Johnson Beach National Seashore

When my son was little, he was my adventure buddy. We would go on hikes, catch crawdads in mountain streams, canoe, take nature classes, visit parks and wildlife centers in neighboring towns. Outside was our playground and we had so much fun together.

Naturally, as he grew, he became interested in different things and our adventure days together became fewer and fewer.

Last week, we found that we both had a free day together. It was a typical hot summer day here on the Gulf coast, but there was a steady breeze and a fluffy cloud cover -- a perfect day for heading to the beach.

Personally, I'm not very much into just sitting on the beach, I'm an explorer. I need to interact with my environment. Johnson Beach National Seashore is the perfect place to do just that. White sandy beach, clear turquoise ocean to the right of the entrance, and a calm lagoon on the left. There's also a walking trail on the lagoon side, and a kayak launch.

The entrance fee was $25 for a 7 day pass, or $45 for an annual pass. I purchased the annual pass, and I can't wait to go back and use it!

Because we didn't bring kayaks, we spent most of our time on the beach. We got a great parking spot at the pavilion. People were clustered on the beach near the pavilion, but it was a short walk to more privacy.

We staked our claim on a spot near several ghost crab holes. They were very wily, so I wasn't able to snap any photos, but I did happen to snag a few photos of my elusive teenager.

After we were done beaching, we drove over to the lagoon side and checked out the kayak launch and walking trail. Here's a video of the view from the kayak launch and a view of the clear, sandy launch area. There were crabs and little fishies. After I stopped recording, a huge crab emerged from the grass and scuttled into the deeper water. I can't wait to bring my kayak out and explore this area.

Below are three photos of the informational posts at the launch. I didn't know this, but this put-in is actually part of the Perdido Key Blueway. Look at all of the amazing wildlife that lives in the lagoon!

I could have stayed at the seashore all day, but alas, there's a point where dehydration and sun exposure creep in and ruin all the fun. This trail beckons and I will find my way back to it soon!

I hope this post is helpful and inspires adventure!

Until next time.
Carpe diem, my friend!

Melissa Anne

Finding Gravel Landing and Staplefork Landing on the Perdido River

Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing is one of the most beautiful and pristine stretches of the Perdido River Paddle Trail. The beauty of this stretch stems from its remote location away from traffic and people noises. Until you reach Staplefork, the only people you might encounter are other paddlers. It's beautiful and AMAZING, but this post isn't about that. This post is about getting there.

If you want to see the river, check out the video I made on YouTube: Kayaking the Perdido River Canoe Trail: Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing.

Unless you're a local, finding this location can be tricky, mostly because Google Maps is a liar liar pants on fire and will lead you to a farm out in the middle of nowhere that is not even remotely close to where you actually need to be. The directions on the Perdido River Paddle Trail website also seem to be written for people who already have prior knowledge of the area.

In this post you will find directions and detailed information about the put-in, take-out location from my perspective.

If you are currently lost, with one bar of signal, on a red dirt road or sitting on the side of the road at a farm house frantically searching the internet for help finding this put-in (bless you), I FEEL you, I've been you, I wrote this for you!

DIRECTIONS TO THE GRAVEL LANDING/STAPLEFORK LANDING ENTRANCE:

If you are using Google Maps to get to this general area, go ahead and type in "River Road East, Robertsdale, AL." That said, once you are on 112 Old Pensacola Road, stop using the GPS and use your brain. You will notice that there are two entrances to River Road East. Scroll along your screen until you find the entrance that is shown in the map below. Notice that River Road East is between Ray Road and Tower Road. If you blink, you can miss the entrance as you drive by, so slow down and keep your eyes peeled for a dirt road.

This is the sign at the entrance to River Road East. It is set off of the road, along the treeline. I brightened the image for readability. Notice that this is the entrance to both Gravel Landing and Staplefork Landing. Once on River Road East, you will eventually come to a fork in the road where there is a sign pointing toward either landing, and you are on your way!

ROAD QUALITY (YOUR CAR MIGHT NOT BE SUITED FOR THESE ROADS):

So you've made it to the Gravel Landing/Staplefork entrance. You'll notice that you're now on a dirt/gravel road. The quality of this road does not get better in either direction. The road is narrow, the gravel chunks are large and you can hear them popping up from your tires and hitting the underside of your vehicle. In either direction, you will drive through a small creek.

The Gravel Landing road will be much rougher on your vehicle than the Staplefork Landing road. We took our Acura RDX down to Gravel Landing and regret that it probably added several years of wear and tear to the vehicle in one go, and the kayak trailer that our friends were hauling lost a handful of nuts and bolts. My opinion is that Gravel Landing is for heavy duty trucks, but that's just my opinion.

A NOTE ABOUT TIME:

If you are planning on paddling from Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing, definitely consider how much time it is going to take to drop vehicles off. It took us about 45 minutes, one way, from Gravel Landing to Staplefork Landing. So consider that if you are driving two vehicles down to drop off kayaks and people, then driving two vehicles to SF to leave one for the take-out, and then one back to GL, you will have to drive back to GL to retrieve the other vehicle. That's roughly three hours of driving on gravel road, not including the time it took to get there.

I wrote this post to help make planning this trip as easy as possible for you. There's a lot to consider and a lot of driving involved, but the experience is definitely worth the time invested. Godspeed and may the force be with you!

Stay Tuned! I will be writing more posts about this paddle trail. We've also twice paddled from Staplefork Landing to Blue Lake Landing. I will write about that adventure soon!

Until next time.

Carpe diem, my friend!

Melissa Anne

Driftwood Hunting on the Magnolia River

Just before sunrise is my favorite time to be out in nature. The air is crisp, the birds sing their morning songs, pastel colors paint the horizon of a new day. I breathe in the sweet smells of dew covered leaves, and my heart is full of gratitude.

If you don't already know, I'm a little obsessed with driftwood. I love finding interesting new pieces, taking them home, cleaning them up, and creating driftwood art. My husband also enjoys finding driftwood. I feel like there's a primitive pleasure of hunting and gathering that motivates him. There may also be a little bit of that in me, too -- my heart pitter-patters every time he finds a big chunk of briny, smelly, soppy driftwood and presents it to me.

We do most of our driftwood hunting on beaches and shorelines. Since our beaches have closed temporarily, due to the coronavirus, our hunting grounds have dwindled, so we've been putting a little bit of extra effort into finding driftwood while kayaking.

We went kayaking on the Magnolia River a few days ago, and discovered a big, beautiful piece of driftwood floating on the water. It was snagged between a few branches. We poked and tumbled it with our paddles before my husband fished it out of the water; though, I was nervous watching him grabbing for it with his hands. I would have preferred for him to use his grabber, but he assures me that he could see that there weren't any critters hanging around.

What a gorgeous piece of driftwood, but phew, it was stinky! We wrapped it up in my windshield protector and stuck it in the hatchback of my smallish SUV, but we had to keep the windows wide open the whole ride home. It smelled like a bunch of wet towels in a musty basement once confined in my car. It's currently airing out in our backyard. Later this week, I'm going to power wash and scrub all of the slime and muck off of it, then I'll give it a good soak in a tub of bleach (if we can find any). After it's bleached, I'll let it dry for a very long time, months probably, out on our back patio porch, before using it to create driftwood art.

Be well my friend, and until next time, carpe diem!

Melissa Anne

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." ~ Mother Julian

Video of the sunrise photo from the top of this post ---> @melissaannestudio