Camera Woes and the Primitive Trail

Wednesday March 26 and Thursday March 27, 2014
St. George Island State Park
Eastpoint, FL

 

 

 

I’ve got the camera zoom blues.  Is it fatal?

 

In yesterday’s post about my morning walk on the beach,  all the pictures were taken with my camera before it abruptly refused to zoom any more and said “turn off the camera and turn it back on”.  Over and over it said this as I tried everything to get the zoom to begin working again.  There was no warning, everything was working fine and then it wasn’t.

SO now what to do??  I know it will cost more to have it fixed, IF I could even find someone to fix it, than the camera is worth at this point.  Time for a new camera I guess.   I look up all the folks on line whose pictures I admire and try to find out what cameras they use.  Then I look up the cameras and see which ones are in my price range.   Then David says, “If you are just going to toss it, let me take it apart and see what I can do”.   So that’s where it stands at the moment.  If you have a camera suggestion, please send it along in your comment.

You’ll now notice that since I have no camera there are many more pictures with me in them.  David is now getting short changed I fear.

 

 

WEDNESDAY

This morning David checks his on line medical record as usual to see if the big test result has come in YET!   Today is finally the lucky day, it has and you know that story.

After getting the good news, David is ready to celebrate and spends quite some time looking for THE breakfast place in Eastpoint or Apalachicola.  He finally picks one but it’s too late for breakfast by the time that happens.  So he moves to looking for Linner ideas.  By the time he comes up with something we decide to just wait until tomorrow and see if a couple of nearby friends we haven’t met yet want to go with us.

 

It’s all good we’ll celebrate with a hike instead and save the other for tomorrow.   We intend to walk on the beach but quickly find it is MUCH too windy.  There is only one brave soul bundled up sitting near the dunes trying to stay out of the wind and reading.  Otherwise, everyone out has feathers.  And they are mostly standing stock still which is most unusual.  Easy for a picture though.

 

 

 

 

So we head back and stop along the ponds where we see a number of birds hanging out.  Including a pair of love birds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a primitive trail??

 

We head to the back of the campground where near the playground there is a kiosk at the foot of the campground and a sign that says “Nature Trail”.  A sign saying use and return maps are in the little box but of course it is empty.   So we just go on down the way until at half a mile in we come to a junction.  Which way to go???   Slough or Primitive.   Well I know what a Slough is so we save that for another day and off on the Primitive we go.

 

 

 

 

 

Water is visible in the distance on both sides as we walk out to what I’m suspecting will be Gap Point.   Wildflowers are in bloom.  These lovely little yellows carpeting many areas.

 

 

 

 

At the one mile mark we see a sign explaining Dr. Charles Herty’s experiment which produced the Herty cup.  It’s a clay pot similar to a flowerpot.  When hung on the side of a pine tree it allows the resin to run from the face in to the cup by means of a galvanized metal gutter.  The resin was used for turpentine.  There was no date on the information so I have no idea how long ago this happened.  Most of the pine trees here seem to have been sliced open for this purpose.  OUCH!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are walking up the outside of the island and to our left is a little inlet which you can see on the map below if you look at the spot labeled Cape St. George Lighthouse.  We get so close to the inlet that we walk over to take a shore side look and find a rather uncommon sight.  When was the last time you saw someone in a row boat?  It’s been a long time for me.  I’ve always found it very difficult to proceed backwards no matter what I’m doing walking or rowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is David approaching Mile Post 1.5 where we finally find out why this is called Primitive Trail.

 

 

Turns out this is the trail to the primitive campsites.  #1 and #2.  Which one to see first is the question.  We make a right turn where in about another quarter mile or so we find the VERY nice campsite right on the water of St. George Sound.  The “bay” side of the island if you will

 

 

 

 

Beautiful beach where someone has left a sweet message in the sand.   The tide is out and some lovely critters that I would not like to meet up with in the water are rather beached until it comes back in.

 

 

 

I’m definitely glad I’m here. 
This picture is for Carrie. 
We really do wish you were here sweetheart!

 

 

 

 

 

I could just stay and stay right here in this solitary place with its complete quiet and natural beauty but we want to be sure to see Campsite #1 as well.  So we walk back down to the fork and head to the very end of the spit.

 

 

 

 

It’s right over there.

 

 

 

This too is a kayak campsite.  They have to be reserved but I’m sure you could hike in the two miles and make it wonderful backpack hike or kayak around the island and spend the night under dark skies with nary another soul around.   Although it was clear that some other folks had been here before us.   But judging from the size of the foot prints he was a little guy.   Clearly some of them have been running around like crazy but they aren’t here when we arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

Another beautiful deserted beach in both directions at low tide shows lots and lots of foot prints and lovely art created by the waves.    Can’t you just imagine spending a wonderful few days here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We head back down the trail toward the campground when we spy another little trail going off to another little beach.  This one turns out to have all the little footprint makers and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are just awed by Nature’s artwork here.   So varied and beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we watched, small flocks of shore birds came in.  They are all around us and quite near but moving constantly which make close up shots very difficult  Sanderlings, sandpipers, willets and a pair of what I think are mergansers.  Page or Judy??
David’s little Panasonic has a tough time with the light in the western sky.

 

 

 

 

We have spent over 3 hours on this little 2.5 mile hike and must get back.  But what a great time we’ve had on this fantastic little barrier island.

 

 

So the only picture we stop for as we return is one of the dunes close to the campground.  I can feel my heart sing as I see how tall and strong they stand protecting the island from winds and storms.  They will just get bigger and stronger and provide more protection if we will leave Nature alone to do her thing.  She really does know best.

 

 

 

Here’s the last part of today’s celebration!  

 

 

 

After dinner, David starts taking the camera apart. Pretty scary, lots of little parts, but the camera is useless at this point so there’s nothing to lose.   This wouldn’t seem like a celebration activity to me but he likes puzzles and he’s got himself a good one here.

 

 

Stay tuned, the “0.3 Celebration” continues tomorrow.