- Home
- About
- Canada
- US
- Destinations
- Adventures
- Guides
- Canada
- A Guide to Biking From Banff to Jasper, Alberta
- A Guide to Biking the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia
- A Biking Guide for Quebec’s Eastern Townships
- A Guide to Biking British Columbia’s Gulf Islands
- Niagara Area Bike and Wine Tour Guide
- A Guide to Visiting and Biking the Okanagan Valley in BC
- A Guide to Biking Prince Edward County, Ontario
- Vancouver Airport Layover Guide
- A Bike and Wine Tour Guide for Victoria to the Cowichan Valley
- US
- Europe
- South America
- Canada
- Book & Gear Reviews
- Travel Resources
- Contact
Cumberland Island: Home to Wild Horses & Snakes With Attitude
I hadn’t appreciated until last week that there were still wild horses in the US.
One of the scrawny looking horses we saw - notice the brown one lying down too
I knew about the wild horses on Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia. But it wasn’t until I got to Georgia – and more specifically, south Georgia that I discovered that Cumberland Island, one of Georgia’s pristine outer islands is still home to wild horses.
Wild horses on the pristine white sand beaches of Cumberland Island
Wild horses definitely couldn’t keep me away from Cumberland Island – though the snakes certainly could. In fact the wild horses, and the phenomenal, empty, clean, white sand beaches were a huge draw.
Check out just how skinny this horse is
I can’t say the same about the water mocassins – a poisonous snake with attitude as we discovered. It blended into the scenery and hung out right beside the path, just a few feet from where out friend Ted almost stepped. We tried to get it to move by throwing handfuls of leaves. It didn’t budge – and appeared to be annoyed if I can fancy myself a snake reader. Round two involved more leaves and a few light sticks. And with that, all four feet of it slithered away.
Locals tell us that this snake will actually come after you. Good to know.
A poisonous water moccasin - otherwise known as a cottonmouth
Back to the horses -
It’s interesting how our perception about seeing wild horses is so different from our encounters with farm dwelling horses. It’s really very exciting to see them in the wild and the only disappointment I felt was that they didn’t go thundering by in the surf as we ate our picnic lunch.
We saw the horses in three locations – on the beach in the distance, eating grass in the sand dunes and in the interior of the island. Judging by the amount of manure we saw, they must roam all over.
Our friends trying to get just a tad closer to the horses
These wild horses are protected by The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, in place since 1971. The wild horses are treated as an integral part of the natural system and since Cumberland Island is a National Seashore and part of the National Park Service, they are protected.
It was a real thrill to see the horses…and the snake. You’ll be hearing more about our fabulous trip via kayak to Cumberland Island.
Have you ever seen wild horses – and where was that??
Here is this week’s submission to Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox a website where Nanci offers a chance every Thursday for fellow travelers to post their favourite photos. And it’s been included on R We There Yet Mom?
Leigh McAdam
Vote for my article on WorldTravelist.com, sharing the best travel content on the web.
About Hike Bike TravelAvid world traveler. Craves adventure - & the odd wildly epic day. Gardener. Reader. Wine lover. Next big project - a book on 100 Canadian outdoor adventures.
View all posts by Hike Bike Travel →
46 Responses to Cumberland Island: Home to Wild Horses & Snakes With Attitude
Leave a Reply
About
I’ve been all over the world – to all continents but Antarctica and to a grand total of 53 countries. I’ve always got some sort of an adventure planned – even if it’s only a weekend. I thrive on change and travel provides that.
Feel free to email me at
leighmcadamtravels at gmail dot com
STAY CONNECTED
Food Recipes and Restaurants
Surprising Saskatoon: A City of Great Restaurants
TweetSaskatoon took me aback. I figured since it was a prairie city, seemingly in the middle of nowhere – that there would be a backwoods feel to the whole food scene. But was I ever wrong. Saskatoon is a city of great restaurants. Within an hour of landing I was enjoying a fantastic lunch at Souleio’s on [...]
Love that empty beach, Leigh! As much as I love it, the snakes would definitely keep me away.
Can’t say that I’ve never seen wild horses.
@InsideJourneys I admit to letting out a few screams on our two mile walk across the island as we heard other rustlings in the woods. Best in my mind not to know what those were.
And the empty beach was truly glorious.
Water Moccasins-Yikes!! I would love to see the wild horses, though. I was just learning about Little St. Simon Island-another barrier island-and they just moved all the wild horses off of their island. Maybe they ended up on Cumberland Island?
@Jessica I have also really wanted to go to Little St. Simon’s Island and in fact years ago had reservations that we had to cancel. I had no idea that they moved the wild horses off that island – and it does make you wonder if they ended up on Cumberland Island.
I’ve always heard great things about Cumberland Island and I’m glad your beautiful pictures showed them too. How wonderful to see those wild horses. Not too crazy about the snake and scary how much it blends in with the leaves. Love the last shot!
@Mary Stick to the beach Mary and you’d be fine. Interestingly you can either stay at Cumberland House – a very fine and expensive hotel or camp. Somehow the camping option in the south I find very unappealing with the thought of snakes out there.
With wild horses and poisonous snakes part of the fun, who would want to miss this little adventure?
@Michael And half the adventure which I haven’t blogged about yet was getting to and from Cumberland Island by kayak. Fantastic!!
I would love to see wild horses! What is it with you and all your snake encounters? You’re either really lucky (since you’ve never been bitten) or unlucky depending on how you look at it
@Laurel I’m going with lucky with regards to snake encounters since I’ve never been bitten. What is the saying that if you fear something, you attract it. That’s one of the reasons I try not to be fearful but man I am good at finding the one thing I can’t stand.
