20 pounds on my back, and 9 miles ahead! WARNING: contains pretty pictures

Our ferry to Cumberland (the one in the back)

Lunch break! (Bae, Kate, Jill, Flora, Nadine, Sian, Jackie, Paula, me, Briana, Davis)

You can find lots of shark teeth on the main road on Cumberland Island

How you avoid visiting raccoons - hanging food from a tree

The Plum Orchard and a wild horse

Making tortillas - followed by: s'mores!

Fredag eftermiddag forlod vi Valdosta - 11 mand i en minibus med fyldte rygsække (10 tøser, 1 fyr)...

Færgen til Cumberland Island sejler kl. 9 om morgenen, og med et par timers kørsel til kysten, tog vi afsted dagen før, og overnattede i et shelter i Crooked River National Park. 

Der var omkring 3 grader om natten, så på trods af soveposen, var det altså en virkelig kold oplevelse! 

Cumberland Island er en fredet ø ud for Georgias kyst. Det er den sydligste ø i staten Georgia. 

Legenden lyder at de spanske conquistadors kom over atlanten med deres heste, og da de efterlod øen for nogle hundrede år siden, efterlod de deres heste som siden har boet på øen. Det er selvfølgelig ikke de samme heste, men skulle altså være efterkommere af de spanske heste - og så er de naturligvis vilde, så man skal ikke komme for tæt på. 

Da vi ankom til øen lørdag formiddag begyndte vi straks vores vandring til vores lejr - der var ifølge kortet omkring 7,5 mil (12 km), men det endte naturligvis med at være længere, og da vi nåede frem havde vi altså gået 10 mil (16 km), med alle 10 kg på ryggen. 

Energien var dog ikke helt udtømt endnu, så efter at have slået lejr gik vi (uden oppakning) op til Plum Orchard som er en gigantisk villa/mansion bygget i 1898. Vi kom desværre for sent til at komme indenfor, men til gengæld kom vi på samme tid som en af øens vilde heste :-) 

Aftensmaden og desserten blev lavet på trangia-sæt, og inden vi gik i seng blev taskerne tømt for mad og alt andet med duft, og hængt op i et træ for at holde vaskebjørne væk fra vores telte. Jeg stjal et billede af vores naboes "madpose" - vores var i virkeligheden to fyldte rygsække (piger har åbenbart rigtig mange cremer med på backpackingtur)... 

Turen var en af mange arrangeret af CORE Outdoors, som er en organisation ved VSU. De har de her ture næsten hver weekend, og det er en virkelig god mulighed for nogle sjove og udfordrende oplevelser!

Se de andre ture her.

::::

Friday afternoon we left Valdosta - 11 people in a van with stuffed backpacks (10 girls, 1 guy)...

The ferry to Cumberland Island leaves at 9 in the morning and with a couple of hours drive to the coast, we left the day before and slept in a shelter in Crooked River National Park. 

It was around 43 degrees at night, so even with our sleeping bags it was a really cold experience!

Cumberland Island is a preserved island off Georgia's coast. It is the most southern island of Georgia. 

The legend is that the Spanish conquistadors brought over their horses several hundred years ago, and when they left the island, they left their horses on it, which have been living on the island ever since. Of course it is not the same horses, but they should allegedly be descendants of the Spanish horses - and now they are of course wild, so you have to keep your distance to them.

When we arrived to the island we quickly began our hike to our campsite - according to the map it was around 7,5 miles, but by the time we got there we had already walked 10 miles, with each our 20 pounds on the back. 

However, we weren't completely exhausted yet, so after setting up camp, we walked another few miles (without the backpacks) out to the Plum Orchard, which is a huge mansion built in 1898. Unfortunately we were too late to get inside, but we were right on time to see one of the wild horses :-)

Dinner and dessert was made over the small burners, and before going to bed we emptied our packs for anything with a smell and hung it from a tree to avoid visiting raccoons. I stole a picture of our neighbors food bag . ours was actually two full backpacks (girls apparently bring a lot of lotion on backpacking trip)...

The trip was one of many organized by CORE Outdoors, which is a organization through VSU. They make these kinds of trips almost every weekend every semester and it's a great opportunity for fun and challenging experiences! 

See their other trips here.