southern states in winter

[jimitoucan]

This might be a little premature but I am planning my trip a little early and would like some input.

I'm planning a two to three month trip mid Jan. through mid April '08 through the sun belt

states from Arizona to Florida. I am somewhat famililar with AZ and FL, and Bosque del Apache.

 

The question is: What, in your opinion, are the "must see" "don't miss" wildlife/landscape photo opps and

the best time within Jan - April to be there? AZ, NM, TX, LA, AL, MS, GA, FL

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Jim

Shots Happen!

[chris_madison]

North Florida is in full bloom pretty much from mid-March through April if you're into flowers. Several excellent state parks in the area for camping - St Joseph State Park has 7 miles of Gulf dunes including some deer, birds, dolphins. Torreya State Park (west of Tallahassee) has good camping, hiking, rivers, bluffs, creeks, some wildlife. For gators and migrating birds try the St Mark's Wildlife Refuge (only primitive camping) or Wakulla Springs State Park (no camping) where you can take the "River Cruise". For the Florida few visitors see, try Highlands Hammock State Park south of Orlando - it is the oldest state park. Also, near Tampa (north) is Hillsborough River State Park which most photographers find hard to resist. Florida south of Orlando is probably best visited before March and north Florida later in the season. There are many more...

[jack_fisher1]

A good stop would be White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

[matthew_newton]

If you can a swamp boat ride through the Okefanokee (sp?) swamp in GA is extremely impressive. I am not sure about the timing though, you might be missing a lot of foliage in the winter time, I am used to Maryland winters, so I can't tell you how much foliage you may have for that.

 

Santa Fe is a fairly pretty little city and a few other small towns in NM have a great reputation for scenic old Spanish style adobe churches and squares.

[jo7hs2]

Alabama, Georgia, and parts of Tennessee will be blooming by April, at least to some extent.

 

Late winter and early spring are prime hiking time in Alabama, because it is still cool enough. ;) Waterfalls abound in Sipsey Wilderness and much of northern Alabama. Consult my site (in profile), Robert Schuffert's "Scenic North Alabama", or Seifried and Felder's "Alabama's Canyons" for many good ideas.

[abica]

In FL, you might want to look into Ginnie springs in the northern half of the state. There isn't (to my knowledge) much else of note in that area, so if you pass through it would make a great stopover. The panhandle coastline has a few interesting spots, but alas, I don't remember the names...its been a long time. Muddy keys, sleepy communities. Sanibel island by Ft Meyers has some beautiful mangrove preserves. Shark Valley is beautiful in winter, it is down on Alligator Alley in the 'glades. Googling a few of those might spark some ideas.

 

White Sands in NM is awesome! I wish I had pictures from my road trip out there with my buddies, but I was 17 and didn't feel like dragging the SLR along (my results were...remedial...and I was...lazy). Now I regret that sort of thinking, but I learned a valuable lesson. Always pack a camera and tons of film, and always shoot like there's no tomorrow. Unless, of course, you are in the boonies and some of that film is for tomorrow.

 

We were caught in a sandstorm in the dunes anyway, so my camera might have been a casualty. We actually lost half of our group out there for a half hour or so.

 

Nice pictures J.S.! I never knew Alabama was so...canyon-y.

[carl_becker2]

There are several waterfalls in Tenn. that should be overflowing where I have visited some in the state parks. A bit of walking required but not hard. New Orleans was very nice in Feb the last time I was there 20 years ago.

[jo7hs2]

Joe,

 

Most people don't. It's all the eroded limestone.

 

Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee are *packed* with waterfalls. The current confirmed count for Alabama is well over 100, and the total is probably closer to 200 depending on the definitions (seasonality, size, etc...) that are used. Tennessee is somewhere in the high 500's, and Georgia is no slouch either.

 

Also, the water color in winter in the northern part of Alabama tends towards a very vivid bluish-green. Great for waterfalls photography. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained hard here in months, so I'm stuck doing flowers right now. ;)

[jo7hs2]

Gregory Plumb's "Waterfalls of Tennessee" is the waterfall hiking authority in Tennessee. It includes most of the waterfalls you are physically and legally allowed to visit in that state, along with a handful in North Carolina, close to the border.

 

The Tennessee Landforms website has a list of nearly 600 waterfalls in Tennessee:

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/landforms/falls.php

 

I'm working on cleaning up my own site, but it keeps getting put on the back burner for other projects.

[jo7hs2]

Jim,

 

Alabama also has a series of fairly productive birding trails.

http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/birding-trails/

[james_wingo]

You might consider the Mississippi Delta. I just recently learned about <a href = "http://www.wildlifemiss.org/news/news/2001/05-16.html">Sky lake </a> and have not yet had a chance to go, but want to see it myself. Fairly nearby is <a href = "http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=43682">Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge </a> and Leroy Percy State Park and several oxbow lakes. In January, Yazoo Refuge and the surrounding area will have thousands of ducks and geese. Sky Lake and Leroy Percy will have big cypress trees. At Leroy Percy,they lost most of the hanging Spanish Moss to a ice storm a few years back and it hasn't recovered yet. By April, the ducks and geese will be gone, but there will be alligators and many other birds including herons and egrets. There is also quite a few other refuges nearby. In north Georgia, visit the mountain area.

[jimitoucan]

Wow! This is great. Thanks everyone. Keep up the suggestions, many place I havem't ever

heard of which gets me excited.

 

How about Texas? That's a big state to drive through and except for Big Bend and Guadelupe

I haven't a clue.

 

Jim