United States Forest Service

Happy New Year!! 2013 was a great year for wandering!

This year we checked off one of the biggest items on our bucket list: from May to September we made the trip of a lifetime to Alaska and back in our RV. In the fall we visited a beautiful COE park in West Point, Georgia. I’ve already posted about those trips in previous posts on this blog so here are a few photos from our January 2013 journey to south Georgia and North Florida.

We started 2013 with a short trip to three different parks. The first was Little Ocmulgee State Park in Helena, Georgia.

Little Ocmulgee Lake, January, 2013

View out back window Little OcmulgeeState Park, Georgia

Cypress Swamp on the Short Loop Trail at Little Ocmulgee State Park, January, 2013

Our main destination was a week in the United States Forest Service campground in Salt Springs, Florida.

Egret at Salt Springs, January, 2013

Fish jumping at Salt Springs, January, 2013

From the boat ride through Salt Springs Run, January, 2013

A great place to beach the boat at the end of Salt Springs Run, January, 2013

Sunset at Salt Springs, January, 2013

Our final stop was at one of our favorite parks, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida.

The Carillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, January, 2013

Way down upon the Suwanee River at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, January, 2103

So where do think we will be off to in 2014? Stay tuned for more.

Day 75: Monday, July 29, 2013. Homer, Alaska to Williwaw Campground on Portage Glacier Road in the Chugach National Forest near Whittier, AK. About 180 miles traveled.

We enjoyed our time in the Kenai Peninsula but it was time to move on to our next Alaska Adventure. The sky was clear when we woke up and we watched the boats going out into the bay before we left. The drive north through the Kenai was beautiful and as always we kept an eye out for moose. Unfortunately, there were no moose to be seen! The only wildlife of the day was a family of ducks at a rest stop at Tern Lake

We enjoyed watching the boats going out in the bay our last morning in Homer

Mama and baby ducks at Tern Lake

It was peaceful at Tern Lake

After staying in private RV parks, city parks, national parks, state and provincial parks, we spent two nights in the first United States Forest Service park of the trip. The road through the campground is paved and each site has a paved pad. When the last few weeks have almost all been in gravel, parking lot type campgrounds it was such a treat to have no dust! Our site was surrounded by trees and wildflowers and we had a large picnic table and fire ring. A perfect place to relax.

The campground is located on Portage Glacier Road which leads to Portage Lake and then the town of Whittier. There are several glaciers in the area which can be seen from the visitor’s center at Portage Lake and from the campground. The only way to see the Portage Glacier is to take a cruise on the lake. We decided to pass on the cruise and enjoy the ones we could see from land.

Glacier view from the visitor’s center at Portage Lake

Portage Lake

Portage Lake just a couple of miles from our campground

Another glacier at Portage Lake

Portage Lake

View out our back window at Williwaw

Beautiful campsite at Williwaw Campground in Chugach National Forest

View from the campground

Day 76: Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Our campground was so beautiful the truck didn’t move all day. We started the day by going to a salmon viewing platform where salmon can be seen in the creek when they are spawning in August. We were just a few days too early and never saw any. After seeing no fish we went for a hike along the Williwaw Nature Trail.