Kingsland Ga/Cumberland Island

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

Since DD cancelled our visit scheduled for this weekend (Atlanta), I started looking for openings in the State Parks in the NE portion of Florida. I found that the only openings were few and far between, tent only sites. I have a friend from my Boy Scout days who moved to Jacksonville and she hadn't yet seen the LilSnoozy. I kept looking and one of the state parks in NE Jax mentioned on a good day you could see across the St Mary's River and see the wild ponies roaming Cumberland Island.

Since 1986 I have nursed an ambition to take the ferry to Cumberland Island National Seashore and camp near the ocean a couple of nights. (You get your choice of tent camping or a $350 a night Inn.) For years I divied up my weekends each month- one for working, one for Boy Scouts, one for Florida Trail, and one for the house and garden. DH was in school till 1988, then scrambling for work- picking up subcontracts that had him producing the equivalent of a major term paper every 2-3 weeks. I did get DH to try a bed n breakfast once when DS was out of school for spring break- we canoed and DS Kayaked the Ichetucknee- DH was very uncomfortable with the interaction with the hosts and other guests (meals, happy hour and shooting pool. So I figured that if we ever got to Cumberland Island the Inn would be a no go in terms of DH's comfort level, not to mention the $$$$.
But...that mention of being able to see the wild ponies from Little Talbot SP (I think that was it, I looked at about 10 today) made me remember that Kingsland KOA was exit 1 in GA, just over the state line- and that it's not an excessive drive from our place. Looked up the National Parks website and the ferry is still running and my friend was amenable to meeting us and going on a day trip there.
We're not doing the motorized safari this time- I intend to sleep in Sunday!We are still in the breaking -in portion of learning how to RV, so a nice 3day weekend to Kingsland KOA seems like a fun way to celebrate my birthday!
Cumberland Island on Sunday...now I have to figure out if I want to drag DH to the Okeefenokee Swamp on Saturday (where I had my Boy Scouts train for our Northern Tier High Adventure canoe camp to the BWCA over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1996!) He's never been there, and wasn't an ardent follower of PogoPossum in the newspapers like I was

[mary and bob]

Crooked River State Park is in that area also. We went to Cumberland Island several years ago on the ferry, which is the only way to go other than private boat. Did not see any wild ponies. Got off at the Ice House dock, followed a park ranger on a short walk past the Dungeoness ruins, then on our own out to the beach. Walked up the beach, through the campground, and out to the ranger station got on the return ferry there. Be sure not to miss it. Make ferry reservations ahead or most likely you won't get on. Also went to the East entrance of the Ofeefenokee Swamp, did a boat ride into the swamp. There was nothing related to Pogo and his gang in the gift shop, much to my disappointment. Read an article in the Brunswick newspaper today about ongoing repairs to the Cumberland Island docks that were damaged by the hurricane.

[GregandTeresa]

Cumberland Island is our favorite vacation destination and the only place that we are still willing to sleep in a tent. We try and go every 3 or 4 years. As a matter of fact, we will be booking 3 nights in Seacamp there over Labor Day weekend soon (you can book 6 months out, so we can book it the first of March).

It is the most beautiful, peaceful place that we have ever been to. And once the last of the day trippers leave on the afternoon ferry, it's almost like you have the island to yourself. And even during the day, it is still very secluded feeling.

So if you ever do get a chance to camp there, I would say go for it.

I should note that our profile picture is from Cumberland Island, and you can see one of the wild horses behind us on the beach.

[Johnny M]

So you can nit take your small RV on the Ferry to Cumberland Island?

[Tammie]

Nope, just you and your tent, and whatever gear you carry over on the ferry. You may want to keep food packaging to a minimum, too, because all trash must be taken with you.

[Johnny M]

Originally Posted by Tammie

Nope, just you and your tent, and whatever gear you carry over on the ferry. You may want to keep food packaging to a minimum, too, because all trash must be taken with you.

Just curious, what if there was a medical emergency or something like in the middle of the night? Is there a ranger on duty on the island if something like this happened?

[GregandTeresa]

There are rangers on the island, and there are also radios available up at the ranger station.

[mary and bob]

I noticed in the campground there were food boxes, hanging on poles maybe? Must be critter problems there. I did see at the ranger station some of the two wheel garden carts to transport camping gear back to the campground. Last year on Jekyll Island on the south beach we encountered a few kayakers that had paddled out to Cumberland. Water got rough on the way back, they found out it would be very expensive to call a private boat to bring them back, so started paddling again and part way managed to hitch a ride on a shrimp boat that was heading back in.

[GregandTeresa]

The food boxes are to keep the raccoons away from your food. They are sneaky little devils. You also have to keep your cooler either wedged up under a picnic table or locked up somehow. We've seen raccoons, wild horses, armadillos, gators. There are also wild pigs on the island.

[Al and Cindy K]

Mitzi, please post back with your impressions of Cumberland Island and particularly of the camping details there. We still manage a couple of tent trips each year and I've had my eye on that location for some time.

For any in the southeast who think they'd enjoy a few days of beach camping on an uninhabited island I'd highly recommend Portsmouth Island in Cape Lookout National Seashore off the NC coast. This report was put together by a member of a group I led a few years back Camping on Portsmouth Island Day 1AUGIE'S ADVENTURES Rustic cabins (hot water showers/bunks) are available from the NPS if you don't tent.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

I still have my bad back and chronic pain, plus my rbcs are low so I get short of breath easily. I walked at a faster rate than I've been used to, we were there most of the afternoon. I had to rest on a bench while DH and my friend went to the Dungeness ruins, and saw over a dozen of the wild horses. We never did find the cemetery.


It was warm in the sun and coolish in the shade, perfect camping weather.


Fun Fact- John Kennedy Jr got married in the church on Cumberland Island.