Episode Guest
MiKayla Spencer, Park Manager
General Coffee State Park (Georgia)
Park Stats
- Location: Nicholls, Georgia
- Date created: Donated to the state by Coffee County in 1970
- Park size: 1,511 Acres
- Interesting Facts:
- Names for General John Coffee – a planter, US Congressman, and military leader
- Celebrates southern agricultural history with goats, sheep, pigs, corn crib, tobacco barn, cane mill, and more
- Home to endangered species – pitcher plant, Shy Indigo snakes, Gopher Tortoises
Speed Round
What is your earliest park memory?
My parents made sure we got to experience parks, and it was really Georgia State Park heavy. So camping at places like George T Bagby, High Falls, FDR, Little White House. And I grew up right outside of Reed Bingham, so swimming in Reed Bingham and gonna Reed Bingham every week was a big part of my childhood.
What made you love the parks?
I think just that the memories that I had, and wanting to be able to know that I can keep those resources available for other kids as they grow up.
What is your favorite thing about General Coffee State Park?
I think it’s a hidden kind of gem. I. That it is really diverse and offers a lot more. Once people get here, they really understand and see how much there is to offer.
What is your favorite thing to do at General Coffee State Park?
I think fish. We stock our pond and it’s always a good time to fish here. And the animals are a huge. Plus for me in managing this park, the reptiles. Snakes are one of my favorite animals to teach on.
What park have you yet to visit but is on your bucket list and why?
I’m ashamed to say it, but I haven’t been to Cloudland Canyon yet. That’s a Georgia State Park that I really need to go to. And then Yosemite. I’d like to go there and experience that.
What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
I know I always forget my lighter to make the campfire, so that is one. Water bottle, ’cause please stay hydrated. And then usually if you’re in South Georgia, probably some bug spray and/or sunscreen.
What is your favorite campfire activity?
It’s making the fire. I really enjoy making the fire and keeping it going. I like that I’m given that task.
Tent, camper, or cabin?
I really like to stay in yurts. I think that’s a good like midway point, but then cabin and tent are a close second.
Hiking with or without trekking poles?
I think it really depends. I don’t want to be so over prepared for a mile and a half hike, but if I were to do a strenuous hike, I think trekking pole are a good thing to have.
And what is your favorite trail snack?
Jerky and shelled pistachios
What is the favorite animal sighting that you’ve had?
I think any kind of snake. I love snakes. And woodpeckers, water birds, and birds of prey are some really cool things I think to see. And you can see those all here.
What is your favorite sound in the parks?
I really like when we’ve got a really good crowd here. You can really hear the visitors chatter and really enjoying their time at the park. When it’s a quiet day, the birds that you have the chance to see hear.
What is the greatest gift the parks give to us?
I think the fact that it’s a space dedicated to our resources. It means that other generations will be able to experience them for years to come, and they’re protected because of that reason.
Transcript
Celebrating our rich agricultural history. This Southern State Park will take you back with its historical charm and diverse recreation. Join me as we explore General Coffee State Park. I’m your host, Missy Rentz, and this is the Park’s podcast.
Missy Rentz:
Today we are so lucky to have Mikayla Spencer, who is the park manager at General Coffee State Park in Georgia with us today on the podcast. Mikayla, welcome to the Parks podcast. I.
MiKayla:
Thank you for having me.
Missy Rentz:
So we start every episode with some park stats, so let’s just get into it. This park is located in Nichols, Georgia. It was donated to the state by Coffee County in 1970. The park is 1,511 acres and some interesting facts. It was named for General John Coffey, who was a planter, a congressman, and a military leader. It celebrates the park, celebrates the southern agriculture history with goats and sheep, pigs, a corn crib, a tobacco barn, and so much more. And it’s home to several endangered species, including the pitcher plant, the shy indigo snake and the gopher tortoise. And I have to say, I hunted and hunted to see a gopher tortoise and never got to see one. But this is a great park.