Such a beautiful place, I love wild horses
@Muza-chan It was gorgeous and so was the trip over there by kayak.
Wow! I’ve never seen wild horses before… and combining that sight with one of my favorite places, the beach, you can’t go wrong
Sounds like an amazing place!
@Sabrina The beach was truly outstanding – over 16 miles of deserted, clean and empty – except for horses – white sand beach.
Great post. I LOVE horses SO MUCH. And I HATE snakes SO MUCH!! Eeewww… that would seriously freaked me out. But seeing those horses would be worth it.
I have seen wild horses – I live in Western Colorado, and we have a nearby “Little Book Cliffs – Wild Horse Area”. They are sometimes hard to spot if you are only on foot (they can go pretty deep into the area), but on our 3rd hike there our 5 year old daughter spotted a group of 5 – including a foal. It was fantastic!
Nice blog – I’ll be back…
@ColoradoMountainMom I lived in Boulder for close to 10 years but never appreciated that there were horses in western Colorado – very interesting. Sounds like you’re living in a very special part of the world.
I would also love to see the wild horses but I have an extreme fear of snakes – not sure this would be the best place for me. A snake that comes after you is pretty much my worse nightmare!!
@Lisa I also have an extreme fear of snakes – and I scream a lot when I see them. But Cumberland Island is so worth visiting – and if you stayed on the beach and out of the woods the snakes wouldn’t be a problem.
Sabrina beat me to it, but yes, there are many areas in the west where there are wild horses and burros. Every once in a while the Bureau of Land Management has a round up and people can adopt them.(Because left alone they increase too rapidly for the land they can wander on) I’ve never seen them, but would love to go on one of those wild horse round ups.
@Vera I had no idea about the Bureau of Land Management policy. I wonder how hard it is to domesticate these wild horses. The round-u would be one heck of an experience.
Interesting. I’ve been along the coast a little south of Savannah, Georgia, but not to this place.
@Dick It is definitely one of Georgia’s unspoiled islands and worth even a day’s visit. You can pre-book a ferry and go back and forth in a day.
Poor horses
They looked so pitiful. But weren’t you afraid of the cottonmouth? They can really hide in the leaves can’t they? Yikes!
@Aleah I didn’t know it was a cottonmouth until after the fact – just as well.
Wild horses and white sand beaches — I love. Snakes — No! Well done getting that shot of the slithering monster.
I’ve never seen wild horses, but I’ve seen wild snakes! Does that count?
@Raymond Nope. You’ve got to go find yourself some wild horses!
oh my god how beautiful! I love horses
@Denise @Eileen Definitely one of the highlights of our trip – and despite the snakes I would highly recommend going.
Looks like a great day
How interesting! I love horses and would like to see these wild ones. Suddenly Georgia interests me. I’ve seen wild Przewalski’s horses in Ark of the North (in Sweden).
@Sophie There’s plenty of interest in Georgia and I bet you’d like at least a few days in Savannah too.
I love wild landscape as well as animals, except for snakes! I’m sure I’ll be upset and screamed louder than I could! Anyway Cumberland Island is so gorgeous… hope to go there one day and not to meet snakes with attitude!
@Goody Stick to the beaches and you’ll be fine.
Wild horses roam all over Nevada still too – it is so surprising when you see them, isn’t it?
We have tons of water moccasins here in Texas – they are EXTREMELY aggressive – run fast away!!
)
Thank you for the shout-out on the bottom of the post! I appreciate it!
Have a great Friday!
@Becca Seriously I am so glad I din’t know it was a water moccasin – or that they were aggressive. The way you capitalized EXTREMELY makes me realize how lucky we were that it did take off.
Wild horses are beautiful, but I always want to take them some food. I’m sure they’re doing fine, but I’d be the guy bringing bushels full of carrots along with him. Plus, if the horses didn’t want them, I’d have something else to throw at the snakes.
@Steve We were feeling more than a little sorry for the horses too. Nature can be very harsh judging by how skinny the horses were.
Thanks for linking up today – and yep – they are aggressive – they have chased our boats before on our lake – one tried to jump in our paddle boat before – I am terrified of them!!!!
@Becca Even more gald I didn’t actually know that at the time. Thanks for letting me on the terrifying habits of water mocassins.
Beautiful. Something about wild horses is mystical. You know, the horses in Brazil are skinnier than those above. I’m not a horse expert, but I would guess that these are thin but not unhealthy (or at least I would hope!).
So glad we experienced Cumberland Island! I think the horses are healthy although thin – i don’t think they could give birth to healthy foals without being aok. But what do I know I am not a horse person. Neither am I a snake person and boy can Leigh scream. What you forgot to mention was the little itty bitty hitchhikers we unknowingly picked up while we traversed the Island – I am still scratching – while Georgia has big snakes it also has little deer ticks! Which my province has too which is no big deal except we didn’t check after our hike until later…
@Jo I guess because none of the ticks landed on me, I totally forgot about them. If you do go to Cumberland Island absolutely check yourself and friends over for ticks!
Great photos. . .as with everyone else, I loved the horses and the snake not! We have rattlesnakes out in Eastern Washington where we love to hike. Nothing like a snake encounter to keep you awake and alert!
I have done reptile surveys and that is not a venomous snake, it is the most common snake in the southern US, the black racer (Coluber constrictor). Otherwise cool post.
@Corey Everything I’ve read online suggests otherwise; in fact it says they can deliver potentially fatal bites.