Cumberland Island 2005

October 7-10, 2005

We left Mt. Carmel UMC around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, October 7, 2005. After
driving for about 3 hours we stopped at McDonalds in Metter. Then we hit the
road again and ended up in Kingsland, GA at a Georgia Power Headquarters.
The crew there left us some biscuits to eat for breakfast the next morning.

We got up early Saturday morning and met at the National Park Service
building. At 9:00 we had orientation, then loaded up on the Cumberland
Queen, which is the ferry that took us from St. Mary¹s to Cumberland Island.

When we unloaded our gear from the ferry, we had another orientation about
the wilderness area and what was expected from us. We were all set. We split
into our assigned crews and headed out on the trails. Crew A took the main
road and Crew B went up the Parallel Trail. Both crews met back again at
Yankee Paradise camp. We set up camp, gathered water from Plum Orchard,
which was about a 3-mile round-trip hike. Then we cooked supper and turned
in for the night.

Sunday morning we got up and went to the beach. We had to wade through some
pretty deep water through the dunes to get there. A tropical storm had
passed over Cumberland Island just before we got there. At 1:00 we hiked to
Plum Orchard for a tour. Plum Orchard is a mansion on the island. They call
it a cottage, but it was a mansion. After the tour, we hiked back to camp
and cooked supper.

On Monday, we got up early, packed up and headed back to the Ranger Station
at Sea Camp Dock where we got off the ferry. This time, Crew A took Parallel
Trail and Crew B took the main road. By Monday, the mosquitoes had hatched
and Crew A had to come off of the Parallel Trail and take the Main Road
back. Everyone came back with tons of mosquito bites.

We ate lunch at Sea Camp and still had a few hours until our ferry arrived
so we went to the beach. That was really refreshing and it helped wash off
some of the stink. Back at the Ranger Station it was time to load back up on
the ferry and head to St. Mary¹s. We all loaded our backpacks in the trailer
and went up the road to Chick-fil-A. Then it was time to get back home.

Hunter