Deep South

We spent our last couple of nights in Florida inland at Jupiter Springs in the Ocala National Forrest.

Tropical oasis

Is this spring water good for my skin..?

We were in a tropical oasis swimming in crystal clear water of the freshwater spring...it couldn't get any better than this.

Juniper Springs

We decided to have a relaxing day and as we leisurely walked along the nature trail we kept seeing paddlers in rental canoes making their way along Juniper Creek. This had us racing up to the concession stand where we found there was a 7.5 mile canoe trail and if we left in the next hour we could get picked up at the end.

The clear spring water of Juniper Creek

Once again we were off on another adventure. The flow of the Creek made paddling easy and every now and then we could see the water bubbling up through the sandy bottom. Around half way so much water was bubbling up that it created a series of rapids giving us a white water experience that was lots of fun.

There were lots of fallen trees to limbo under and narrow twists and turns to navigate.

Tropical wilderness

Strangler vines

Even a rain squall that lasted for nearly an hour couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm. We arrived at the end after 3 hours, totally soaked but still grinning from ear to ear.

Rain...what rain

Even here the wildlife did not disappoint as we spotted nearly a dozen turtles and an alligator sunning itself on the bank as we paddled by.

I'm looking younger by the day...

C'mon there's room here for two....!

We had been in Florida for nearly a month and it was time for a change of scenery. We crossed into Georgia just as the State was experiencing some snowfall and here at the Welcome Center the high was only going to reach 57 F (13 C).

We drove to the Okefenokee Swamp (they have such cool names here) hoping for some more wildlife experiences only to find they have no camping facilities. Luckily the Laura S. Walker State Park was situated just across the road and along with camping it offered a golf course and it's resident alligators as "hazards".

We continued north to George L. Smith State Park located on a man made lake that had a covered bridge used in the past as a Grist Mill. This time we took our own kayak out on the lake and paddled around the 3 mile (5 km) marked trail as it wound it's way through densely forested Cyprus and Tupelo trees.

Weaving through the trees

A rare bit of open water

 It was quite a challenge following the blazes on the trees and a number of times we had to double back to ensure we were on the right path.

Look more trees

Setting off after lunch

The lake was teeming with slider turtles and they made us laugh as they perched on top of each other on the rare pieces of dry floating logs.

I'm not moving....

As we approached they would "slide" into the water. There was always one or two unwilling to give up their prime locations and stayed until the last second. Then as we past they would scramble back on again.

There's plenty of room for me......

We made a dash into South Carolina to visit Congaree National Park and along the way the towns we passed were very run down and appeared to be abandoned. Even the major towns we drove through were all business and not very appealing.

We arrived at the Congaree National Park to find they don't permit RV camping but luckily we were granted an exception as long as we camped in our backpacking tent. We registered for 3 nights and it promptly poured with rain on our first night.

More rain...taking shelter in Dude

The park has a very impressive 2.5 mile (4 km) boardwalk through the largest deciduous floodplain remaining in North America.

Congaree boardwalk

In the middle of the floodplains

Wildlife along the boardwalk

We had arrived just after a recent flood and many of the trails to the Congaree River were closed but it had Cedar Creek running through the middle of it with a marked canoe trail and it wasn't closed.... so yes we had to do it.

The logistics required dropping one of our bikes at one end then driving 7 miles (11 Km's) back to the launch area. The first part of the trail was nice with clear tannin coloured water and a sandy bottom.

Our first portage....

This did not last long and we soon entered the muddy water and banks of the swamp.

Paddling in the Congaree

Mud and more mud...

Due to recent flooding there were a number of log jams in the river requiring porting the kayak around.

Fun in the mud

It was a lot of fun slipping and sliding around in the mud and we both landed on our butts at least once.

Time to limbo..

In the end we portaged the kayak 7 times. Standing on the take out landing we washed most of the mud of the kayak and ourselves. Then as we got out and turned around we saw a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin swimming in the water where we had just been standing.

Cottonmouth water Moccasin

We later found out these are quite venomous. Then on the other side we saw a Brown Water snake sunning itself on a rock.

Brown snake

And to think we had been carrying the kayak through all this without shoes on.  John then left me with the snakes and rode 7 miles, into a headwind, to collect Dude while I sat in the swamp alone.

It was time to mix up our adventure and we headed back into Georgia for a "real food detour". We skirted around Atlanta with it's conjested 16 lane freeways, even at midday. The point to all this was I had found an Aussie Bakery in Marietta on Atlanta’s northern extremity.

Aussie food madness...

Ahhhh, John got to feast on a curried lamb pie followed by a vanilla slice for desert. I stocked up on Vegemite and Violet Crumble bars. We bought 2 more pies and a sausage roll to go. This should now keep us going for a few more months.

The further north we drove the colder it got. It was down to 39 F (4 C) and it rained for 24 hours on our first night at Amicalola Falls State Park.

Campground at Amiacola Falls State Park

We had heard great tales about the Appalachian Trail that traverses 2,100 m (3,379 km's) from Georgia to Maine. So we thought, lets do the first bit, a bit in the middle and then the end. That way we could say we have done the whole trail and will have the photos to prove it……