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14 December 2020: Changed campsites today, setting up a new basecamp at Ochlockonee River State Park where we are tucked into an oak hammock that is home to white squirrels, right along the river bank. It is a beautiful spot, and a wonderful destination in its own right, though we are using it as a base to explore beyond. Took some time this afternoon to just check out the hiking trails in the area around camp …
13 December 2020: It was foggy and damp in the morning, and we set off on the “last leg” to the Gulf of Mexico. The sun had broken through by the time we reached the coast and it was incredibly beautiful. Picked up the coastal Highway 98 which runs right next to the edge of the waterway, and followed it into the town of Apalachicola. Apalachicola was historically a working shellfishing town, known for their oysters. The oyster industry has been effected by climate change, and has been struggling, but still hangs on. The town itself has experienced a bit of a tourist-oriented makeover, though with the pandemic, few tourists were to be found …
12 December 2020: Routed through the Apalachicola National Forest to set up camp at Wright Lake today. It was an “interesting” drive, starting out on a nice wide graded sandy forest road, where hunters were out in force. Safety orange was the color for the day. Followed the route onto a smaller two track that ran along the administrative border with Tate’s Hell, and soon after picking up that trail, there was a veil of smoke wafting through the trees in an almost literal “welcome to Tate’s Hell” (of course the smoke was from a proscribed burn but it was eerie). Continued along the planned route until the point where the trail comes to the Mud Swamp New River Wilderness, where both the map and the GPS indicated a bridge, however the bridge had been destroyed and we had to attempt an alternate route through a barely used overgrown trail that ran along the edge of the swamp. Eventually made it to camp just as the sun began to set …
11 December 2020: Took a last loop around Okefenokee, and another stop at the Suwanee Sill, then back on the road across the Georgia-Florida border and into Tallahassee for the night …
10 December 2020: Went out on the swamp by boat in the morning, following the route from the launch point at Stephen C. Foster State Park down Minnies Run. Saw some small alligators and a few different birds including small blue herons. Later in the day drove down to the Suwanee Sill where there were some large gators basking in the late afternoon sun, then finished up with a short hike on the Upland Trail and an unexpected bear encounter …
9 December 2020: Drove the rest of the way to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, and arrived in the late afternoon with enough time to do a short hike on the Wetlands Trail. Plenty of wildlife sightings including deer and turkeys right around the area of the cabins…
8 December 2020: It was a beautiful morning to drive the beach at Assateague Island. Took some time to go looking for the reknowned wild horses, but didn’t find any for most of the morning until it was about time to leave. Encountered one grazing over by the marsh and then two more acting “wild” which made for great photo ops …
7 December 2020: Left New York this morning and headed southbound to Cape May, New Jersey, where we boarded a ferry to Delaware and continued on to Ocean City, Maryland for the night. Though it was cold and windy, took some time to check out the beach along the coast of Cape May before boarding the ferry to continue the crossing …
THIS MONTH:
Holiday road trip time. Getting ready to load up the Jeep and heading south for warmer climates and fun times on- and off-road (and maybe discovering some new places on the way). This year we are taking a bit of extra time to explore the wilder side of Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” as we make our way to our Christmas Camp…
Ladies Offroad Network “12 Days of Giving,” an online extravaganza of year-end giveaways. Join in for the nightly LIVE@5pm from December 7 to December 18, as Charlene Bower reveals all the Ladies Offroad Network plans for 2021 with nightly drawings for over $10,000 in gifts and adventures. There will be three winners each night — one for a gift-bag of offroad goodies, one for a set of three t-shirts, and one big winner of a “Golden Ticket” which offers free entry to any of the 2021 LON Adventures…
COMING UP SOON:
Looking ahead to a return to Paris as soon as possible to reconnect with friends and some favorite places in the city of light. Timing is still uncertain due to the pandemic, but we hope the trip is back on the calendar for early 2021…
Planning for the next extended overland adventure in the southwest, tentatively on the calendar for some time late winter 2021. There are already several tentative events on the agenda in Arizona and southern California, and we will share more details as things get confirmed…
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…
