Sunday – I missed the otter walk/talk at 9:00 am – I
didn’t spring forward until it was too late.
The Internet is my life. So------ Phone service here is spotty, at best. To
make reservations for my next stop, I had to use the phone at the Ranger
Station. Once in a while I will get a text message, but my replies usually
don’t get sent. About twice a day I get a listing of my new emails, but I can’t
read them. To think that we put a man on the moon in 1969, but modern
communications can’t be extended to a state park in Georgia.
It rained around 5 this morning. The couple next to
me (in high 70s or low 80s) are camping in a small tent. When it started
raining, they packed everything up in their car and left. After it stopped
raining, they came back. The man got out, unloaded a bunch of stuff, started a
fire, and made coffee. The woman never got out of the car again.
There is a note somewhere in my info packet for this
park that there is a gate across the access road during night hours, and there
is no passcode. Maybe the couple couldn’t get out. I guess if there is an
emergency in the park, the police or fire department has to wait until the gate
automatically opens at a certain time.
I decided to go for a walk, and following the map, I
went to where I thought the Upland Trail would be. I found the Upland Pine
Trail in a slightly different spot, but the Upland Pine Trail was not on my
map. I followed the Upland Pine Trail, but it was different from the unnamed
trail. When I got to the Ranger Station, I was told that they were the same
trail, in two different places, and the word “pine” was left out because maybe
there wasn’t room on the map. That made no sense at all. There was plenty of
room and two different trails should each have names.
So I decided to go on the “.75 Mile Nature Trail and
Boardwalk” which included the “2,100-Foot Boardwalk.” I went in the direction
of the “Quaking Earth Trail,” which had a sign – but wasn’t on the map. It said
the boardwalk dead-ended in 2,100 feet, but it was actually closer to half
that. I asked later if the 2,100 feet referred to round trip – but I was told
that maybe it was longer before the fire. That was the first mention of a fire,
and the ranger wasn’t sure what year the fire was or if there was any
connection between the shorter boardwalk and the fire.
 |
| No matter which way I rotated this, it ended up looking the same. |
 |
| Many things growing in the water, including cypress knees |
 |
| The water is like a mirror |
 |
| The long, dark sliver is a gator |
It was a really interesting walk, but I wish that
the people who make the maps knew what they were mapping or would pay more
attention to detail. It reminds me of the many mentions made of early maps of
the US where people drew maps based on word of mouth, which may have been told
through several other people. In this day and age, there is no excuse for maps
to be so poorly drawn.
When I first walked into the Ranger Station and
asked about other programs going on today, the (very old) ranger told me that
they were all cancelled because of the big storm was going to hit at any time.
I naturally asked about the storm and was told – as if I were the last human on
the face of the earth who didn’t know this–the information was printed out –
and he went to look for it. With no
access to outside information (Internet) and with his panicky demeanor, I
thought maybe we were going to have tornadoes. We are going to have rain, and
maybe thunder storms ----- and, indeed, it is raining now.
So after asking another person what programs had
been cancelled, thinking they might be scheduled for tomorrow, I found out that
there were no programs planned for either today or tomorrow. The second person
with whom I spoke is the one who told me there wasn’t room on the map to print
another word. He is also the person who said the fire might have destroyed part
of the boardwalk. When I thanked him, his response was, “No problem.” I hear
that all the time. How and when did it get to be OK to say “No problem” instead
of “You’re welcome.”
Monday – I went on the boat ride (extra cost), and
it was so worth it. The ranger was personable and knowledgeable – I learned a
great deal, including that the 2011 fire burned a lot of ground and trees,
lasted almost a year, and took out all but 880 feet of the boardwalk. The
boardwalk will be rebuilt, but no one knows when – and if it will be in this
century.
Watching the sun rise on my last morning at SF, I
could see that the water was less than 20 yards from the campground ….. which
means that alligators were much closer than I thought. What I didn’t know
didn’t worry me.
No comments:
Post a Comment