Sand and Bicycles Don't Mix

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Cumberland Island National Seashore, St. Mary's, Georgia

I think I understand the difference between a National Park and a National Monument. With some exceptions (like Dinosaur National Monument, which should really be a Park), Monuments are much smaller and are designed to protect just one cultural or natural resource. A fort, for example, makes for a good monument which can pretty much be seen in its entirety in a day or even a few hours. A Park, on the otherhand will always take several days to fully appreciate because it is geographically big and embraces so many different kinds of resources.

Then, as I'm compiling The Bucket List, I run across a handful of entities called 'Seashores' or 'Lakeshores'. Being from the Rockies, we don't have a whole lot of those - none, actually - so my experiences never really included any of them. I surmised that one would spend some time on the beach, appreciate its pristine character for a while, and then leave (with a stamp from the visitor center, of course). I thought they would be more like monuments, than parks.

We've seen three National Seashores now and I have to say that my assumptions were faulty - seashores are more like Parks than Monuments and we should have been allocating at least a couple of days to them, not just a few hours.

Gulf Islands, for example, had the beautiful white-sand beaches on the barrier islands and we spent several hours walking up and down them, appreciating the surf, and oggling at seashells and birds. But it also had Fort Pickens, an interesting fort with some significant history. And, importantly, we spent our time on just one small segment of the park - a few miles out of the 54 miles of seashore the park protects. Those additional segments present variations on the beach scene as well as additional historical sites, none of which did we see.

At Canaveral, we spent beautiful sunrise hours watching the sun emerge out of the ocean and begin its daily journey. But, at Apollo beach, there was an opportunity to canoe into the marshy lagoon on the west side of the island which, from a biological point of view, is much more important in preserving biodiversity. There were also additional cultural resources in that part of the park that we didn't see. So allocating just a day to Canaveral was probably not a good decision.

But the scope of National Seashores was made clear with yesterday's visit to Cumberland Island. This is a place we know for sure will be on a second round bucket list, because we know we missed a lot. We should have treated this park with more time and more attention.

Cumberland Island is the largest barrier island in Georgia, about 24 miles long and, at its maximum, about 3 miles wide. Geographically it exhibits all three major zones of a barrier island, the beach on the Atlantic Coast, the mid island maritime forest, and the saltwater marshes on the inland side. It is only accessible by private boat or the park service ferry.

There are really just three ways to see this island. First is by hiking. There are 50 miles of hiking trails on the island. Unless you are a hiking speed demon, you won't be able to do that in a single day, so your strategy would probably require that you camp overnight - an option dozens of people take. (The Seacamp Campground, on the beach, is rated as one of the best primitive camping sites in the country!). We weren't camping - RVs and dogs not allowed - so if we were going to hike the island, we would be limited to just the southern tip of it. Although gorgeous and interesting, it is hardly representative of the whole island.

The second way to see Cumberland Island is via a van tour. With this option we would have seen the northern-most tip of the island - and everything in-between and with the expert narrative of a seasoned tour guide. But it also costs $45/person and we thought, at the time we would have had to make reservations, that we didn't need that extra expense.

The third option is to rent bicycles and explore the island pretty much on your own, going where and as far as you would like. They have a phone system set up so when you get to a marked sign, you can dial a phone number, enter the stop #, and the recording tells you what is going on there. We decided that we liked this option, and, remembering our Ride-the-Rockies days, thought we could handle the bicycles and see much of the island.

First problem, of course, is that we got the last two bikes available. We adjusted the seat on one of them and it fit Joan pretty well. The other one, well, let's just say it was a girl's frame and even with the seat as high as it would go, the thing wreaked havoc on my knees. But the real problem was the soft sand. Georgia is in a bit of a drought and they haven't had rain in weeks. As a result, the sand on the island is extremely dry, which makes it 'soft'. What that means for bicycling is that your tires sink into the sand regularly and without much notice. I thought I could tell where the harder spots were only to find, after ten feet or so, that I came to an abrupt halt. Joan, being quite a bit lighter, fared better than I did. At the beginning it wasn't so bad, so we headed north on the main road with Plum Orchard as our destination, about 7 miles up the road. In our day, 7 miles would be a piece of cake, but not under these conditions.

