Celebrating Summer on the Trail

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Four years ago, I had the opportunity to join friends on a hike across the width of England. Known as the “Coast to Coast,” the unmarked route that was first scouted out by the great British “fell walker” Alfred Wainwright, the trek started on the western edge of the country overlooking the Irish Sea and ended 200 miles and countless blisters later at Robin’s Hood Bay on the North Sea. When we pulled on backpacks and adjusted trekking poles that first morning to begin heading north and then east from the village of St. Bea’s, it was almost exactly three years to the day since my father had died. 

Every mile forward for the next two weeks, Dad was always on my mind. On those stretches when I was alone, I sometimes talked out loud, thanking him. It was he, after all, who had nurtured such a love of land and such a passion for the natural world in my siblings and me. It was he who had hiked most sections of the Appalachian Trail, who had taken my brother and other Boy Scouts on trips to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, who had taught so many young people to pitch a tent, cook a meal among stones and embers, and hang provisions from high tree branches so bears didn’t feast on the food in the middle of the night.

My hike across three national parks and the rocky fells of the English countryside in 2016 was a way, I realized later, to somehow communicate to Dad what all those summer afternoons in the garden with him had meant to me. All those hikes through the forests of North Georgia and the Carolinas. All those late afternoons building campfires and dipping our toes in cold mountain streams. Those moments are at the center of my being, I know now, the essence of who I am. This June as we celebrate Father’s Day and National Trails Day, those moments mean more than ever.

Over the past few months, when we were so often confined to our homes because of shelter-in-place requirements, experiencing nature was the comfort many of us most wanted. During this new reality of living through a pandemic, I have also realized that the only activities that come close to comparing to hikes with Dad or my time on the North Yorkshire Moors are when I am out on the paths and trails of St. Simons.

Many of us who enjoy few sounds more than birdsong or the music of flowing water, who prefer the smells of soil, pine needles, fallen leaves, and rain to perfume, developed these strange passions not as adults, but while chasing behind the too-quick steps of parents on a trail. We learned to double-dig garden plots as kids and to watch for those first miraculous, thrilling signs of growth after planting seeds with a beloved adult. We crave fresh air, wind, summer storms, and sun just as our mothers and fathers did.

And that is why, in the isolating times of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many of us were working remotely instead of at the office, our team at the Land Trust was inspired to create educational worksheets for children. If the kids on St. Simons were as sick of the living room sofa as we were, we could provide new experiences to help them escape the electronic age for a few minutes and encourage them to get out on the trail and look for feathers and rocks and cones. Maybe even those who couldn’t get past the front door would enjoy “virtual visits” to Land Trust properties. The final result: the Outdoor Classroom series we created for two age groups of children to use while exploring Land Trust properties.

We started with a worksheet for the Alice Richards Botanical Trail at Frederica Park. Frederica Park, a twenty-acre parcel of land donated by the Sea Island Company to the Land Trust in 2008 became, in partnership with Glynn County and many other entities, the first new park of significance on the St. Simons Island in fifty years. Following development of the park, with its playground, ballfield, dog park, picnic pavilion, and other amenities, a one-million-dollar grant from the estate of the late Alice Richards, who had been a part-time resident of the Georgia coast, went to create the Alice Richards Botanical Trail that includes interpretive signs, a gazebo, benches, and a “village” of small “faerie houses.” The Alice Richards Botanical Trail was the perfect short hike for kids to take and a great introduction to our Outdoor Classroom experiences.

Soon we began receiving photographs and social media “tags” of kids racing along the AliceRichards Trail with our worksheets in hand and checking off items from the scavenger hunts. We knew that the worksheets were providing a welcome break from being cooped up inside. But Raleigh Kitchen, our Membership Manager, decided to take the experience to the next level, and she began filming her walks along the trail with nothing more sophisticated than an iPhone. Now people can view her many short videos, hear few things other than birdcalls and Raleigh’s footsteps, while joining her on “Virtual Visits” to Frederica Park and other Land Trust properties.We next moved to Guale Preserve, one of the most beautiful spots on the island. This 258-acre Preserve was once part of the family compound on the historic Musgrove estate. As with most land on the island, there is evidence at Guale Preserve of human occupation that dates back thousands of years, such as the shell middens created by Native Americans who lived on the Georgia coast, including the Guale Indians (pronounced “Wah-lee”), for which the Preserve is named.

Our Outdoor Classroom worksheets for Guale Preserve feature scavenger hunts along Polly’s Trail that is accessible off Lawrence Road at the main entrance leading into Middle Road and the center of the property. This trail, named in memory of Polly Long Denton, a Georgia native who loved St. Simons, makes a nearly two-mile loop through native plants, a hickory grove, and a pond pine forest.

A second quarter-mile trail is near the Guale Waterfront and features Janet’s Trail, named in memory of Janet Zwenig, a native of Tennessee who lived in Glynn County for many years and who also loved St. Simons Island. The Outdoor Classroom scavenger hunt for Janet’s Trail encourages kids to look out across the marsh in search of shorebirds and learn to identify many of the rare native plants on the property.

Outdoor Classroom experiences were also created for Cannon’s Point Preserve, a 608-acre wilderness preserve that is rated as one of the most popular visitor sites on the island. Our Virtual Visits were especially important for this property since it was closed for several weeks during most of the shelter-in-place period prescribed by the Georgia governor’s office.

Another set of Outdoor Classroom scavenger hunts was developed for the John Gilbert Nature Trail on Frederica Road. This 40-acre marsh-front property includes a trail and boardwalk and is one of the most frequented sites on the island. A goal for the Outdoor Classroom adventure at John Gilbert was to have children pay attention to environmental features that they had probably passed by many times before and never really noticed.

A recent addition to our educational offerings, and a favorite of the staff, was the creation of Outdoor Classroom Birding experiences so that adventurers can enjoy and learn more about the plethora of birds on St. Simons Island. One of the worksheets is divided among different groups of birds for kids to find such as marsh birds, beach birds, and backyard birds.

Grandparents and parents often worry that today’s children spend far too much time in front of computer screens and communicating with one another only through clicks on cell phones and iPads, that they do not spend enough time outdoors and know little about the natural world. But I believe that nearly all children yearn to run across open fields, to follow dirt paths that seem to have no end, to climb trees, build forts among thickets and underbrush, pick up sticks and stones, and be mesmerized by flowing water. Like all of us, though, kids mirror the actions and activities of those they most admire. Nothing was dearer to me when I was growing up than to spend time with my father. That meant I was nearly always doing one of two things: reading books or wandering along some trail.

There are miles and miles of bike paths on St. Simons Island. There is an almost endless supply of natural areas to explore, streams and rivers to paddle, trails to hike, sunrises and sunsets to capture with your camera. I hope that you will take advantage of these gifts this summer, share the experiences with your kids, and nurture the next generation of nature lovers. If you do, someday in the future, on some trail somewhere, your children will thank you.

To learn more about all Land Trust properties and educational resources and to access and print the Outdoor Classroom worksheets, please visit sslt.org. If you have any questions, you can call the office at 912.638.9109.

Emily Ellison is the executive director of the St. Simons Land Trust. She is also the author of a number of books, including the award-winning novel The Picture Makers and educational tools for children.