Gautier, MS - Shepard State Park

Moving westward now, hugging the Gulf coast, and have arrived in another state, Mississippi.

We are camping in our favorite setting - quiet, peaceful, with happy birds singing, surrounded by woodlands. This setting is usually what camping in state parks provides and what we enjoy the most. The commercial, private, resort campgrounds do have their place in our itinerary; usually when laundry needs to be done. The full service amenities provided by the commercial campgrounds such as a pool, exercise/game facilities, community room, shuffleboard are not our type of camping. These also come with higher costs and lots of people, many who want to be your closest friend.

The attraction of Gautier, MS is a visit to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. We have visited the Refuge before, and thought another visit would provide an opportunity to see the sandhill crane. But, as with our previous visit, no cranes to see. They are rare, only about 100, and being spread over 1000's of acres, they are elusive. This Mississippi sandhill crane is a subspecie of the crane clan. There are more prominent crane species which we have seen, so we weren't too disappointed this time.

Awakening to the last morning here came early (5:30 AM) due to noise (pitter patter on the roof) from a brief rain shower causing a check for open windows (yes open, it's 65°). However, a reward for rising early came from the hooting owl. What a peaceful sound in the early morning stillness.!Read more