Gratitude. Fortitude. Attitude.

Nope! This is not my spelling list for the week. (THAT is a lot longer. I have 20 words on that list!) Besides, I like these words. They are like me. Also, these are what I needed to get through the longest hike of my life. So far. For Thanksgiving Break, we went on a two night backcountry hike with friends. I hiked 26 miles! It was so hard and challenging, and my feet hurt so much the last day that I wanted to (but didn’t) quit.

The morning of Thanksgiving, we boarded the ferry to Cumberland Island. While we waited to board the ferry, the park ranger let us pre-load our backpacks. We took the 45-minute ride to Sea Camp Dock. The first animals we saw when we arrived were TURKEYS! They were not stuffed, and there were no mashed potatoes with gravy. In fact, these turkeys were very much alive… and skinny and fast! After a quick restroom break with the last toilets for DAYS, it was time to hike.

We followed the Main Road to Brickhill Bluff through maritime forest. Live oaks, palmettos, Spanish moss, and ferns surrounded us. How beautiful! The road was flat, sandy, and wide for a trail. Every once in a while we would have to move to the side of the road because there were cars driving by. Sometimes the drivers would stop to chat and ask if we knew where we were going. As we hiked, we also came across armadillos that were really cute. Did you know that when startled armadillos JUMP?!? We saw several armadillos foraging. Foraging is a fancy word for searching a wide area for food. You should not touch a wild armadillo because it might carry the bacteria that cause Hansen’s disease, which is a not-fun infection.

Cumberland Island has something really amazing, wild horses! The first time we saw some, they were grazing at Stafford Field. They were so far that we could hardly see them, but their sorrel coats gave them away. We only saw two horses up close. People riding ATVs really fast startled the two black horses, which in turn startled us when they ran across our path. Our friend’s quick thinking kept us from getting trampled. She told us to move to the side of the trail. QUICKLY!

We found a bunch of shark teeth on the road. All the ones we found were black. When we went to the visitor center at the end of our trip, I asked a Ranger why. He said it was because during fossilization the sediment (a fancy word for solids that fall to the bottom of a liquid, like sand in the ocean) around the tooth did not have a lot of oxygen. At home, Mom and I found an interesting website that helped us learn more about shark teeth fossils. You can read it too by following this link.

It took us 6 hours to hike the 10.5 miles to Brickhill Bluff! When we got to the entrance, my feet hurt so much. I felt like crying, luckily there was a sign that said, “BRICKHILL BLUFF TRAIL.” Then I started to lean on the sign. Mom always says, “You should stand on your own,” but even she thought it was okay this time. After a quick break, we started again. It was less than a quarter mile until we got there. I LOVED it because there was a little beach! Right away, Dad set up the tent while Mom and I explored the beach and giant driftwood.

At our campsite, the muddy sand beach had holes in the sand. I didn’t know what they were until I saw the little spheres of sand and tiny tracks surrounding the holes. That’s when I realized that the holes belonged to little shy crabs that ran away if you got too close or made a sound. They were fascinating and gray. I loved watching them because I wanted to learn something about them firsthand. They walk sideways and always bump into each other, and make each other mad and start fighting.

We picked this campsite for a few reasons. One, very few people hiked this far, so we had plenty of space to ourselves. During our two nights there, we only saw two couples. Two, we could get water easily because the water pump was in the campsite. Warning! Important information. The water is non-potable, which means you need to filter, treat, or boil it before drinking or using.  I am now super thankful for civilization. Three, we were right by the beach!

Hey guys! Thank you for reading this post. My next post will be about our trip to the big beach and the way back. See you at the next post. Onward!