S.E.A.T.
The Southeastern Adventure Trail/Tour (SEAT), whichever terminology you prefer, is a 1600-1700 mile long off-road adventure that completes a “lap” of the state of Georgia. It enters the states of GA, FL, SC, AL, NC, and a route exists that enters TN as well. The original development and GPX files can be found here.
I personally rate this trail as “moderate” simply because of how deep some particular water crossings are. Some wagons and small SUVs might be at risk of allowing water into the cab in EXTREMELY wet conditions.
March 2019
Rigs: 2013 Chevrolet Silverado LS 4.8L
1999 Chevrolet Suburban 5.7L
2006 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport 4.0L
2006 Toyota Tacoma 4.0L
2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road 3.5L
For this expedition, we were all excited to be headed to warmer weather after spending many a night camping in below freezing temperatures. We aimed to tackle exactly 25% of the South Eastern Adventure Trail, a 450 mile section that connects Statesboro, GA to Carrabelle, FL. With lingering hurricane damage and three 2WD trucks, I had my worries about people getting stuck or even making it to the quiet little beach town at all.
Day 1
We all met at the Statesboro Wal-Mart the first morning to get extra walkie-talkies, ANOTHER last minute sleeping bag, and enough gallons of water to hold us through the “Florida heat”.
Image by TanyaAloisio
The roads in Georgia were generally very easy going. Everything was very dry, which means traction was perfect for everyone, whether they were running 2WD and highway tread or aggressive tread with 4WD. Unfortunately, this meant that everyone other than myself, up in front, got absolutely sand blasted. Their trucks were so dusty by the end of the day you’d think they had been sitting up for months.
About lunchtime, the SEAT took us directly by a little gem near Jesup, GA that none of us had ever heard of, which is surprising considering how much a few of the guys in the group love to fish. We passed Lake Lindsay Grace (pictured below), a 240 acre public lake, which are not exactly plentiful in coastal Georgia. There were boat ramps, restrooms, and covered picnic tables with charcoal grilles all over the place. As we pulled in we saw a good omen for the trip: a bald eagle flying over the lake. For some of us it was the first time seeing one in the wild. Before we knew it, everyone was out of their trucks casting a line or having a look around.
Even though I think a few of members wanted to set up camp and stay for weeks, we got back on the dirty roads headed for Florida. We cruised on through the logging tracks and the back-roads until the clay began to turn to sand. We came around a bend and entered a road with some considerably deep wheel ruts.
Any truck with 35 inch tires and a lift kit would’ve made this section seem like child’s play, and really most of the trucks handled it just fine and in 2WD. I don’t know if the others experienced what I did, but the ruts were deep enough and soft enough that I could drive through them with no hands on the wheel and avoid damage. When my wheel hit one side of the rut, it would keep the entire truck on the same track as whoever made the ruts, steering or not.
However the Suburban’s front splash guard hangs maybe 5 or 6 inches off of the ground. All I could see in my rear-view mirror was a “sand-plow”. The Chevy’s front end was so low it was quite literally plowing a path for its undercarriage with the plastic front guard. He began to back off slightly and immediately I heard someone on the radio yell, “do not stop! do not stop!”, seeing that he was spinning his tires a little and at risk of going down in some soft stuff.
We weren’t the only ones who had a bit of fun in the soft sand. As we rounded another corner we saw a logging truck who had been having so much fun that he was sideways in a ditch with a lumber trailer attached. For the next 10 minutes we watched another, larger logging machine attempt to perform a recovery.
It was truly very interesting watching these huge trucks try and push and pull to gain traction. One member of the group even jokingly radioed in and suggested I get out there with my 10,000 lb winch and give them a hand. But they soon figured it out and had the tractor trailer out of the ditch and on to the road.
Right as dusk began to hit, we crossed the St. Mary’s River on the GA/FL border and headed for camp.
Image by TanyaAloisio
We were headed for a dispersed hunt camp in the Osceola National Forest until we had to stop and check out a bog hole in the middle of the road. One friend brought his hunting and fishing waders and started to walk up and down the water hole, checking its feel and depth.
We determined it was deep but not too deep to cross. We also determined it was soft, but not too soft to cross. I could make it with a winch if I wasn’t able to drive it. Having a winch confirmed that anyone with a recovery point could make it through as well. The Suburban had no front recovery point, just a rear hitch. We opted to play it safe, avoid damage, and turned around to camp in a field we had passed and designated our backup campsite.
While we were turning around, one of the Tacoma’s went down in a ditch and couldn’t seem to hop out. After a quick snatch, he was out and rolling.
The field we camped in had a beautiful view of the sunset and a distant tree line. There were even some barely distinguishable dirt tracks through the field that the 2016 Tacoma and I had to check out. He briefly was stuck but simply turned his wheels from side to side, caught some traction, and out he went.
Day 2
On the way out the next morning, we decided to investigate the East Fire Tower that we passed on the way in. A few of us dared to climb the tower to see what we could see. I don’t believe any of us were surprised to learn that all we could see from the top were trees and a bunch of small trucks.
Image by TanyaAloisio
We then made our way through North Florida’s farm country. For most of the day we saw nothing but tractors, cattle, and cattle guards. By the end of the day we entered the Aucilla WMA southeast of Tallahassee, and found a few obstacles that we could actually take on. Below is the 2016 Tacoma and the 1999 Chevy going through one of the water crossings.
That night we made it to the Apalachicola National Forest and camped at a pretty little site near the Ochlockconee River. While checking out the river we found a slithery friend of whom we asked to stay far away from our tents.
Day 3
Today we were all keen on getting to our final destination in the Gulf of Mexico. After about 40 more miles of sandy roads we made it to the Tate’s Hell State Forest field office in Carrabelle where we soon booked a campsite, paid our fees, and were off to the woods again.
Tate’s Hell State Forest was heaven for us. We were curious why such a beautiful place had such a horrible name, and we aimed to find out, having driven through on the way in to town.
The articles at the field office told of an 1870s man named Cebe Tate who had ventured into the swamp with nothing but a shotgun and his hunting dogs in order to kill a panther that had been eating his livestock. There are multiple accounts of this story, but legend has it that he arose from the swamp after a week of fighting snakes, alligators, and stinging insects. After making it to the town of Carrabelle he met two locals and told them, “I just came from Hell”, before collapsing in death.
We may have had to battle a few mosquitoes, but otherwise, our experience in the state forest was perfect. Sleeping was very comfortable as the temperature was in the 40s as we all thought we would be dealing with insane heat and humidity. Our campsite had private water access to the Crooked River (pictured above) and views of pine marsh for miles.
In love with the area, we camped in Tate’s Hell another night before packing up and heading home. We even got to go to the beach for the last day to get the taste of what future weather had to bring. Perhaps we will all complete the whole lap and finish the SEAT for good. But until then, back to reality.
Image by TanyaAliosio
Many thanks to TanyaAloisio for the beautiful pictures