I stop at the long stone pier to enjoy my sandwich. I decide that I will simply make my way along the beach to the southern tip of the island. The sandwich is good and returns to me some much-needed energy. Along the way, I pass by Pelican Beach, and true to its name, a large number of pelicans are hanging out along the sandy shoreline with some of their much smaller, but more numerous distant cousins. As I've followed the beach, I encounter all kinds of the living ocean washed up on the sands, including a pair small sharks, a bird that I think is a king fisher, and several horseshoe crabs, all of which have become or will soon become food for the vultures, which even here are ever present. A reminder that nothing in life is permanent and natures recycles everything. After hitting the southern-most point, I turn and head back up the beach to my camp. I was able to get in 10.2 miles on this little trek and I'm ready to relax a bit.

Once I get back to camp, I find that I'm one of the few there, as most of the group has accompanied the guides on the Dungeness Hike. I take seat in my comfortable camp chair, tilt my hat down to block the sun, and doze off for a little while. When I awaken, the hikers are just now returning. I'm hot and sweaty and with the current temperature feeling like the high 70's or low 80's, I decide to cool off once more in that frigid shower. It's pretty much the same routine I followed this morning, but I do feel much better after having cleaned up a bit.

Just in time, I head on over to the kitchen camp and enjoy a couple more nice beers. In addition to more charcuterie, our camp chef has also prepared a delicious appetizer salad consisting of arugula, fennel, apples, thin slices of red chili, mint, and cilantro in a honey-sweetened vinaigrette dressing. It's really, really good. It's pirate night this evening and our guides have prepared a number of pirate-based activities to keep things interesting. For dinner, we'll be enjoying a low country boil pretty standard-fare in this part of the world and made by combining peel-and-eat shrimp, boiled potatoes, sausage, and small ears of corn on the cob. It's pretty tasty.

For desert, it's a smores kind of night. We're presented with several options for our chocolate and provided with a small marshmallow roasting skewer. It's rather comical explaining the concept of a smore to some of the non-campers and then watching them attempt to make them over the campfire. Those of us more experienced, try our best to provide some guidance, but in the end, making a smore is a very personal thing.

After our adventure with fire, several of us head out onto the beach for some stargazing. With Jacksonville, FL only a few miles to the south, it's not true dark-sky conditions, but it's far better than can be experienced in Atlanta. The tide has pulled the waters way out and I walk what seems like almost a quarter-mile before finally finding the sea. It's nice out here and the group is enjoying hearing about the constellations and heavenly bodies far above us.

With that, we head back to camp for the night. I crawl in my tent and notice that I have several insect bites on my arms and legs. These are likely from the "no-see-ums" that I experienced my last time on the island - small gnats and biting flies so small they can't really be seen unless you are specifically looking for them, thus the name. Regardless, they have feasted on me pretty well. I crawl under my backpacking quilt and try to doze off. It's warm and very humid. I wake sometime around midnight soaking wet with sweat, but soon fall back asleep. Around 3:00 AM, I'm again awakened by the sound of raindrops on my rain fly. It's been perfect so far on this trip; I guess we have to expect a little bit of weather. 

I finally rise from my dream state around 6:45 AM and begin packing my clothes. We'll be getting back on the ferry around 10:30 for the return trip to civilization. After I finish packing the items inside my tent, I head over for breakfast. I leave my tent up in the hopes that some of the water from the early-morning rain will dry in the time it takes me to eat. It does a little, but not much. For breakfast this morning, we're enjoying shakshouka, a North-African dish prepared by poaching eggs in a thick tomato-based sauce with onions and peppers. It's quite tasty.

After breakfast, I return to my campsite and breakdown what remains of my gear, before carrying it to the dock. There I chat with the guides as we await the arrival of the ferry. I'm sad to be leaving this relaxing and wondrous place, but I'm very glad I had the opportunity to return once again. As the ferry pulls away, the guides, who are remaining on the island for another day, wave to us and do a wave for us. As we approach the mainland, we encounter a few dolphins swimming in the shallow coastal waters. It's dreary this morning and I think everyone is now anxious to get back to their cars after the long ferry ride, though given the opportunity to remain on the island for a few more days, I suspect each and everyone one of us would have jumped at the chance. Overall, it was a magnificent experience.