MiKayla:
Yeah. And when it comes to the Gopher tour too. That’s something I’ll talk about when we talk about planning your trip, the gopher tortoise, more, they’ll start to come out whenever it starts to really warm up. When we get to springtime and summer, like right now, they’re everywhere.
Missy Rentz:
Oh, I just missed it then.
MiKayla:
yeah. Yeah.
Missy Rentz:
So
MiKayla:
to come back.
Missy Rentz:
I will and I will though for sure. Okay, so there are so many parks in Georgia and they’re all great and they’re all very diverse. This is one of’em that really celebrates a different part of culture and and shares a little bit more of the history of what was happening there in, in that area. Can you tell us a little bit of the history of General Coffee State Park?
MiKayla:
Yeah, I think that there’s a. There’s so many things, like you said, even just not all our parks, but their parks themselves are so diverse. We have so much to offer here and I think that’s a really cool thing about our parks. As you said, it was donated in 1970 and I think that was a big testament to how the community feels about this park. And the reason for them donating that land is the community wanted a park, that still shows through today. We still have a lot of community involvement and people really seeing this as their park. We have the Chamber of Commerce, local organizations the City of Douglas, DOT, our friends group. We have an impeccable friends group. They support us in so many ways and we have, experienced a lot of that with Hurricane Helene, some of that relief, we wouldn’t have been able to make it without some of those organizations really stepping in and helping us out. And I think that’s, like I said, a testament to how the community feels. So when it comes to the namesake of the park, it’s John Coffee and it’s of course Coffee County. So it’s also John Coffee is named after the same guy. So there’s two John Coffees. When people look them up, they get confused. There’s John E Coffee, which is ours, and then there’s his cousin, John R Coffee. John R Coffee was part of the Tennessee militia. Our John Coffee was part of the Georgia state militia. And then he was part of the Georgia Senate and then he was part of US Congress. And the interesting thing about John Coffee in his time with Congress is he was actually reelected. 1836, but he was reelected after his death because they didn’t hear Yeah, they didn’t hear about his death until after his reelection. So he was already, he had already passed, but he was reelected. So that’s interesting.
Missy Rentz:
It is.
MiKayla:
So the reason that he’s got the namesakes here in Georgia. He really oversaw the construction of what’s now Old Coffee Road, but it served as a supply road from Jacksonville, Georgia, down to Florida. So that’s where we get that namesake of him being for the county and the park itself,
Missy Rentz:
For this wasn’t his farm.
MiKayla:
no, the likelihood of him ever being here, it is slim. It’s more of a just a namesake for the things that he accomplished while.
Missy Rentz:
Okay.
MiKayla:
And part of the Georgia Senate and Georgia militia,
Missy Rentz:
Got it. And then but he was he was a proponent of agriculture in the state.
MiKayla:
correct? Yeah. Big proponent of agriculture. And our farm kind of covers mid 18 hundreds to late 18 hundreds. Agriculture. The farm itself has several elements to represent several different things during life and agricultural life of that timeframe. So we have historical structures like the Meeks Cabin, which was actually a cabin in Coffee County that was moved here. We had the Kirkland Tobacco Barn, that’s another one. That was a local tobacco barn. Moved here. We had the Han Cabin, which was a another local cabin that was moved here. Then we have reconstructed buildings to offer a glimpse into how those things were done. So like our smokehouse, our blacksmith shop, our corn crib, we have turpentine implements on display and that a really huge industry here, turpentine. If you go through the park, I don’t know if you noticed while you were here, but all the, or a lot of the pine trees, you’ll see cut scarring in it. Yeah. So that’s from turpentine. So that’s a relic and a remnant of the past history here of naval stores and turpentine.
Missy Rentz:
Oh, that’s fascinating and I love it.’cause it is like a a representation of that time that you’ve pulled together
MiKayla:
Yeah,
Missy Rentz:
into the. Yes. Yes. And okay I wanna get into that in the planning of the park, but first I also wanna talk about, you all were hit very hard by Hurricane Helene. And when I was there, it was shortly after you opened. Partial partially open so I could stay in the campground. I did the, I did a couple of the trails that that were open at the time, and certainly this historic area was open, but it was it was really sad to see what the hurricane did to the park and the community.
