I did hike 12 miles with my son to knock down one more requirement for his BSA Hiking merit badge. We hiked on the Gulf Islands National Seashore from "Chicken Bone Beach" (beginning of NP) to the now closed Fort Pickens campground and campground store and back. It has been 2 1/2 years since Hurricane Ivan and the park is still trashed. Most trees are dead and the dunes are no more, replaced with piles of cleaned up asphalt from the road that probably will not be rebuilt. Its still a beautiful place - just different. Its not nice to mess with Mother Nature! A few pics. Ignore dates on pictures, someday I'll figure the camera out.
What looks like a dark hill in the center of the picture is a giant pile of asphalt.
This area used to have big dunes that finally built up after the hurricanes in the 90's with a lot of help from man.
Most of the dead broken trees are pines and oaks, usually green around here year round. Good old salt poisoning.
One section of the campground. We hiked a trail to the campground that was quite a challenge. Dead trees are falling with every windy day and the trail is littered with them.
Piles of picnic tables in front of the campground store. Road is intact here for about a mile.
[ This message was edited by: wonderdog on 2007-03-03 20:38 ]
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