Backpacking Magical Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

The Trip

Cumberland Island has an enchanting allure of natural beauty that cannot be expressed in words. It’s also a Sierra Club success story -- former Executive Director, David Brower, was instrumental in rescuing the island from private development in the 1970s.

We will hike through maritime forests of live oaks and pines that lead to a gorgeous Atlantic Ocean coastline full of wind-twisted trees and palmetto bushes. We may see the famous and majestic wild horses of Cumberland. Other chance encounters could include alligators, armadillos, raccoons, opossums, wild hogs, and whitetail deer. Along the beach, we may encounter a host of shorebirds, dolphins, manatees, and maybe even a whale.

Our trip highlights both the wilderness and historic ruins of the island. This pristine barrier island has been a destination for humans for the past 4,000 years. Cumberland has been been home to all eras of American history -- from Timucuan Indian shell mounds, to a Spanish mission, to Colonial America estates, to Gilded Age Carnegie family mansions.

On the trip, we will each carry a share of the group gear and assist in preparing delicious meals in camp. All meals and filtered water are included with the exception of the last lunch. We will stop at a popular seafood restaurant in Saint Marys on our return to the Jacksonville airport.

Day 1: The trip leaders will pick you up at Jacksonville International Airport in the afternoon. Once we are all gathered, we will travel by van to Crooked River State Park’s pioneer campsite and set up camp, then have a meet-and-greet and orientation for the trip. The pioneer camp has potable water, flush toilets, and hot showers.

Day 2: We will be up early to have breakfast and break camp. We will arrive at the Park visitor’s center early for orientation and begin boarding the ferry for the island. We will also receive a backcountry ranger’s orientation and set up camp at Sea Camp for the night. We will do a 5-mile hike around the ruins of Dungeness and back along the beach to our camp. Sea Camp has food storage lockers, potable water, flush toilets, and cold showers. Note: Backpacking on Cumberland doesn’t involve significant elevation gain or loss. However, at times the sandy terrain can be challenging.

Day 3: We will backpack 6 miles along the Parallel Trail to the wilderness camping area of Yankee Paradise. We will have the option to head a half-mile down to the beach for sunset.

Day 4: After a ranger-led tour of the Plum Orchard mansion, we will backpack 6 miles along some back-island trails to reach the northernmost wilderness camping area of Brickhill Bluff. There we will set up for a two-night stay.

Day 5: We will be day hiking in the area of our camp for a total of 7 miles (Brickhill Bluff/Terrapin Point/The Settlement/First African American Baptist Church). If possible we will enjoy a ranger talk at the Church and potentially meet one of America’s foremost environmentalists and “The Queen” of Cumberland, Carol Ruckdeschel.

Day 6: We will backpack 8 miles from Brickhill to Stafford Beach. It is a short walk to the beach for a glorious sunset! Stafford Beach has non-potable water, flush toilets, and cold showers.

Day 7: After an early breakfast, we will break camp, backpack out 4 miles from Stafford to Sea Camp, and be prepared to board the ferry at 10:15 a.m. at the Sea Camp Dock. Once we return to the mainland we will eat lunch (not included in trip cost) at a great seafood restaurant before heading back to the airport. We will plan to arrive at the airport by 4 p.m. Please make proper flight arrangements based on this airport arrival time. The trip leaders are also happy to drop you off at hotel locations near the airport.

Getting There

The closest airport for the trip will be Jacksonville International Airport, Florida (JAX). We will rent a van there and provide afternoon airport pickup and return at JAX. It is about an hour’s drive from the airport to Saint Marys, GA, the ferry port city for our trip.

It is possible to fly into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) and rent a car for yourself. Then it would be a five-hour drive to Saint Marys, GA, and Crooked River State Park. It is also possible to fly into Orlando, FL (MCO) and drive 2.5 hours.

Accommodations and Food

We will sleep all nights of the trip in camp and will not be utilizing any hotel stays. Amenities vary from night to night; please see the itinerary for details. The trip includes all camping and admission fees.

We will provide all meals (with the exception of the post-trip seafood restaurant visit on our way home), beginning with dinner in camp on the first night. Meals will be prepared by the trip leaders and participant crews in camp. The main prepared meal of the day will be dinner. Breakfast will consist of warm oatmeal, granola, coffee, and tea. Lunch will be a simple trail-side meal consisting of pita, nuts, peanut butter, granola, etc. Our first meal together in the pioneer camp will be slightly more robust as we will not be eating out of backpacks yet.

Trip Difficulty

The trip mileage along with backpack carry make the difficulty rating a moderate 3 out of 5. One consideration that makes the trip easier is that there is no significant elevation gain at any point because the island is quite flat. On the other hand, at times the forest trail is sandy or we will be on sandy beaches and that makes for a slightly more difficult walk. The temperatures should make for good camping and hiking weather with cool nights and moderate days.

Equipment and Clothing

A detailed equipment list will be provided. Generally, participants must furnish their own personal camping equipment (with the exception of food, cooking, and water filtering equipment), including a backpack, a lightweight tent, a lightweight backpacking sleeping bag/quilt rated to 30 degrees, a sleeping pad/air mattress, reliable raingear (including pack cover), layers of clothing comfortable between 40-70 degrees, and good footwear. Hiking poles are recommended to increase endurance/balance. Your backpack, including all personal gear, is required to weigh less than 25 pounds, and you are expected to carry up to 15 pounds of group gear. It is advisable for you to get your personal gear plus backpack weight down to less than 20 pounds. We are happy to assist you with this process before the trip.

References

Conservation

As the world’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy organization, the Sierra Club inspires us to be good stewards of our lands. On the trip, we will learn and engage in the best practices of Leave No Trace backpacking. Simply put, we will pack in and pack out all gear, food, and waste, leaving any area we visit looking the same as how we found it. Additionally, participants are encouraged to fly into JAX so we can ride-share together in our rental vans. This practice will offset individual carbon footprints created if multiple rental vehicles were employed.

Cumberland Island is a prime example of the modern challenge of protecting natural beauty and ecosystems while navigating the interests of private land ownership and public land conservation. This trip will focus on the efforts of the Sierra Club and other environmental advocacy groups and individuals in their attempts to protect Cumberland Island. We will see how this challenge persists into our present day. We will consider new developments in environmental concerns related to light and sound pollution, as well as the overhead air space. There is a chance that we will get to hear directly from one of the Georgia Sierra Club chapter representatives regarding current issues for conservation efforts on Cumberland Island.

There will be opportunities throughout the trip for group discussions. We will also hope to learn from one another about environmental concerns in your local areas and what issues you are most concerned about in your life.

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and when applicable will operate under permits obtained from U.S. federal land agencies.