< more recent | 1-7 January 2022 | older >
7 January 2022: Good thing I made it in before the storm last night, as this morning I woke up to a snow covered Jeep and some cold weather. Welcome back to New York and Winter…
6 January 2022: Today was all about powering through the drive because there is a big snow storm coming in, and I needed to make it home before it started so I wouldn’t have to drive in it. I kept moving all day with only minimal stops for food, gas and bathrooms and made it across eight states (counting D.C.) back home safely before the snow started — though monitoring the storm’s progress I could see it coming in just behind me on the weather radar…
5 January 2022: Took some time out to explore around FR09, the “sand highway” that runs through part of the Ocala National Forest, and checked out some of the side trails and play areas there before continuing northbound, towards the Okefenokee Swamp again. Stopped at the swamp on the Folkston GA side, and took a slow walk out to the Owls Roost Observation Tower. I was alone on the trail and the experience was very different from the crowded weekend visit we had earlier in the trip. I stayed out at the observation tower, which looks over the vast swamp environment, until it was almost closing time. I heard the owls but did not see them. Had a quick dinner at a local place in Folkston and then got back on the highway, making it into South Carolina before stopping for the night…
4 January 2022: In the morning we said our goodbyes, and the team split up, as Chris and Khalifa began their return journey to France, and I turned north, back towards New York. I paused for the night back in Ocala, so I could do one last trail in the morning before leaving the backcountry completely behind …
3 January 2022: We began packing up as soon as we woke up, trying as best we could to dry anything possible. The sun was back and warm enough, but there had been a lot of water in the night. We loaded up the Jeep and even managed to find a place to put the cool driftwood root that Chris had found the other day and that I wanted to keep and take back home as a sculpture because it looked just like my “ghost forest.” With the overstuffed Jeep we made a last stop in the town of Apalachicola so Chris could buy some souvenirs and then hit the road towards Tampa, where we settled into a motel that was like something out of a B-movie, complete with sirens wailing down the street all night — it seemed even more aggressive to our ears after having spent so much time in the wilderness these last days, but we had showers and wifi and were on the first step of our respective journeys home …
2 January 2022: Our last day in the wilderness and we went for a hike along the edge of the coast from a random point off the coastal highway, just following the edge of the water until we almost reached the base of the bridge for St. George Island. It was a beautiful walk as the tide was just beginning to go out and we passed some of what I call the “ghost forest,” trees that were underwater and died in some old hurricane or something like that and now the stumps remain as driftwood sculptures that expose themselves as the tide goes out. We also saw some kind of mummified swordfish in the sand and some bear scat (but not the bear luckily), and we finished up our walk returning back the way we had come. Afterwards we drove into town to have dinner at a restaurant so we could actually taste the famed oysters, then headed back to camp where we settled in to watch the incoming storm. It was quite an impressive thunderstorm and we took up shelter under the pavilion and just watched the lightening approach closer and closer and then the skies opened up and the heavy part of the storm fell with that same kind of monsoon intensity we saw in Tallahassee the other day. The first part of the storm ended after an hour or so, and we went back to our tents to sleep, but the wind and rain continued outside long into the night and it was not a very restful last night …
1 January 2022: Woke up to a beautiful morning on the Creek, then headed out of the forest to the Gulf of Mexico, following the coast along to the town of Apalachicola, which was quiet as a ghost town on this first day of the year. The old city center and the seafood industrial area were empty and after a quick wander around we headed across the long bridge and onto the barrier island of St. George, making our way to the beach. Chris actually went for a swim! But the skies were clouding over with a strange sort of light enveloping the sun and it was beautiful in an unusual way…
THIS MONTH:
The Annual Holiday Roadtrip south takes on a slightly different twist this year, as we are joined by some friends from France here to experience a backcountry adventure with USnomads.org. We will be spending two weeks overlanding through the wilderness from the Ocala National Forest to the Okefenokee Swamp and on into the Apalachicola National Forest, camping, kayaking and exploring as we go…
COMING UP SOON:
Every Day Is a Clean Up Day in 2021. Ladies Offroad Network has partnered with TreadLightly! to create a year-long program that encourages members to pick up trash on the trails whenever they are out off-roading. Participants simply pick up the trash, weigh it, take a photo, and log the location and time it took, then upload the details. At the end of the year there will be a series of prizes based on pounds of trash removed from the trails as well as participation in other TreadLightly! initiatives. This is a great way to do some good on a local level and make a larger impact via the national program…
Advanced sand dune training with Barlow Adventures at the Imperial Sand Dunes in southern California. This three day driving and navigation program focuses on moving safely and effectively through large dunefields. Skills-building exercises are intended to improve pace, line choice and vehicle control, as well as developing precision map and compass navigation technique…
