Cumberland Island, the southern most island along the Georgia coast, is one of the interestingly unique places for a nature photographer to go. It is an island about 20 miles long a 3 miles wide, and has white sandy beaches on the ocean side, an interior of oaks in the middle and on the bay side marshlands.

Cumberland Island was once owned by the Carnegie family and was their summer home. They owned much of the land and farmed a plantation there in its prime. Now the state has taken ownership and let everything go back to the wild. The downside is one has to pay for the boat ride to the island, however, this is a chance for some on the wing shot of birds that follow the boat, and one has to make reservations months in advance…..but it is well worth it.

It possesses the most beautiful camp ground I have been in and I have been in a bunch. It sets amongst hundred year old live oaks draped with Spanish moss. In places the limbs form arches along the trails. (It has facilities and showers.) There are several back country campsites as well.

Known mostly for its herd of wild horses (survivors of ship wrecks in the pre- United States days), one can shoot many varied species of mammals and birds and reptiles (no snakes). On a seven day stay there, I shot images of the wild horses, deer, feral hogs, armadillos, whales, porpoises, bobcat, alligator, raccoon, wild turkey, many species of shore birds, as well as different types of scenic images. I even got images of bioluminescent critters along the marshlands. I have never takes so many images in such a small area.

And now for the rest of the story as an old friend used to say……I had a pair of brothers that were my backpacking buddies, as Wayne was my Photographer buddy. They were as different as the day was long. The older one was into booze and drugs and the younger one was as straight laced as one could be. We had picked campsite 12 to spend our time on the island and this was just an exploration trip……camping and hiking, and contemplating whether it would be a worthwhile place to photograph.

We set up camp and went exploring. I headed for the beach and I have not a clue where the others went. However a few hours later we all met at the south end of the island, and headed back to camp telling the tales of what we had seen. We fixed supper and went out to the beach to watch the sun set. We locked up the food in a locker provided and hung up our backpacks on a 10 foot metal post. We turned in early as we wanted to see the sunrise too.

I was awakened by a noise outside my tent. I unzipped and saw a raccoon sitting in my backpack, eating my snack food. I called out at the thief, and woke the younger brother. He joined me as his pack also contained a furry critter. Then we had the LOL experience of the trip. The older brother had smoked himself into a stupor of a sleep and crawled in his tent and never shut the door. He had five guest in his tent with him and he did not know it. One raccoon was licking his chin, another was in his backpack, and other was holding his bottle of crown royal, and another was watching us. He never even woke up.

The next morning when he did wake up, he was hot because he had thought we raided his backpack. If his brother had not taken a picture on the cell phone as proof we did not do it, we would have been in trouble. That was the last we saw of the raccoons, but the next day we had a horse and an armadillo visit our campsite. As I said an interesting trip.