MiKayla:
And there’s still some things that we are, we’re recovering from the trails being one of them. We are thankful to have one trail open and that’s definitely continuing process and we plan to have them back opening and fully operational. But we closed. For evacuation the day before the hurricane, and then we partially opened June 31st. So that’s the campground where we opened, and then the farm itself. And then we’ve been slowly opening things as it goes along. But in that community support, like I was saying, there was so many people that really came together to help, including like our sister divisions, such as like wildlife resources, our leadership. Was instrumental in making sure that we could get back open. We had my staff man, they worked themselves to get us in a good spot and they’re continually trying to catch us up. So it took a lot of hands and a lot of people putting in a lot of work to help us out.
Missy Rentz:
And it does. I, when I went, it’s still super enjoyable. You just really do notice that there are parts of it that are still a work in progress. And I wanna get into the history, but I wanna do it through the planning a trip to the
MiKayla:
Yeah.
Missy Rentz:
So as we plan. This park is I calculated it’s about two to two and a half hours from the coast just to give people like, visually, where are you in the park? And Georgia is so fascinating because you have mountains and you have ocean, and you have everything in between. And so this kind of, this is far from the mountains, it’s inching towards the coast. What do you recommend people do to start planning a trip?
MiKayla:
So for us, so our section of the state, like you’re saying, we have the mountains and we have our coastal region, and then we’re. The Wiregrass region and that’s plays into where we’re talking about the gopher tortoise. That’s their habitat is the wiregrass region where we’re located and it plays into what agricultural life looked like at that time as well. So all of it’s really wiregrass region history. So my view on planning a trip to a park, all about planning what time you want to go. It always to me goes back to time. So like you wanted to see a gopher tortoise, if that is your plan, you wanna see a gopher tortoise, you need to make sure that you’re going in a warmer month around, spring, summertime. So in that it also, because it’s Georgia and we have such variable weather, it also means that you know what supplies you need to bring. So you’re looking at what you wanna do and what supplies you need to bring, and all that’s dependent on time. So I think the biggest thing is deciding. What time of year you wanna go and for Georgia State Park especially, is making sure that you plan ahead so that you can get a reservation. Because sometimes on the weekends it’s hard to get in, so you need to make sure you know when you want to go.
Missy Rentz:
That even starts in the springtime.’cause it’s so beautiful that I went in the spring and it was so beautiful and it was packed.
MiKayla:
yes. Yeah it’s a little bit more warm here in the summertime. So we really see our heaviest visitation being around the holidays and springtime, especially spring break.
Missy Rentz:
Okay.
MiKayla:
So those are really big times and for us personally, if you wanna visit our park, knowing our events is another, goes back to that time thing, is knowing what event you might wanna attend. So we’ve got several that we do every year. We do in the springtime, a turpentine festival and Pioneer Skills Day turpentine, of course, surrounding that naval stores industry that was here. Then pioneer skills on that particular one. We focus in on goods that were made sheep shearing of the time.’cause we have sheep on the farm, what that wool was used for and how they really made things and survived. So then if you wanna look more in like wintertime kind of thing or fall time. Then we have our kids carnival in October. We have games and things for the kids to play. It’s really centered on our younger visitors. Then we have fried on the Farm, which is our Halloween event. We have our 45th Pioneer Harvest Festival that’s really centered on cane syrup, and we actually make cane syrup on sites and teach that. And it’s another one where we can teach those old ways of how things were produced and how we’d usually have like candle making, soap making. We usually have, they usually, like I say, cook syrup. We have plants that are planted in the garden. We’ve got anything you can think of, we’ve probably got, we got broom making. We try to make corn hu dolls with the kids. So any, yeah, anything you can think of that’s kinda like that, either domestic or agriculture, how they did it during that timeframe that we try to represent in the wiregrass region. That’s a big event for that. And like I said, it’s the 45th coming up, so that’s gonna be on November 8th. This coming year? And then we usually do a Christmas on the farm as well,
Missy Rentz:
I, i’m looking at parks all the time, and I think it was the agricultural appeal for this one, for me because it was so different and you all do a really good job of that recreation. And while I don’t know that the buildings were really as close as they are in the recreation space, I got a sense of this is what this is where somebody would live and this is what their barn would look like. And I, oh, and then the chicken coop and, the rooster calls and, just really set the stage for showing what was life like. On the, as I go back to my air conditioned rv,
MiKayla:
Right.
