Since there was only one spot available at Crooked River State Park in St Marys, Georgia, we didn’t look too far into the site’s details. ‘Will it fit a pickup truck and 15’ trailer? Yes, ok good thanks.’ One of the deeply fun parts of having a small teardrop trailer is backing into a ridiculously long RV spot. We could have almost parked two sets of our truck and trailer front to back and side to side. While the folks across from us had to wedge their fifth-wheel in and park their truck diagonally across it, we were rolling backwards like Kramer on the highway. Luxury.
Isn’t this snowy egret cute? He sat on top of that SUV, feathers rippling in the breeze, the entire time I sat near the pier. When we drove into the small nearby town of St. Marys, we were surprised to see how the birds seemed content to be around humans. Not begging or acting like they’re used to being fed, just hanging around. A great blue heron, for example, was walking around the little town square as if it was desperately trying to relax on its lunch hour. ‘Ugh. Gotta get back to the desk in 20. Big meeting at 1.’
We visited the local submarine museum, which was a bit of a hodgepodge of veterans’ memorabilia and seemed rather out of place in this cute little coastal town until we realized the State Park is right next to a national nuclear submarine station. Then it made a lot more sense.
We were intrigued by the notice of a night hike, so we signed up and arrived in the dark with only a few moments to spare. The Ranger and naturalist intern explained the rules to the group, handed out some glow sticks to help keep track of us, and led us into the dark.
Rules, guidelines, reminders. They seem like simple things, yet so many people just won’t follow them. I thought the Ranger did a good job of explaining why each request would help us to see and hear the night animals of the forest, but each got ignored almost immediately. Children running around. People yapping to each other. Bright white flashlights on. No semblance of a single file line.
Not surprisingly, we didn’t see the night animals nor did we hear any owl calls. We did see a tree scorpion which was pretty interesting. Although they fluoresce under black light like the Arizona desert variety, these ones live under the bark of Longleaf Pines and are small and harmless.
Along the coast the next day, we saw lots of tracks and some wonderfully turned and twisted trees and stumps. Can you imagine the long-term forces required to cause a tree to grow into that form?
Now this little beast (below) was right next to the trail and as I stopped to snap his photograph, it reared up and leapt forward, chasing me down the trail a bit! Gave me a good start, I fully admit it. Who knew their placid demeanor hid such a wrathful heart.
Leave a comment