January 10, 2013 St George Island, Florida

We spent last night at he Wakulla county campground. It was right on the highway, had hookups on the wrong side  for RV’s and had dirty bathrooms. It cost way too much and John hated it. We did check out the St Marks National wildlife preserve right across the street.  It features a large assortment of fresh water impoundments (man-made bodies of water), a wildlife drive and 75 miles of marked trails and is a mecca for birders, offering the possibility of seeing many of the refuge’ 270 plus species. We saw two bald eagles, a bunch of types of herons , egrets, and ducks.

St Marks Lighthouse was built in  1829, rebuilt in 1842 after the soil began to erode and has been in continous use ever since.  It is 80 feet high with walls 4 feet thick at the base and 18 inches thick at the top.  Here is a map of the portion we were in. The Sopchoppy and the Ochlaconee rivers  on the left of the map both look very twisty and interesting.

The drive to St George island runs right at the waters edge of the gulf most of the way. We drove by the Ho-Hum RV park on the way. It is a giant gravel lot, packed with RV’s. Also the worlds smallest police station in Carrabelle.

There was dense fog near the island, you could not even see it. The bridge with the fog was eerie, like we would just drive off into no where. The fog started to lift when we got to St George Island. It is a long thin barrier island with the sound on one side and the gulf on the other.

Our camp spot at Sugar Hill Campground on  St George. When John opened the utility box to hook up he found two of these  cute little green tree frogs.

We hopped on our bikes and rode to east end of the island. It is road, but closed to cars without special permits. Hiking and biking are ok. It is about 5 miles each way. We were the only ones on the road.  I love the white sand.  See the vines crisscrossing the sand dunes.  These yellow flowers are growing on the dunes.

White sand. It is quartz that has come down the rivers from the Appalachian mountains.The walk to the beach at the east end of the island.

The beach to the point. John is at the point in the second photo.

BIG bird tracks. John riding the road back.

The minute the sun went down it got cool. When we went to watch the sunset John didn’t feel like digging through the car for a coat, so he wore the car blanket.  He looks like Darth Vader in the sunset.