I've had Cumberland Island National Seashore on my list to hike for several years and finally made it for a three-night backpacking trip. It's an island off the coast of Georgia just north of the Florida state line that's reachable only by boat.
It's known for the ruin of Dungeness, a Carnegie family mansion that was abandoned and later burned. It's also known for the feral horses that roam the island.
I like hiking maritime forests because the scenery is so different from what I'm used to seeing on trails.
Dungeness was destroyed by suspected arson in 1959. This is just a portion of it, and the grounds were impressive.
Met a friend on the trail soon after leaving Dungeness.
Most of the trails look the same, but it never got old.
In spots, trails follow the edge of ponds/wetlands. You wind around them, then head back into the woods.
On the second night, camp was on the shore at Brickhill Bluff Camp.
Cumberland Island is known for being buggy, particularly this campsite. I was hoping they wouldn't be bad in January, but the biting no-see-ums were out. They left you alone as long as you kept moving, so after a day with a whole lot of walking, I did more walking at camp. The upside was this was the first time I've ever spotted dolphins from a campsite and sunset was nice.
Final animal count was 9 horses, 4 deer, one armadillo, dolphins and birds.
Approaching camp for night three, I left the interior trails and hit the beach for the last three miles to reach the turn back inland to get to camp. At low tide, the beach was wide.