Trail Guiding for the California 4-Wheel Drive Association’s second annual Death Valley Experience fundraiser event running in March. Each day will feature a choice of runs to some famous, some infamous and some secretive points of interest within Death Valley National Park. The runs will depart from Furnace Creek and from Stovepipe Wells. Some of the points of interest we will visit during Death Valley Experience 2021 include Zabriskie Point (famous), Barker Ranch (infamous) and the Racetrack (learn the secret of the moving rocks). Other points of interest include Dante’s View, 20 Mule Team Canyon, Artists’ Drive, Chloride Cliffs, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo, Titus Canyon, and Darwin Falls. All of the trail runs are suitable for novice drivers and SUVs with high clearance and 4-wheel drive…
USnomads.org is very proud to be presenting a brand new kind of rally experience for 2022 — the Nomad Overland Virtual Adventure Rally a ten week event that participants can do from anywhere within the continental U.S.A. Competitors design their own routes as part of the rally, then drive it in a points-based online competition that includes optional activity tasks, quests and weekly challenges. The rally will run from 6 June – 14 August and is open to any driver within the United States who has an off-road capable vehicle — stock or modified. Registration is now open and continues until 31 March or until the event is full, whichever comes first. For more information see the Rally website or Register Now …
ABOUT THE OKEFENOKEE NWR
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a 402,000‑acre National Wildlife Refuge located in Charlton, Ware, and Clinch Counties of Georgia, and Baker County in Florida. It is administered from offices in Folkston, Georgia. Nearly 400,000 people visit the refuge each year, making it the 16th most visited refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Founded in 1937, with Executive Order 7593 (later amended by Executive Order 7994), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the refuge, designating it as “a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.” Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge conserves the unique qualities of the Okefenokee Swamp for future generations to enjoy. The refuge mission includes protecting and enhancing wildlife and its habitat, ensuring integrity of the ecological system, and embracing the grandeur, mystery, and cultural heritage that lead to an enrichment of the human spirit. Because of its varied and unique terrain, the Okefenokee provides habitats for an abundance of plants and animals. There are 621 species of plants growing in the swamp. Animals include 39 fish, 37 amphibian, 64 reptile, 234 bird, and 50 mammal species — notably wading birds, ducks, alligators, bobcats, raptors, white-tailed deer, black bears, and songbirds. Threatened and endangered species found there include the red-cockaded woodpecker, wood storks, and indigo snakes. Okefenokee can be accessed from one of four public entrances: the Suwannee Canal Recreation Area (Folkston), Kingfisher Landing (Race Pond), Stephen C. Foster State Park (Fargo) or Suwannee Sill Recreation Area (Fargo). In addition, a private attraction, Okefenokee Swamp Park, provides access near Waycross, Georgia. A graded Swamp Perimeter Road encircles the Refuge, but it is gated and closed to public use.
APALACHICOLA NATIONAL FOREST
The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses 632,890 acres and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities such as off-road biking, hiking, swimming, boating, hunting, fishing, horse-back riding, and off-roading. The Apalachicola National Forest is in the southeastern conifer forests ecoregion. Areas of the national forest with dry, sandy soils support Florida longleaf pine sandhills and east Gulf coastal plain near-coast pine flatwoods. Sandhills are woodlands dominated by longleaf pine. Pine flatwoods are forests and woodlands on broad, sandy flatlands. Both of these pine communities are sustained by frequent fires. Near the floodplains of spring-fed rivers grow southern coastal plain hydric hammocks, dense forests of evergreen and deciduous hardwood trees. Blackwater rivers support southern coastal plain blackwater river floodplain forests of baldcypress along their banks. Major rivers support diverse east Gulf coastal plain large river floodplain forests. Notable animals that inhabit this forest are red-cockaded woodpecker, fox squirrel, red fox, raccoon, gray fox, bobcat, coyote, black bear, wild turkey and alligator. It is also home to several wetland plant communities. Southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamps are large, seasonally flooded depressions of baldcypress and swamp tupelo. East Gulf coastal plain savannas and wet prairies are low, flat plains covered in grasses and sedges, which are seasonally flooded and maintained by frequent fires. The Forest contains thousands of acres of old growth Pond Cypress swamps (cypress domes). Apalachicola National Forest contains two specific Wilderness Areas: Bradwell Bay Wilderness and Mud Swamp/New River Wilderness…
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
28-31 December – Okefenokee NWR
24-27 December – Ocala National Forest
19-23 December – Heading South
10-18 December – Long Island
1-9 December – Paris
16-30 November – Paris
1-15 November – Roadtrip East
25-31 October – Roadtrip East
17-24 October – LON Top Ten
7-16 October – Rebelle Rally
1-6 October – Rebelle Training
24-30 September – Rebelle Training
16-23 September – Roadtrip West
1-15 September – CT Training
August – Paris
July – LI & CT
June – LI & VA
16-31 May – Long Island
8-15 May – Return to NY
1-7 May – Southeast Utah
23-30 April – LON Bogi’s & 5+
16-22 April – LON Navigation
8-15 April – Sedona
1-7 April – Nevada
16-31 March – New York
8-15 March – Death Valley
1-7 March – Arizona
22-28 Februay – Alabama Hills
15-21 Februay – Mojave Road
8-14 Februay – Death Valley
1-7 Februay – Glamis
15-31 January – Roadtrip Southwest
1-14 January – Long Island
Archive
SPECIAL REPORT
All about exploring ghost towns and abandoned places in the USA and beyond, with tips, and information on the many different types of sites to be found across the globe, including detailed guides for eight specific sites… [read]
RE-OPENING
Report from the first trail run with the Off Road Consulting group at Rausch Creek Off Road Park as the post-pandemic phased re-openings begin in Pennsylvania and some of our favorite local trails re-open to the public after the two-month shutdown… [read]
REFLECTIONS
EGYPT: CAIRO REFLECTIONS
A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