As we started our trip it was difficult not to stand in awe at the surrounding forest. The huge live oak, and pine trees formed a canopy that gave the entire forest an almost eerie quiet. The sun barely penetrated the dripping Spanish moss. It was a stunning scene, like being in a living, green tunnel.

After several miles, though, the forest gave way to an exposed meadow area where we saw a dozen or so feral horses. We don't know how they got there, but this is one of two islands, on our tour, that have a population of wild horses on them. We stopped to take a couple of pictures and then tried to plough through the sand further North. I just couldn't do it. Here we were maybe three miles from our destination, and I had to give up. I was hot, dehydrated, and exhausted. My knees were killing me and my back hurt. So we gave up the ride and, walking the bikes at times, returned to the base camp for lunch and much needed water and rest.

On the way we took a little side trip down and around Greyfield Inn. This is a park-affiliated, hotel right in the middle of the island. It is rated, by National Geographic, as one of the top 10 places to stay inside a National Park. Nestled in the towering forest of live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, it has verandas, patios, gardens, bicycles, fountains - all the stuff of a fantasy indulgence. For most of us, though, it will remain a fantasy as the individual rooms in the mansion start at $450/night and go up to $635/night with a minimum 2 night stay. Yes, it includes all meals and access to an 'honor bar', but still, that's a lot of money. I'd do it, of course, if somehow my ship came in. For now, though, it remains out of reach.

Plum Orchard is another mansion, although they aren't renting rooms out there. That was our biking destination. Built by the Carnegies at the turn of the century, it was given to the Park Service and is maintained by them. It is an important example of a cultural aspect of this island that has to be recognized - this was, until the park was created fifty years ago, a playground of the rich. The Carnegies have a history here, but there are still 'private property' signs tagged to driveways off the main road - people are still maintaining private residences in the middle of this national park. It seems that the park was created from private gifts of property with the single reservation that they could maintain their residences inside the park. Eventually the property reverts to the public, but for a generation or so, active homes are found inside park boundaries.

Another example of Carnegie excess was evident at the southern end of the park, which we went to see after lunch. The Dungeness mansion was built by the Carnegies on top of a previous mansion constructed by Nathaniel Greene (of the Revolutionary War era). It burned down, though, and all that's left are the ruins on a once-magnificent estate overlooking the marshes at the southern end of the island. We saw more wild horses roaming the grounds and a huge bird (perhaps a wild turkey?) nesting on top of one of the still-standing chimneys.

In contrast to all the wealth, current and historic, on display, the far-northern end of the island has a series of structures called The Settlement. In the 1890s, freed slaves established a community there and one can still visit the oldest African-American Baptist Church. We, of course, using bicycles as our touring mechanism, never made it that far north - round two of the bucket-list, I guess.

We also never made it to the beach. Joan, concerned for my health after the aborted bicycle ride, made me return on the early ferry. We came home, cooled off in the air-conditioning, drank lots of water, and showered away the day's sand.

After dinner, we spent time sipping a glass of wine outside watching the fireflies. Although common in the East, we don't see them at all in New Mexico. This is the second time for Joan - she compares them to unicorns for their magic. It was a tough day, but an important one for showing how rich the National Park experience can be.(17.1.44)

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Photos

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Our Ferry Boat to Cumberland Island

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A Feral Horse on the Beach

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Heading Out on the Bicycles

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Herd of Horses near the end of our Bicycle Trip

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View from our Lunch Spot

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Lunch and Dock Area

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More Horses on the Grounds of Dungeness Ruins

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Dungeness Ruins

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Wild Turkey Nest

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Old Carnegie Mansion

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Marshlands on the Trip Home. Vital but not Scenic.