• Sea kayaking down Crooked River, across the Intracoastal Waterway, and up the salt marsh coast of Cumberland Island
• Camping under majestic oaks at Brickhill Bluff
  
• Hiking to the pristine beaches of the Atlantic Coast side
  
• Visiting some of the historic structures that attest to the Island's long human history
• Watching for some of the threatened and endangered shore birds such as American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, and Wilson's Plovers

Cumberland Island is the most accessible of Georgia's "wild" barrier islands and wild it still is.  Cumberland Island was established as a national seashore in 1973 to preserve the island's scenic, natural and historic qualities.  There is no motorized transportation on the island and no developed tourist facilities (although this unfortunately is slated to change), so the island currently is visited only by those who love the outdoors. We will kayak to the more remote and quieter northern part and spend two days exploring the island on foot. During our trip we'll explore a mixture of island environments including a saltwater marsh, a maritime forest, and beaches along the Atlantic coast of the island.  And if we're lucky, we'll get a glimpse of the Island's feral horses, left over from earlier historic times.

women who are either experienced kayakers or who have sufficient upper body strength to be able to kayak up to three hours at a stretch. Rating: 1  2  [3]  4  5

• one night at a hotel in St Mary's
• three nights camping at Brickhill Bluff with two women to a tent
  

• experienced guides
• all meals from dinner on Wednesday through lunch on Saturday
  
• one- or two-person kayaks, PFDs, paddles, spray skirts
  
• all camping equipment including sleeping bags, tents, sleeping pads, cooking equipment
  
• round-trip transportation from Jacksonville Airport to St Mary's
  

at 12:30 pm at the Jacksonville airport (JAX)

at 5pm at the Jacksonville airport (you can fly out after 6 pm)

you can download the complete trip information here

Wednesday: If you are coming just for this trip, we'll pick you up at the Jacksonville Airport at 12:30 pm. We'll drive over to the historic town of St Mary's, a small coastal village right on the St Mary’s River that is full of beauty and natural history. St. Marys has been an Indian village, a colonial settlement, and more recently, a U.S. Naval Base: The Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, home of the Trident nuclear submarine fleet. We'll start with a visit to the Cumberland Island National Seashore Visitor's Center for an orientation to the natural and human history of the place we'll be visiting the next few days, and you will then have some time to shop, visit museums, or go for a marsh walk near Waterfront Park before meeting for dinner. The St. Marys National Historic District has more than 30 buildings and an old cemetery.  History lovers will enjoy the nineteenth and early twentieth century homes and churches located in this area.

Thursday: The tides are with us today (sea kayaking over to Cumberland Island is not something you want to do against the tides) as we depart in the morning for our launching at Crooked River State Park. We'll paddle down Crooked River enjoying the marshlands and watery grasses around us.  We'll look across the river in the distance to see what Navy ships are parked at the Kings Bay Naval submarine base and we'll watch the skies for terns, falcons, great blue herons and other aquatic birds.  Crooked River is wide and calm and the tides carry you towards the Intracoastal Waterway and Cumberland Island. Crooked River flows into the Intracoastal (also called Cumberland Sound) and we'll cross here over to Cumberland Island at Plum Orchard, located at about the midpoint of the Island.  The Intracoastal is very narrow here and it will only take us a few minutes to cross it. Our total paddling time to Plum Orchard will be about 2 hours.  

Plum Orchard is a good place to get out and stretch our legs.  Plum Orchard is also the location of a 1898 Georgian Revival mansion built by Andrew Carnegie for his son George and wife Margaret Thaw.  It was donated in 1971 by Carnegie members to the National Park Foundation.  This mansion, surrounding by ancient oak trees draped with Spanish moss is a beautiful and intriguing location for our break from paddling. The tides, however, will keep us from dawdling as we set out again and follow the inland (western) side of Cumberland's marshy coastline north up to our campsite at Brickhill Bluff (about 3 hours). This marshy area we paddle through is the first of the 3 main environments on Cumberland, the western salt marsh.  These marshlands appear to be flat and nondescript but are actually a key environment for the island's health.  They decay to provide nutrients to the food cycle and they trap river sediments and act as a protective nursery for much wildlife.  These marshlands support shellfish, fish, plants and birds.  We are likely to see rails, great blue herons, sandpipers and other wading birds, crabs scurrying across the mud, and perhaps even bottlenosed dolphins.

Brickhill Bluff is the most remote camping spot on the island, situated under large live oaks spreading into a wide, Spanish Moss covered canopy. It provides a great base for exploring the northern part of the island, away from crowds, and with access to both the beach and several historic structures.  Brickhill Bluff also faces West, so if we're lucky we'll see some fabulous sunsets as the sun drops below the water and marsh grasses outside our campsite.

Friday-Saturday: We will spend both of these days exploring the island on foot to experience the Island's history, wildlife, and other 2 environments, the maritime forest and the Atlantic Beach. There are over 17 miles of hiking trails on the island and exactly where we go will depend to some extent on the weather and our interests. We will definitely follow the trail that hugs the western most side of the island up to Terrapin Point and the Cumberland Wharf ruins.  This north end of the island is somewhat elevated above the Intracoastal and provides some stunning views across the Intracoastal as well as over the marshy lands that separate Cumberland from its smaller northern neighbor, Little Cumberland Island. From here we'll continue on the trail that takes us by the First African Baptist Church. Established in 1893 and then rebuilt in the 1930's, this church was the site of the September 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. The trail is flat and shaded and we'll watch for armadillos, raccoons, squirrels and deer as we walk.  The saw palmettos, with their fan-shaped leaves growing in the understory of this forest give it an exotic tropical feel.  We'll watch the tree canopy for a variety of birds including several warblers, pileated woodpeckers, Carolina wrens and cardinals.  Continuing our hike we now head east across the narrow northern tip of the island to the beach on the Atlantic side of the island.  Here we will break from the protective shade of the forest into the bright sun of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean.  The beach is protected by several layers of dunes that we will walk through, again observing a variety of wading birds and songbirds.  We might also encounter the feral horses as we break from the woods into the dunes and onto the beach.

Additional walks, based on interest, could take us to the inland freshwater lakes, or into the interior portions of the island.  Regardless of where we go, we'll notice one of the most striking aspects of the live oak forest we're walking through: its silence.  Even the air seems to move through the canopy soundlessly and the ferns cradled in the branches tend to offer a sound dampening effect.  Each night we'll gather for hearty meals, sunsets over the marshlands, and tales of the incredible history and wildlife of this unique island.  (Unfortunately campfires are not allowed)

Sunday: This morning we leave with the tides to return the way we have come, back down the western marshy coast of the island, across the Inland Waterway, and up Crooked River. We plan to arrive back at our cars not later than 3pm. We'll pack up and head back to the airport, and you can plan to fly out anytime after 6 pm.