Missy Rentz:
That was tough. It was a tough life for them. And so when we, when you’re coming, you have actually have lots of options for how to
MiKayla:
Mm-hmm.
Missy Rentz:
Camping cottage, the Burnham house. Let’s start with camping and what you can do from a camping perspective There.
MiKayla:
So we have 50 standard campsites, which you can either camp with RV or tents. They’re all electric and water. And then we have two pioneer sites. Those are no electricity, so you’re doing more of a traditional kind of camping trip on those. And then we have our cottages. So we have four standard cottages. Then we have our Hawk’s Nest, which is like a smaller kind of tiny house situation. And then our Burnham cottage. And that one is actually, like I said, a historic structure that was moved here on site. So you can stay in something that get an idea of what it would be like inside of it. Now it is a very large cabin compared to our meets cabin. It’s not, typical of a smaller, what you would see in this county kind of cabin. It’s two story but it is. Historic And moved here.
Missy Rentz:
It’s really beautiful. It feels like a special occasion type of.
MiKayla:
Yeah.
Missy Rentz:
I also wanna go back because the camping you talked about a little bit about what’s on the tent, but you also have really great facilities as far as, you’ve got this great bathhouse, there’s great laundry facilities that I was very grateful for on the site, so it’s it’s a really. Nice, equipped campground for you. Also the way it’s situated, there was like a playground in between the two Camp Lakes and, so it was a great place for kids were running around constantly and it was a really how do people book either campsites or cottages or the Burnham house.
MiKayla:
So GA state parks.org/general Coffee is our specific site and there’s a blue button that says reservation, so you can easily do it online through Reserve America. But GA state parks.org/general coffee for reservations, there’s a blue reservation button. You ever have any questions or anything? Staff is here in the office. Our office is open seven days a week, eight to five, and We’re definitely ready for your questions and help any way we can here on site itself.
Missy Rentz:
super helpful. I had to do that and you can get all of that information on the website which is great. When they come to visit, we’ve talked a little bit about the agricultural part and I wanna talk more about it, but there’s also things that you can do that you would expect in a park hiking and things like that. Let’s talk a little bit about what people can do when they come to visit.
MiKayla:
Yeah, I think, and that’s. Another part of the charm for us. Like I said, the whole park itself has so much diversity in what it offers. I think it’s a hidden kind of thing for South Georgia that you don’t really, until you get here, you don’t realize it’s such a large park with so many different things. So we do boat rentals. We have a four acre pond on site, and we do pedal boats, canoes, kayaks, bicycles offer rent. We do it through the office. We have our trails of course. Now only one of’em is open, but we are working to make sure the rest of’em get open and that really offers some cool wildlife opportunities. Biggest one being the go for tortoise, of course, but really birding too, especially whenever we’re able to get those trails closer to the 17 mile river. The 17 Mile River does go through our park. But it’s more of a ephemeral kind of situation. It’s not full of water year round. Sometimes you might be able to walk across it and sometimes you, it might be, waist deep. So it’s really dependent upon rainfall and such as that. So it’s more of a birding nature opportunity than it is anything for paddling or anything like that.
Missy Rentz:
But on the lake man, there were so many people out paddle boating and you had, I think, I think you had like canoes and kayaks and all sorts of options. And then can people also bring their own if they want?
MiKayla:
Yeah, absolutely. And the fishing around the pond is also really good, especially if you’re wanting to catch catfish. We actually stalk catfish and everything too there, there’s plenty of opportunity to catch something in our pond
Missy Rentz:
Yeah. It looked like so much fun. There’s times I wish I had my kayak with me and that was one of’em, but my dog does not like the water as much as.
