Cumberland Island, Ga. October 24-25, 2006

An unexpected diversion, Cumberland Island, Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier island, is now one of my most favorite places in the USA. We saw this island mentioned in our guidebook, Let’s Go! Guide to the USA on a budget and decided to go, since it sounded so neat. I used Let’s Go! When I backpacked Europe and it rarely lead me in the wrong direction (thanks Harvard kids.) However, the prices in our book weren’t accurate and getting to the island ($46 for the both of us) really put us at budget. But in the end, it was totally worth it. Named “One of America’s 10 Best Beaches” by the Travel Channel, Cumberland Island is truly a national treasure. http://www.nps.gov/cuis/

We took the 9 a.m. ferry over Cumberland island and tried to warm up. It was FREEZING!! Our toes were numb. We waited in the ranger cabin to register and get our campsite, and we began chatting with one of the couples there. I mentioned something to Josh about the Appalachian Trail, and the guy asked us if we did much hiking on the A.T. I told him Josh had just finished a thru-hike of the entire trail. Then this guy told us he had hiked the whole AT also!!!!!! What a coincidence. There are only about 8,000 thru-hikers in the world, and 2 of them are on this tiny island in Georgia on this random Tuesday!! To give you an idea of how secluded this 16 mile island was, there were probably about 30 people (mostly children of middle school age) on our ferry going just for the day, and about 8 total of them were camping overnight. The guys talked about the A.T. for awhile (this guy had thru-hiked in ’91).

On our hike to Stafford beach, we saw about 4 armadillo! They are the cutest ugly creatures I’ve ever seen. I know it doesn’t make sense, but they’re so ugly they’re cute. We watched one hunt for ants for about 10 minutes and then walked on. We passed a beach entrance on our “hike” to the campsite, so we decided to stop in. The beach sand was beautiful, simple and pure, like no one had touched it for years. The undeveloped island has no places to buy food or souvenir shops, and there are few toilets. And that is how the National Park Service wants it. In 1972 the few inhabitants on Cumberland island were asked to give up their homes in exchange for island visiting privileges, to preserve the island to how it looks now. Cumberland Island is a complex ecological system of interdependent animals and plant communities. It is marsh, forest and beach, which make it a perfect place for great fishing, swimming, tanning and hiking.

We hung out on the beach for awhile and collected a sand dollar, starfish and many conch shells. We hiked on to our campsite (which had bathrooms, yay) and unloaded our stuff. Our campsite was about a quarter mile from the beach. Since we were up so early, we ended up falling asleep for an hour. Woke up at 3 p.m. and headed to the beach. You can’t see anyone on the beach! It’s like your own private beach! Josh decided to join the Polar Bear club and jumped into the ocean. We walked around and hung out on the beach till about 6 p.m.

Staring out at the ocean, I saw 2 dolphins swimming next to one another!!!! We followed them along the beach, and thought about jumping in the water to take a photo with them, but then we saw a HORSE!!!!!!!!! YES, A REAL LIVE HORSE ON THE BEACH!!!! I was so excited (can’t you tell). We took lots of pictures and then just sat on the beach and watched the horse eat. We headed back to cook dinner around 5.30. When it got dark out at night there, you could see EVERY star in the sky! Very different from the squinting you have to do in the northeast. We fell asleep around 9 p.m. to the sound of the ocean in the distance and animals scurrying in the underbrush.

On Wednesday, we woke up at 7 a.m. to watch the sunrise on the beach (I know, you’re barfing). It was gorgeous! Beautiful colors, and it was just us and 2 other people on the beach. We hiked 3 miles back to the ferry and loaded on for our departure. Met a cool couple from St. Louis who were visiting family on the east coast. They had hiked the El Dio? Trail (sorry, I forget the name) in Spain which we hope to do someday. It’s supposed to be an incredibly international trail with the chance to really get the local flavor of Spain. Got lunch at St. Mary’s town in Georgia, and then headed to Clemson, S.C. to visit Josh’s sister. After Clemson we’ll head to Tyler, Texas and then Austin, Texas, the first city that we’ve actually considered moving to. It’s taken us awhile to actually GET out West!

Cumberland Island was awesome and worth the 2 hour excursion. The weather could have been warmer, but if it had been we would have been dealing with mosquitos. It didn’t rain, we saw dolphins, armadillos, a horse, bright stars in the sky and the sun rising. Next time we come it would be perfect to stay for 3 nights so we could take a hike out to a part on the island that the horses hang out in their herds, hike to the northernmost part of the island and spend more time on the beach. It is a quiet, inspirational place with centuries of history. The island also has the Dungeness, the former estate of Thomas Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie. The First African Baptist Church is also there. We can’t do any pros or cons of Cumberland Island since no one is allowed to live there. :(

Next stop: Clemson, S.C. to visit Josh’s sister.