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…
ABOUT OKEFENOKEE SWAMP
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refugee conserves the unique qualities of the swamp, protecting and enhancing the wildlife and its habitat to ensure the integrity of the ecological system. The Refuge also sees part of its mission as embracing the grandeur, mystery, and cultural heritage of the area. Native Americans inhabited the swamp for centuries and coined the term “Okefenokee” which means “land that trembles when you walk on it.” The swamp is thought to be 6,000-8,000 years old. It is contained in a saucer-shaped depression that drains toward the south and southwest. Drainage from the swamp forms the headwaters for the St. Marys River and the Suwannee River. Habitats provide for threatened and endangered species, such as red-cockaded woodpecker, wood storks, indigo snakes, and a wide variety of other wildlife species. It is world renowned for its amphibian populations that are bio-indicators of global health. More than 600 plant species have been identified on refuge lands. The Swamp survived an attempt at draining in the late 1800’s and was logged extensively in the early 1900’s before becoming a refuge in 1937 by declaration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The refuge has 353,981 acres of National Wilderness Area within its boundaries and is a Wetland of International Importance (RAMSAR Convention – 1971) because it is one of the world’s largest intact freshwater ecosystems…
ASSATEAGUE ISLAND
The Assateague Island National Seashore, managed by the National Park Service, stretches for 37 miles along the Atlantic coasts of Maryland and Virginia and is part of a vast chain of barrier islands extending from Maine to Texas. Barrier islands form when offshore sand deposits accumulate sufficiently to break the water surface or when sea level rise causes inland dunes to become separated from the mainland. These islands are highly dynamic constantly reshaped by storms and currents that transport sand south along the coast throughout the year. On a seasonal basis, harsh winter weather pulls sand from dunes and upper beaches, depositing it into offshore sand bars and reducing beach width. This process is reversed during milder summer weather, as gentler wave action acts to restore the shoreline. Assateague is also moving westward as a result of sea-level rise and the force of the surf through a process called “island rollover.” During severe storm events, sand is eroded from the ocean beaches and carried across the island by flood waters and re-deposited in marshes along the western shore, steadily narrowing the bay that separates the island from the mainland. These events can break through dunes, spilling sand in fanlike deposits or even carving inlets, such as the one that has separated Assateague and Ocean City since 1933. Long shore currents will eventually deposit sediments and close these gaps unless, like the Ocean City inlet, it is maintained with jetties and dredging. Assateague’s terrain includes sandy beaches, salt marshes, maritime forests and coastal bays connected via a series of small bridges and causeways. Assateague is most famous for its resident Wild Ponies. Local legend has it that the ponies escaped from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon and swam to shore. However, historians believe that in the 17th century, settlers used the island for livestock to avoid fencing regulations and taxation. Even though no one is certain how the ponies got to the island, their descendants still live there today …
Nesconset | Paris | Belgrade | Cape May | Asateague | Fargo | Sumatra | Sopchoppy | St. Augustine | Ocala | Ft. McCoy
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
1-6 December – Long Island
15-30 November – Long Island
1-14 November – Long Island
28-31 October – Roadtrip East
22-27 October – Moab
15-21 October – Moab
8-14 October – Moab
1-7 October – Roadtrip West
16-30 September – Roadtrip West
1-15 September – Long Island
16-31 August – Long Island
1-15 August – Summer Roadtrip
22-31 July – Summer Roadtrip
14-21 July – Summer Roadtrip
1-13 July – Long Island
16-30 June – Long Island
1-15 June – Bald Eagle
16-31 May – Central PA
1-15 May – Re-opening Trails
April – Lockdown NY
16-31 March – Lockdown NY
9-15 March – Roadtrip Home
1-8 March – Moab
23-29 February – Vegas to Anza Borrego
15-22 February – Southwest Roadtrip
8-14 February – Southwest Roadtrip
1-7 February – Glamis to Vegas
27-31 January – Yuma to Glamis
15-26 January – Nevada to Arizona
1-14 January – Starting the New Year
24-31 December – Holidays on the Road
16-23 December – Cross-Country Drive
9-15 December – New York
1-8 December – Paris
Archive
EVENTS
LADIES OFFROAD NETWORK NONCON 2020
Recap from the Ladies Offroad Network camping and wheeling event, dubbed the “NonCon” as in “not the convention,” that came together after the official convention was cancelled due to the pandemic… [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]