MiKayla:
that’s understandable. We we also have picnic shelters. So we have seven picnic shelters and those get used pretty heavily and frequently and they can be rented out, parties, family reunions, things like that. And if you have a larger group, we also have our group shelter that people use for things like weddings. Family reunions, birthday parties, graduation, you name it.
Missy Rentz:
And then you guys have an equestrian trail, correct?
MiKayla:
We do have equestrian trails and that’s part of that system that we really wanna get back up and going, and we’re definitely gonna put a lot of effort into it to get it where we can have it to be at that resource again, that it was before.
Missy Rentz:
And I will say your website is excellent at updating on what’s open and what’s not. So I think as you’re planning, and I think this goes, whether someone’s, a park recovering from a hurricane or just in general, it’s always good to look and see what is happening on the park website because there are alerts so that you. You go and you’re not surprised by closures or, programming opportunities and things like that. So you guys do a great job of it. When you go, when we talk about the agricultural, historical part, so you’re driving down the park road and then you make a right and you have the massive lake and there’s picnic tables, and then just off to the side is this area that. Has the historic places, can we just do a verbal tour of what can people see when they’re there?
MiKayla:
Yeah, absolutely. So you painted a really great picture. It’s cool that it’s one of the first things you do see when you drive in and it’s down to the right and you see the larger expanse of what it is. But once you get to the actual farm, the entrance on your left, you have our Han building. So in our Han Museum, nature Center building. We actually have our reptiles and Vivians, so we have snakes, turtles, a salamander. His name’s Tony the tiger salamander. That, that became a kid thing to call him that. But they kinda get less attention, I think because it’s like the farm and the farm animals. But in the building we do have those really cool opportunities for animals that are also native to the area. And then we have some more stuff that we can’t necessarily keep outside. That’s. More representative of agricultural life and domestic life and things like that. We have quilts on display in there, and we actually sell quilts here in the office. So we have a quilting group that’s through our friends group that comes every Wednesday. They do a quilting circle, and then after they finish those quilts, we actually sell them here in the office and they do it by hand. So we also have older antique quilts on display in the rail of hand building. And then of course on the rights, the Meeks building that, we are talking about, that cabin is a historic structure. It was here in Coffee County, moved here, and that we really get to utilize for living history programs, whether it’s a cooking program, broom making, just what daily life would’ve looked like. That’s what that building really offers a great opportunity and the history for the area itself. Behind that, we have our garden and our smokehouse, and it gives a representation of food sources and how those things would’ve been managed. Then you come up to the left and we have our chicken coop, and we’re really trying to work on representing the breeds that would’ve been indicative of that time. So as you get in further, that’s when you get into our animal enclosures, where you have our sheep and our goats. And our sheep are actually one of those species, it’s Gulf Coast sheep. So they’re more indicative of what would’ve actually been in the area at the time. We actually just got two brand new pigs. I don’t think those were here when you were here. Yeah, so we have two brand new pigs. They’re new additions for us. We’re excited to have them on site. We have an event we’re planning in the fall to really introduce them. And then of course we have pepper Our horse that’s also here. So we have a wide representation of livestock here as well.
Missy Rentz:
I could have just sat and watched them all day. I went like early in the morning, so everybody was just waking up and they were just so funny to, to sit and I almost feel it felt like they knew they were on display. Like they, they put on a show for me, they were super funny, but I, it was great to see all the kids exploring it. And I feel like you all do a good job of kids things that, that are interesting for a child and the things that are interesting for an adult in there. And so that’s a lot of the historical side of it. And then from a recreation, we talked a little bit about the boat boating and hiking, but biking. People were biking throughout the park. It feels like a very safe park road. People are very kind to the bikers and so there were those sorts of things. There’s just a lot to do in this park. Can you talk, we’ve talked about the tortoise’cause that’s what I was looking for. Can you talk a little bit about the pitcher plant and the shy indigo snakes?
