Camping in Cutie RV: Newport Campground, Crawfordville, Florida

We arrived at the Newport Campground which we had passed by many times which is right across from entrance to St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and a short drive to Wakulla Springs. We set up camp and enjoyed happy hour as we were right next to another birder camping in a tent. We cooked dinner out and ate inside as the temperature was dropping close to freezing.

Leaving St. Joseph at sunrise

Cooper's Hawk at the boat ramp

Kingfisher on the rail

Roosting turkey vultures

Bufflehead duck

Racing kayaks heading out

Rare hummer

Monarch butterflies loving the bottlebrush tree

Another rare hummer

At the St. Marks Welcome Center

Observation deck at Newport Campground

Our campsite next to the birder tenter

We took a shower at the campground before cooking breakfast and taking our coffee to go when we headed over to the Welcome Center to meet the Bay County Audubon group leader Pam. We birded around the welcome center and then parked at the twin dikes parking area to walk out to look for several rare birds that had been spotted day before. We then stopped at Headquarters Pond and the observation overlook before going to the lighthouse. We walked out along the shore to get a closer look at all the shorebirds with the spotting scope. One last look at Headquarters Pond before we left the group heading to St. Marks to Cooter Stew for a burger and a beer. The rain started as we finished up eating outdoors and then we drove over to Wakulla Springs State Park, It was gray and rainy as we walked towards the boat docks at the springs and then walked back through the lodge restaurant and gift shop before heading back to the campground. The rain stopped for a bit and we hitched up ready to go in the morning. The group was going to go on the tour boat and each lunch at the lodge but the weather forecast looked miserable so we were glad to be headed up as we saw sleet and snow on the weather radar towards Valparaiso.