Forests of the Far South; 2010 Trip Information
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Registration Fee for Event. Total cost of the program is as follows: $1100/person shared lodging with partner; and $1325 for a private room. If you would like to register for a shared room but do not have a partner to share your room with, please register for a private room but tell us that you want us to look for someone to share you room with. We will post your request and look for another registrant of your same gender. If we find one for you, we will lower your fee to the shared rate. People looking for partners: So far, we have one woman registered who is looking to share a room with another single woman registrant. If you are interested, just register for as a single person searching for a shared double, and we will automatically match you up. Cancellation Policy If you are registering before January 12th, a $300.00 deposit/person will hold each reservation. Full payment is due after that time. Sorry, there is no guarantee of refunds for cancellations after January 12th. Please try to find someone to fill your place. Registration includes: Seven nights lodging, six full days plus one evening of curriculum as described in the itinerary. We provide all curriculum costs, admission fees, canoe rental fees, and all lunches. Lunches will be packed and carried with us, allowing us to spend the maximum time possible in the field. Hotel breakfasts are provided for 5 of the 7 mornings. Consider bringing a small cooler to accommodate easy self-made breakfasts for the other two mornings, packing such items as cereal and juice, or whatever works for you to start off the day. Likely there will not be time to sit down and have a formal restuaruant breakfast.
Please plan for the following expenses in addition to your registration cost:
Two
breakfasts and all dinners. All transportation costs including
vehicle and gasoline to and from the hub, as well as throughout the event. Each
participant should plan to drive their own car to meet us in Thomasville, GA or rent one
locally at the Tallahassee airport. Please make your own travel arrangements. We
will alert participants for opportunities to share vehicles to various field
trip destinations, and will facilitate sharing for all those who are interested
in keeping their transport costs down. We will be traveling an average of an
hour in the mornings to the day's sites. Motels.For much of the course we will be traveling through rural Florida, way off the beaten tourist path, with the modest facilities you would expect to find in such places. There are exceptions, such as at Wakulla and St. Joe, when we will overlap the tourist route and have lovely, memorable accommodations. But for most of the trip please expect simple, unadorned hotels rooms. In at least one or two cases, we are renting the only hotel in town! Camping. We will be on the road every single day, with considerable driving time required Therefore driving additonal distances to try to find campgrounds is not very feasible. We do not offer camping as an arranged option on this trip. Meals. Dinners will be usually be shared together at specially chosen restaurants where you can order off the menu to suit your personal preferences. The meals will be MEMORABLE. One of Bruce Means many interests is gastronomic. Having done decades of field work Northern Florida, he is a walking guide to "the best eating places along the back roads of Florida!" When we planned this trip he became as excited talking about the food as he did the salamanders! We hope you like seafood, because it will be featured during the week. All lunches are provided. We can easily cater to vegetarian needs for lunches, and regardless of your preferences, lunches will emphasize fresh fruit and vegetables -- as much as our back-road groceries allow. However, vegetarian entrees will be hard to find in this area, so if you are a strict vegetarian, please come prepared.
Insects. This time of
the year, we do not expect severe insects but there can be some
mosquitoes, depending on the recent weather conditions. It would be wise to pack
insect spray in case you need it.
Things to Bring.
Bring informal outdoor
clothing for both wet and dry weather. Sunscreen and a light-weight broad-banded
hat to cover your head. Hiking boots and at least one pair of lighter shoes you
can walk in. Daily change of socks. Casual shoes and casual wear f Other Folks Joining Us On This Trip:
The Person who inspired this trip.
Carol Kay was the organizer of our
first Panhandle Trip in 2009 and the driving force behind the trip scheduled for
2010. Carol rediscovered the beauty of her native home when she returned to Ohio
after having lived many years in Canada. Explorations
Nancy Stranahan, Founder of the Appalachian Forest School
Questions? Call the Arc of Appalachia Field Trip Coordinator, Director Nancy Stranahan at 937-365-0101, or write her at director@arcofappalachia.org.
Connecting is the
first step in saving the forest.
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of Ohio’s Buckeye Trail (state-wide hiking path) led her to southern Ohio and the Arc of Appalachia
Preserve System. Here she was smitten by the wildflowers and temple-like serenity of the
Rocky
Fork Gorge and its surrounds at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary, the Arc's
largest preserve. Soon she found herself volunteering as a naturalist -- storytelling to
groups about the region's sublime natural history and serving on the Arc's Board
of Directors.
In 2003, she took action on fulfilling a lifelong dream
to live in Florida, where she completed her college degree in American Studies
with a focus on the Environment at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. Joining the
Sierra Club in Florida ignited a desire to explore and photograph Florida’s wild beauty.
Her passion to mix conservation and community led her to volunteer with the
Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings (ICO) Group in Tampa Bay. This group guides
inner city youth into their powerful first experiences into wilderness – hiking
trails, pitching tents, paddling mysterious waterways, and participating in
service projects. Here is a link to see Carol Kay's extensive photos from the
2009 trip:
Nancy
Stranahan is a Director of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System, as
well as one of its original founders. The Arc's mission is to
acquire and reunite broken fragments of natural landscape in
order to preserve the natural biodiversity of the temperate
broadleaf forest. Today the Arc manages twelve separate
preserves and over 4000 acres of land in a five county region of
southern Ohio. The Arc also manages three visitor centers, one
being its headquarters at The Highlands Nature Sanctuary, where
the public may hike fourteen trails, stay overnight in one of
four lodges, or visit the Appalachian Forest Museum. When the
Museum is completed in 2011, the Museum will be the first in the
world to concentrate on teaching the world significance
of the world's most disturbed biome -- the temperate broadleaf
forest. 
