Rental bikes near Dungeness Beach on Cumberland Island
Biking is a popular activity on Cumberland Island National Seashore and the only way to see the northern half of the island for those on day trips, as most destinations are too far away to reach on foot. The ferry has room for up to ten private bikes per trip for a fee, and you can reserve a spot when making a reservation for the ferry ride. Any spaces not reserved will be sold at the ferry check-in (Visitor Center) on the day of departure. I took the morning ferry on two consecutive days during Spring Break in April—a Saturday and a Sunday—and the spaces were filled on one trip but not on the other, so there is no way to predict how many people will attempt to bring their own bike on any given day. (Note that no fully-electric bikes are allowed on the island, but those with pedals and a motor of less than 750 watts are permitted as long as you do not use only the motor to move.)
The park concessionaire that runs the ferry also rents bikes at the Sea Camp Ranger Station, but they only have about two dozen (and no kid sizes). Up to 150 people can be on the ferry, so you don’t have to be a genius to realize that there are not enough to go around. If you want to guarantee yourself a bike, you not only need to be on the morning ferry, but also one of the first off of the boat and to the bike stand.
If you are camping and are unable to get a bike when you arrive, stop by the bike stand later in the day when day-trippers begin to return their bikes. You can rent a bike overnight and for the rest of your stay. Keep in mind that the bike stand closes around 4:30 PM right before the last ferry of the day leaves—the guys who rent the bikes also work on the ferry.
The bikes for rent are single-gear beach-type bikes with tires typical of mountain bikes. The seats are large, but if you ride as much as I did—nearly twenty miles on some days—your butt is going to be hurting. The bikes are built for relaxing peddling, so you can’t go too fast. You can cover about six to seven miles in an hour by peddling non-stop.
Biking is allowed along Grand Avenue, the main park road that runs from the Dungeness ruins in the south to The Settlement in the north, approximately a 20-mile ride. From the Dungeness mansion until just north of the Stafford mansion and cemetery, you are free to ride on any of the side roads unless they are marked as Private Property. Most such roads lead to the beaches on the Atlantic Coast. You can ride your personal bike on the beaches between Dungeness and Sea Camp, but rental bikes are not allowed on the sand.
North of Stafford mansion, except for Grand Avenue, the land becomes part of a designated Wilderness Area. No mechanized machinery is allowed in a Wilderness Area, including bikes. In my opinion, the rules of these Wilderness Areas are asinine. I can understand that you don’t want ATVs and vehicles riding through these areas, but bikes? On roads and trails that already exist? Do you realize that when people go hunting that they can’t bring a wheeled cart to carry out their game, but they can bring a sled? And you can’t bring a cooler with wheels on it to your Wilderness Area campsite, but you can drag a cooler along the ground? I’ve seen campers who have tied one end of a rope around their waist and the other end to the cooler? What’s doing more damage to the terrain, a cart or dragging a 25-pound cooler across the ground? It’s just silly, but because of the rules, if you want to get to the beach in the Wilderness Area or get to your backcountry campsite, you must leave your bike along the side of Grand Avenue and walk. You can’t even push it along with you. You are allowed to chain your bike to any tree within 15 feet of the road.
Other than a few hills at the northern end of the island, Grand Avenue is flat, and up until the Plum Orchard Mansion, which is about seven miles from Sea Camp, it is graded and maintained. This is easy riding—as long as your legs can go round and round you can bike this section of the road. There are a few spots with deep sand that will certainly slow you down to a crawl, if they don’t bring you to a complete stop. You must be careful when hitting such surfaces because it is easy to lose your balance and crash. One place that comes to mind is at Stafford Field, the only large field you will pass as you head north, so you can’t miss it. It is about 3.5 miles from Sea Camp.
Graded dirt road south of Plum Orchard on Cumberland Island
While the southern section of the road is a pleasure to bike, once you get past Plum Orchard it really is a pain in the butt. The road is much rougher due to no longer being graded, and the patches of beach-like sand are more frequent. Unless you have one of those beach bikes with balloon-sized tires, you will constantly bog down in the sand and have to dismount and push your bike, which is very frustrating. Furthermore, your legs will be hurting like you are biking up a mountain despite the fact that the terrain is perfectly flat. You really must want to hike a particular trail or reach The Settlement to make biking the north end of Cumberland Island worthwhile. If I were to rate the road up to Plum Orchard as 0 out of 10 on a difficulty scale, I’d rate the road beyond it as a 6.
Long patches of deep beach sand are frequent on the roads north of Plum Orchard
With a bike you can cover much more of the island. If you arrive on the morning ferry, it is perfectly feasible to bike down to the Dungeness area and then all the way to Plum Orchard, take a tour, and still be back in time to catch the 4:45 PM ferry back to St. Marys. Other than a few hiking trails, there’s not much to see north of Plum Orchard other than The Settlement. It is possible to bike up there and even take a Plum Orchard tour on the way, but you won’t have time to see the Dungeness area, which is infinitely more interesting than The Settlement unless you are a John Kennedy Jr. fan and what to see the church that he got married in.
I met a woman who biked all the way to The Settlement (and saw Plum Orchard). She made it back to the ferry with only fifteen minutes to spare. I asked her about the experience, and she said that while she made it back in time, she would never do it again. She only made it back because she had her own bike and didn’t have to wait in line for a rental. Imagine fifteen minutes to spare, time that easily would have been eaten up standing in the bike rental line.
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Last updated on April 8, 2022