MiKayla:
Yeah, so the picture plant, we actually have picture plants in our bog. So that’s actually another aspect to our farm. Next to our reli hand building where we have the reptiles and everything. There’s a bog that we try to manage through burns or moving species that shouldn’t be there. And then within that we’re trying to make it where you can really see the picture plants and they have a place to thrive in that wetland area. So we, that opportunity where we offer another sighting of something you might not see every day and the indigo snakes. So something to go hand in hand with the gopher tortoise with the indigo snake is a gopher tortoise is what’s considered a keystone species. So there are other commensal species that depend. On the Gopher Tortoise and Indigo Snake is one of those when it comes to living in their burrow. So that’s where gopher tortoises live. They dig their burrows and they live underground. There’s other species that seek shelter in those areas. So that’s why it’s so important that we manage here for the Gopher Tortoise so that we don’t lose other species. Like in Indigo Snake, that’s one. The indigo snake is a protected species. That’s one reason that we have that is because we have to manage for the Gopher Tortoise to make sure we have. In the future?
Missy Rentz:
It is fascinating the more I learn, the more parks I talk to about how much work and how much thought goes into the conservation of the endangered species and how important that, one of the programs that you all offer on your website is geocaching. Can you tell us about that program? I’m fascinated by it.
MiKayla:
Yeah. So if you’re not familiar with Geocaching, there’s the Geocaching website. You sign up. It’s free. Of course you can do add-ons and everything, but it’s free to use the site and to do geocaching itself, create an account. And if you’re looking for general coffee itself, you just look at geocaches near the area. We actually have eight caches listed on site. We’ve had to do some redos after the hurricane to really make sure we have a good number on site. But the thing and the purpose about this cache is you get your coordinates from the geocashing website and you might get some hints. Some people do. Clues and riddles and things like that to make it really fun and involved. To find the cash, you find the cash and usually there’s a log book. You sign your name to show that you found the cash and if it’s a large one, usually there’s a box full of things and you can take one out and leave something, whether it’s a coin. A lot of people leave coins that have their name and everything on it. You take theirs and leave yours. But it’s really just to show where you’ve been and have a cool experience and really get to go around that area. And like I said, we have eight on site and then we plan to add and have more as we get our trails and everything back online. So
Missy Rentz:
I love the kind of the gamification of it to maybe look and find things that you wouldn’t otherwise see. I think it’s really a neat idea to
MiKayla:
I think it really makes you. Spend a lot of time in one area and take your time in that area to see what’s around than you might have before just walking past it.
Missy Rentz:
Ah, that’s a great idea. I find that sometimes I’m in a, I’m like rushing through, through seeing things, the park, and it’s, I also love junior Ranger programs for that because it, adults can do those too sometimes, and. Geocaching is a great idea. Is there anything else about the park that we wanna make sure visitors know as they’re planning a trip? I. As you’re thinking, I do wanna say that where it’s located, it’s great because there’s a, there’s the ability to quickly go to a general store or something for supplies. And the the visitor center has some great supplies. So if you’re camping and you forgot your marshmallow sticks or whatever the case may be, there’s a lot that you can do and get right there, which is really handy.
MiKayla:
I think that goes back into what we were talking about before when it comes to our website and everything, like really preparing. To go to the area and the park that you’re going to, one, checking any updates, like you said on the park website and what might be going on, but also locally, how far is your park from the nearest larger town that has grocery stores and ways to get supplies and what other places are nearby to experience other new things. So for us, like you said, we’re two and a half hours from the Georgia Coast. Then we also are 45 minutes from Waycross, which is one of the entrances to the Oki Foc Swamp. So there’s another addition to a trip if you’re really trying to make a big trip out of it. And there are local events that happen in Douglas in October. They have their Gopher Tortoise Festival. So if you’re really planning for a time of year, like I said, to me, it always goes back to time. If you’re planning for a time of year, you can look at what’s going on in local places. South Georgia always has some kind of festival going on, especially in the fall and spring.
