Camping Trip USA 2022

After much hesitation, we decided to leave for an escape in the southern USA.  The threat of catching Covid 19 down there as well as the obligatory Covid test before re-entering Canada did not outweigh our desire to escape and travel outside the country. 

And what fun voyage it was… 

On February 22, we left Kingston and were welcomed south of the border by a magnificent temperature of +15C and no snow. Even in the Binghamton area, there was no snow to be seen. Highly unusual but great for driving through! 

We spend the first night in Winchester VA in a nice hotel – thanks to Hotwire for the deal!.  We wore our mask religiously although the hotel was near empty! Even in the breakfast room next morning, there seemed to be really no risk of getting Covid as we were only with 3 other people in the room. 

Weather was great and the drive through the Blue mountains was very scenic. Our first camping overnight was in Rock Hill South Carolina, between Charlotte and Columbia. Ebenezer Campground was pretty with a long wooden boardwalk and of course, rocking swings!

It felt good to be outside of our usual décor and next morning, we were up early to reach our “first southern destination”: Blythe Island, Georgia. 

Located near Brunswick, Blythe Island and its campground were a very nice surprise.

 Beautiful live oaks, palmettos, nice walking path in the large forest with numerous glimpses of the Brunswick river with its huge vehicles carriers! 

Yes, our KIA van was shipped to Europe on such a ship in 2018. 

We stayed 3 full days in Brunswick and had plenty of time to hike, and to do biking trips. It is hard to explain how wonderful it felt just to ride one’s bike in the sunshine and to live outside after months of cold winter weather. 

The only disappointing experience was the “town” of Brunswick itself. Even on a Saturday at noon, the place was deserted. Obviously, the local economy was hard hit by Covid related closures. But, in hindsight, our frequent visits to towns in Georgia in the last 20 years (!) always hinted at a depressed economy and ghostly towns.  With the exception of Savannah. We strolled through town, were amused by quirky posters and enjoyed the St. Simon's lighthouse that we probably admired from the seaside when we sailed the ICW years ago.

The 19th century built lighthouse still continues to be a navigational aid and the highlight of the Brunswick waterfront park today. 

Anyhow, we enjoyed very much Blythe and its surrounding. This was a destination that we would return to in the future. The primitive sites of the campground were spacious and offered good privacy. All perfect… except for the gnats! Swarms of them!😕

The second week of our trip was to take place in the Withlacoochee forest area in 2 different campsites. In the Cypress Glenn Campground at Silver Lake, there was not much privacy compared to Blythe but it was airy and open. 

We were looking forward to our first kayaking adventure. We then realized that our site was about 250 meters away from the lake and so, we carried the kayak to the launching beach. Which proved to be no problem except that we had to carry the remaining equipment in a second trip (seats, life vests, and paddles add to the weight of the kayak). A man pulling his kayak on a self-made 2 wheeler carrier passed in front of our site. This made us think that such a carrier would be a neat thing to have!  

Finally, we were using our kayak in Florida! We dreamed of kayaking the Florida rivers for many years! And here we were…Beautiful scenery, plenty of turtles and birds and lots of shade made such a trip just amazing. With the help of the app GeoTracker, we were able to keep logs of our diverse itineraries. That first kayak trip was 12 km long. 

 

 

The Campground also offered wonderful biking opportunities! It was hot (28-30C) but the path was shaded by many trees for most of the stretch. We biked the Croom Trail on two different occasions and loved every bit of it!

Our second destination, just 20 miles away from Cypress Glen was Hog Island Campground. Same Withlacoochee forest but this time, a different campsite decor, with different species of pines, hickories, oaks, and more.

This time, we did 2 kayak expeditions on the Withlacoochee. We were surprised at how few paddlers we encountered on those journeys. 

 While we originally thought our vacation would last only 2 weeks, we decided to extend this pleasurable experience: we were much less worried about Covid. We left the Withlacoochee area and headed down south to Sebastian, midway between Melbourne and Vero Beach.  Of course, this area would be more familiar to us because we sailed the Atlantic Coast of Florida on several occasions. We know the inlets, the coast line and this destination would bring back nice memories. 

We found available sites at the Donald MacDonald Campground. First 3 days, we used site #20 and the remainder of the time, site #22 which was much larger and airy and enabled us to find shade at any time of the day.

What a neat place! Hiking paths within the campground itself, spotless facilities and a nice but short board walk to admire sunsets over the Sebastian River! 

We decided not to launch our kayak from the campsite however, as the launch ramp was asphalted (not so good for inflatable kayak floor). Instead, we drove a couple of minutes to the Dale Winbrow park with sandy beaches to launch kayaks, fresh water faucets and restroom facilities. Also, plenty of parking spaces.  From there, we were able to paddle for hours on the beautiful and wild Sebastian River. Manatees, dolphins and alligators (this is an alligator photo by Linda Poppleton...very similar to the one we saw in the course of our expeditions). Herons and ibis, hawks and ospreys, it was a living zoo! These kayak trips were really an experience of a life time.

 

The Sebastian area offered also the possibility to explore the Indian River Lagoon (where the Intracoastal Waterway is located), the town of Sebastian with its board walk, shaded paved street, seafood restaurants, and of course, the beach on the Atlantic ocean.

With its numerous free beach accesses, we liked the Golden Sands Park the most. Free showers, clean restrooms and ample parking spaces, this was so handy to be able to walk a few miles of the beach! Heiner was the only one who went in the water for swimming. The water temperature was good (74F or 23C) but the waves were high enough that most people were happy to stay on the beach. There was a lifeguard who kept an eye on Heiner….finally, he was working instead of looking at this phone! 

A cold front came through the area and so we walked in the sun along the Indian River drive, enjoying the crisp air (21C but with a northerly wind) and the beautiful gardens with tropical plants! Before heading back to the campsite, we had a mahi-mahi sandwich and IPAs at our favorite beach bar!

And so, we had to plan our return trip. We had to keep in mind that if one of us or the two of us test positive, we must stay an additional 10 days in the US before returning home. We planned to get a Covid test on our way back, in the area of Washington DC. Our slow drive back would consist of one night stop at Blythe in Georgia again, 2 nights stop in South Carolina , and 2 nights stop at the Greenbelt campground in Maryland. 

Weather was great and our short visit at Blythe island was very nice. We arrived early afternoon which left us time to do a short hike in the forest.

 

Next morning, we drove north along the I-95 with our destination being a Hip Camp site near McClellanville , SC. Nature Outfitters proved to be an idyllic located campground with a great view of the ICW .

This compensated for the neglected grounds and the primitive installations. Besides, it is very difficult to find campsites close to Charleston and so, we did not mind (too much ...) the one hour drive to get to this city that we so love! 

Despite the rainy weather on the day we drove to Charleston, 

there was a short interruption of showers which allowed us to slowly meander its streets, admire its blooming gardens and enjoy the Griffon's take out of shrimps and chips.  

Last stretch north was to count 2 overnights at the Greenbelt campground near Washington DC.  To our surprise, it was impossible to find a Walgreen pharmacy in the Annapolis area for being tested for Covid so we had our NAAT test done in DC. The test was free at Walgreen. It went fast and the results were in within the hour. Negative!!!!

It was with great relief that we continued our drive to Annapolis and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny day!

And yes, the last leg back home brought us back to reality:  Winter was not done yet with Kingston!