Skidaway Island, Georgia

Wednesday, October 10, 2012


The weatherman lied today.  It was suppose to be in the high 70's or low 80's.  It barely got to 70 degrees by 2 pm.  But who's complaining?  I'll take the sunshine upper 60's most any time except when we had planned to be at the beach today.  It was a little chilly and we were a little slow getting started today.  We move like molasses when it's cool.  Besides, Kitty did a load of laundry and we had a nice conversation with a couple of fellow campers here at Skidaway Island State Park near Savannah.

Instead of going to the beach, we changed gears and explored Skidaway Island.  Outside of the state park, most of the Island is full of gated communities and a golf course.  As we mentioned yesterday, the stores are all designed to not look like stores.  We were looking for a gas station and drove right by it not knowing it was a gas station.  After filling the tank, we drove a few miles to the end of the island where land meets the Intercoastal Waterway.  Here's some pictures of what we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we decided to go back to the park and finish the trail we started walking yesterday.  We ran out of daylight and only walked 1 mile of the 3 mile trail.  We were going to finish the 2 mile section today while we still had plenty of daylight.  This section of The Big Ferry Trail includes a stop by an old liquor still from back in the 30's and some earthworks built during the civil war.  The Big Ferry Trail got its name because it is the trail the island folks would take to get to the ferry, which is no longer in operation.  Despite the dangers to our well being from vicious Bobcats, attacking alligators, slithering snakes, and chewing chiggers with big teeth, we forged ahead full of faith that our hiking skills would get us through this handicapped accessible trail!

 

 

This is the earthworks made by slaves during the civil war.  This was part of the Confederate defense position in this area.  Due to the difficulty of defending this position and getting supplies to it, it was abandoned before Sherman arrived to take control of Savannah for the Union.  Pardon my finger in the upper left

 

If Kitty stands there any longer, she will be covered in moss like these trees.

 

The next two pictures are what is left of an old liquor still from the 1930's.  Folks would cross the Intercoastal and sneak on to the island and fire up their stills - away from the "revenuers".

 

 

 

 

This trail is full of tree roots.  I managed to trip over everyone of them!

 

 

After the hike, we went back to camp and relaxed before fixing supper.  Another enjoyable day in the full timers life!  This is a beautiful campground!