4/4 Crooked River State Park, GA

I enjoyed my very lazy two days and three nights here.  Even if there were a lot of trees, it still felt open because the spots were so far apart and the ground was clear of scrub in the campground itself.  The first night as I was hooking up power and water, there were swarms of noseeums, so I moved fast and got inside in a hurry.  I was even able to get a slightly sensitive satellite signal, although I lost the signal to one of the satellites tha DISH uses the second day when it rained so heavily.  Better half the channels than nothing, at least! 

I went for a very long walk the second day, down to the visitor center and around the river view area--heavily sprayed with Off against the bugs. It was slightly cooler and a nice breeze kept the bugs away anyway.  Since I have been in Florida, however, I still keep to my habit of staying on pavement as much as possible when I go for a walk and being inside by dusk to reduce contact with bugs.  No walking on grass or cutting through the woods, which stirs up bugs!  Last summer I had gotten bitten so badly a few times that I had infected sites for several months, so I am much more careful now. 

This is a very quiet state park because it is not large and is so far away from major roads. (This park is just across Cumberland Sound and down the St. Mary's River, across from Fernandina Beach where I was a few days ago.)  I would stay here again.  Note how far away from the roadway my vehicle is in this photo:

 

 Another interesting thing about this area is that a lot of the economy is kept going by the local submarine base.  At the main entrance, they have built up the earth and poured cement over it to make it look like a submarine coming out of the grass.  Apparently, the tower part is the real thing from a submarine that was scrapped.  The whole thing is pretty impressive as you drive past.  Tricky taking photos as you drive, but I am getting better at it!