False Cape State Park 2/14, 15, 16/2011

FALSE CAPE TUESDAY GROUP TRIP

False Cape State Park was the destination for 12 Tuesday Groupers this past Monday for a three day Tuesday Group outing. Meeting at Little Island City Park we packed everything we would need (and a little more) into the park bus and headed South on a beautiful day. The ride through Back Bay Wildlife Refuge gave us a view of hundreds of Snow Geese, Swans, four or five types of ducks and several Great Blue Heron. On the 9 mile ride to the Environmental Education Center, (EEC) we all looked for Deer, Pigs, Coyotes and Bobcats. Eagle eye “Margaret” did see one pig running through the tall grasses, which all but the driver got to see. Keep your eyes on the road “Bruce”! Arriving at the EEC Building around 10:00 A.M. we moved our gear inside and I gave out the sleeping arrangements for all. Being the gentleman that I am, I gave the three ladies, the 3 rooms and the men had to fend for themselves.

With our lunches and water in our packs we rode over to the shop area and traded the bus for a pick-up truck. The friends of False Cape State Park, a few days earlier, had bought two Pole Saws and our job (if we chose to take it) was to cut back the tree limbs that were reaching out and trying to touch someone, like our bus, Terr/Gator, and the Park’s Trucks. The Park Ranger, Chuck, was there to accept the two poles saws from the Friends President, “Bob Safford“, and he thanked Bob and all the volunteers for the saws and all the hard work that we do for the park. After a few words and lots of pictures we loaded into the truck and headed out to our first work site and began to cut back the limbs. As expected, the saws worked great and our volunteers with their loppers cleared about 8 trailer loads of unwanted tree limbs in two days. Great job by all and we had lots of fun while doing it.

The first day we finished working and headed back to the EEC Building around 3:00 P.M. and everyone was ready for a hike. Bob and I had picked up the park’s G P S handheld units that morning and we loaded into each a Waypoint for all to find. We paired everyone into groups of two and then everyone follow me to the starting point and there I turn them lose. The distance was about one mile through thick wooded areas with some wetlands and high sand hills, which they were suppose to navigate around. Not this group, No way! They did not know what navigating around something meant, every group of two headed straight for the finish line and no matter what was in between them and the finish line they went through it. Margaret and Marcus came in right ahead of Mark and Milton, with John and Rick closely behind. A few seconds or minutes, whichever person you asked, Dewey and Dottie came in 4th with Ellis and Marti bringing up the rear. I do need to say that Ellis’s unit did malfunction when the batteries went dead, and Bob had to reprogram another unit. This took about 5 minutes. After all arrived there and down a bottle of water each, we then started on a short hike out to the beach, then headed back to the EEC for supper. After everyone finished eating some, wanted to watch a movie, but others wanted to head out for a short hike of about 5 miles with me. We finished the hike about 10:00P.M., as the movie was coming to an end. After lots of discussion about “ 127 HOURS” we headed to our bunks, for some well deserved sleep.

The next day we finished our tree limb cutting about 2:30 P.M. Then Milton and Marcus cleaned the tools and went for a short hike to the church site. Margaret and I took a ride on the beach and everyone else rested there at the EEC. We had another good meal and as everyone was a little tired, we watched a movie which Margaret brought, until about 10:30 and then headed for bed.

Next morning we all had breakfast, cleaned up the center, and went for a hike. Getting back to the center about 11:00 A.M., we switched back to the big yellow bus and headed out of the park. Dropping everyone off at little Island City Park, we decided to head to Pungo Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor. Here we had both, Ice Cream and Pizza, to finish off another great Tuesday group outing.

Bruce

Click on the link to view Dottie's Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/dottieaster/2011FalseCapeMaintenanceFeb1416?feat=email#

Marti's Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/m.malabad/FCSP21411?authkey=Gv1sRgCJSAq8Tc3s70lQE#

Bruce & Margaret's: https://picasaweb.google.com/sargentbruce.bruce/Album2162011?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_BqOeHxpCXnQE&feat=email#