Crooked River State Park

We’re still in Georgia. As we left the Okfenokee Swamp area we saw some sections that were burnt from the recent fire. Or at least we think this is where it was recently burning. The trees were all black…some completely burnt while others still seemed to have some life in them. However, the undergrowth was green already. The fire was in May so it surprises me it would be so green. Maybe because it is a swampy area the water below protected the undergrowth or allowed it to grow faster.

We visited Crooked River State Park back in April last year. That time we saw lots of gopher tortoises. This time we haven’t seen any so far. Turns out it was breeding season so they were out searching for mates. Now the ranger says they are mostly hiding from the heat. 

So far I have seen a raccoon, an armadillo, lots of squirrels, and a bunch of small fiddler crabs. The crabs were along the shore and in the morning there were lots of them. Sort of creepy seeing the beach moving everywhere with them.

We stopped at Folkston Funnel. I’m not sure how to explain this one. There is a platform in the small town of Folkston with benches and a speaker where you can hear the communications going on between trains. There’s wifi available so you can bring up information on train schedules. People show up and watch trains go by and talk about trains. We only stayed a few minutes. We hear that “train” people will travel miles to come here. Something that Sheldon from “Big Bang” would love!

Okefenokee Swamp

I’ve been meaning for us to visit this swamp / park but it was never easy to fit in our travels. It is out of the way. The nearest grocery store is 1.5 hours away. But after doing some research on astronomy, I realized it was the nearest Dark Sky park. These are parks that work to keep the skies dark for stargazing. So we added the park to our itinerary.

Every afternoon it rains and the clouds last into the evening. So, it wasn’t until 2 am or so when the sky was clear. There are some other obstacles. The campgrounds are in a section of tall pines. That is beautiful in the day but not good for stargazing. I ended up biking to a large parking lot. The first night there were a few lights on at the office but after I mentioned this to a ranger, they were mostly off the second night. At different times I saw: Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, the Andromeda galaxy, multiple constellations, several meteors, and the Milky Way. The Milky Way used to be easy to see outside of towns but now it is only seen by eye in a few places like this. 

There were reports of a bear near our campsite, but we never saw it except a picture of it on another campers phone. I did see an alligator in the canal. BTW, stargazing in the dark when you know bear and alligators could be close makes it more exciting every time you hear a noise. During the day, there were quite a few deer in the area including this family. As I was hiking, I scared one deer when I stepped out from a trail. The deer jumped in the air, snorted, ran into the bushes, and then continued to snort at me. I guess we all get scared at times.

Of course I did a morning walk. The interesting part of the boardwalk hike is the spiders. A ranger mentioned there is more this year than normal. They were EVERYWHERE and BIG. Not Harry Potter big, but big enough.

Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park

There is no real connection between this park and Stephen Foster except the park runs along the Suwannee River while Stephen Foster wrote a song about the Swanee River (he never visited it and needed it to be only two syllables). However, they collected memorabilia, have these bizarre old-fashioned dioramas, and play Stephen Foster songs when the carillon isn’t broke (it is broke now).

We happened to be here during a festival. John enjoyed the car show while I enjoyed the lemonade!

I hiked along the Suwannee River one morning. Every afternoon it rains so mornings are the only time to hike. The morning mist and the cypress trees are always neat. 

I see a lot of deer, but not a lot of bucks. It is a good park!

Camp Blanding , Deer, and Sunsets

We visited the museum at Camp Blanding. Back in World War II, it was mostly used to train whole divisions. Inside is a lot of WWII items and a film while outside is different equipment.

Deer can be seen in the trees near our campsite.

With all the rain, sunsets have been pretty spectacular.

Paw-Paw

Earlier in April, I took a picture of a paw-paw bloom. I remember my dad talking about paw-paws on the farm in Ohio. The only plant I knew about was along the fence line at the back of the field. As far as I remember, I never was able to taste one.

We’re back in the same area and the paw-paw fruit are out. Most are still unripe. These fruit are hard.

I found a few that were ripe. The fruit is soft like touching a ripe peach. Inside is pulp with large seeds. It is very tasty. They say that the reason paw-paws aren’t a popular fruit is that they only are good for a few days and don’t ship well. The fruit easily squishes, so that makes sense. It can be used like a banana in things like smoothies or bread. But the best way to enjoy it is fresh and right off the plant!