Ralph E. Simmons Memorial State Forest

Now that the weather is cooler (meaning 80s and sometimes as low as 70s for the high), I am hoping we can do several small trips. Today was just a short hike (3.25 miles) at a local state forest. The trail was wonderful. It is wide enough so we could walk side-by-side almost the whole time with just a few muddy places.

 

Most Florida hikes are extremely flat. This one actually had some elevation. The loop dropped 90’ and then climbed back up. As a comparison, the hike at Cumberland Island had just a 21’ change over the whole trail. We’ve done much higher. Lost Mine trail was 1,131’. Picacho Peak is 1,961’. Flatiron Trail was 2,641’. So, it wasn’t difficult just a little different.

The trail goes through different areas. Pine trees changed into live oaks and scrubby oaks and upland sandhill oaks (those last two I’ve never heard of before).

There was a swamp area but it's not very big and it hasn’t rained lately so it was mostly dry. The far point of the loop is along St. Mary’s River.

This is the same river we traveled to go to Cumberland Island, just upstream. But the colors are still dark from the Okefenokee Swamp origins.

 

Lots of purple, yellow, and white wildflowers were along the trail.

It was a nice day and place to hike! While I’m adding pictures…here are pictures from our backyard of an eagle, hawk, and turkey vulture.

Cumberland Island

The reason we were visiting St. Marys was so we could visit Cumberland Island. It takes some planning. We reserved ferry tickets online which were close to being sold out a week before our visit. Our hotel was across the street from the ferry which made things very convenient. This is a picture of the ferry coming in the day before our trip.

And here's our view during our trip. The river starts in Okefenokee Swamp and travels 126 miles to reach the area. St. Marys River is considered a blackwater river since tannins from plants make the water dark. You can see the color in the wake of the boat. We also saw a dolphin on our trip but didn’t get a picture.

As soon as we got off the ferry, we saw the wild horses that populate the island. There were many more horses than we expected. We sat and watched them chase each other across the fields. They wandered wherever they wanted.

The majority of the horses were in the large grassy areas but they visit the beach area and we even found evidence of their travel on a boardwalk. Personally, I was OK with sidestepping the piles on the trails but it seems to me that boardwalk should be out-of-bounds for them. Apparently the horses don’t agree with me.

The wild animals on the island are used to being around people. We were warned not to approach any of them and we kept our distance. We heard or saw several armadillos in the brush that kept mostly hidden. However, one armadillo scared me as he approached me when I took this picture. Are there attack armadillos?

We hiked the 4 mile loop trail. The trail starts with a wide oak tree lined path.

The big draw is the Dungeness Ruins. The mansion was built by Thomas Carnegie back in the 1880’s and it burnt down in 1959.

A major part of the trail is walking on the beach. We picked up a few shells including a sand dollar, saw lots of horse crab shells which were too big to carry, and saw quite a few star fish.

Other sights on the trail were the gravesite of General (during the Revolutionary War) Henry Lee, father of General Robert E. Lee, an old wash house, and these absolutely gorgeous trees. A very nice day!

St. Marys, Georgia

OK, it’s been a LONG time, but we just traveled on a two day trip. We’re still keeping it local but we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary by taking a safe (we hope) trip where most of the time we are outdoors or with people who are mostly wearing masks or social distancing.

St. Marys is a pretty tourist town without being too “touristy”. We stayed in an older hotel (1916) that is right in the historic section. We didn’t experience any hauntings though we heard stories of previous sightings. The view from the porch was pretty nice!

The town seems a great place to live. You’re allowed to drive golf carts on the streets. There is a 4-mile path for walkers and an 11-mile biking trail. The town has quite a few non-chain restaurants for tourists and locals. And several cool small parks.

There’s some fairly bizarre history like a spot where an empty casket was buried. Apparently mock funerals were held around the country for George Washington’s death. I found online info that I don't remember from the musical...“Washington's death came in a highly contentious period in American political history, and a variety of groups and individuals tried to take advantage of the occasion to advance their own agendas. Federalist officials, including President John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, themselves at odds on a number of issues, took a leading role in ceremonies that included mock funerals with empty caskets orchestrated by Hamilton, who also used the occasion to advocate for a large standing army.” 

The whole area is full of older homes with lots of signs explaining the history of the town. The homes are kept up quite well.

 

This cemetery was laid out in 1788. The oaks and Spanish moss are gorgeous.

The town is on St. Mary’s River as it nears the ocean. Marsh areas surround the town.

Sunrises were spectacular when we were there.