Missy Rentz:
Yes, and it’s, it, there’s so much to do there. So even, if you go and spend a couple of days at General Coffee and you’ve soaked up all of that, there’s a ton of things right within s throat from it. As we wrap up every episode, we do a speed round of questions, and I’d love do this with you. Just let, just say what first comes to mind.
MiKayla:
Now I am a super indecisive individual, so there’ll probably be like three answers.
Missy Rentz:
Got it. You’re okay. That’s okay. What is your earliest memory?
MiKayla:
So my parents made sure we got to experience parks and it was really Georgia State Park heavy. So camping at places like George t Bagby, the Yurts at High Falls, FDR, little White House. And I grew up right outside of re Bingham, so swimming in Reed Bingham and gonna Reed Bingham every week was a big part of my childhood.
Missy Rentz:
And what made you love the parks?
MiKayla:
I think just that the memories that I had and wanting to be able to know that I can keep those resources available for other kids as they grow up.
Missy Rentz:
And what’s your favorite thing about General Coffee State Park?
MiKayla:
I think it’s a hidden kind of gym. I. That really is diverse and offers a lot more. And once people get here, they really understand and see how much there is to offer.
Missy Rentz:
What’s your favorite thing to do at General? Coffee State Park.
MiKayla:
I think fish is one of, like I said, we have, we stalk our pond and it’s always a good time to fish here. And the animals are a huge. Plus for me in managing this park, especially the reptiles I really enjoy, snakes are one of my favorite animals to, to teach on.
Missy Rentz:
What park have you yet to visit, but it’s on your bucket list and why?
MiKayla:
I’m ashamed to say it, but I haven’t been to Cloudland Canyon yet. That’s a Georgia State Park that I really need to go to. And then Yosemite, I’d like to go there and experience that.
Missy Rentz:
What are three must haves you pack for a park visit?
MiKayla:
I know I always forget my stinking lighter to make the campfire every time I always forget it. So that is one that I always try to make sure a water bottle,’cause please stay hydrated. And then usually if you’re in South Georgia, probably some bug spray. Indoor sunscreen.
Missy Rentz:
What’s your favorite campfire activity?
MiKayla:
It falls on me anyway, but I really enjoy it. It’s making the fire. I really enjoy making the fire and keeping it going. I like that. I’m given that task
Missy Rentz:
Tent, camper or cabin.
MiKayla:
really. I really like to stay in Gurts. I think that’s a good like midway point, but then cabin intent or a close second.
Missy Rentz:
And when you hike, are you going with or without trekking poles?
MiKayla:
I think it really depends. I don’t want to be so over prepared for a mile and a half hike, but if I were to do a strenuous hike, I think trekking pole are a good thing to have
Missy Rentz:
What is your favorite trail snack?
MiKayla:
jerky and then shelled pistachios so we can practice our leave. No trace with
Missy Rentz:
Oh, yes you can. What is your favorite animal sighting?
MiKayla:
I think any kind of snake, a love, snakes, ated, woodpeckers, water birds, and birds of prey are some really cool things I think to see. And you can see those all here. So
Missy Rentz:
What’s your favorite sound in a park?
MiKayla:
I really like when we’ve got. A really good crowd here and you can really hear the visitors chatter and really enjoying their time at the park. And I think when it’s a quiet day, the birds that you have the chance to see here,
Missy Rentz:
What do you think the greatest gift that Parks give to us is?
MiKayla:
I think the fact that it’s a space dedicated to our resources where I. It means that other generations will be able to experience them for years to come, and they’re protected because of that reason.
Missy Rentz:
I love that you said two things that really I think, resonate so deeply with me about general coffee. You said that it was charming and you talked about it being a hidden gem, and I agree with you. It was such a pleasure to visit and spend some time in the park, and I’m grateful to you for joining us to talk about the park and sharing its stories.
MiKayla:
I appreciate you having me.
Missy Rentz:
That’s all for today’s episode. Until next time, we’ll see you in the parks.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please be sure to like and share on your favorite podcast platform. Music for the parks podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. For more information, please follow us on Instagram at the parks podcast. Or visit our website@theparkspodcast.com.