Our first visit to the Okefenokee swamp in Southern Georgia turned out to be one of my favorite trips of 2009. Having lived in Georgia for over 14 years and
Entrance to Stephen C Foster Camp
never visiting the swamp seemed like a real missed travel opportunity. I had always wanted to go down to visit but felt quite intimidated by the thought of pitching a tent and sleeping on the ground right alongside alligators and poisonous snakes! So once we took the dive and purchased the Argosy I knew that a trip to the swamp was on the top of the travel list.
My family lives in the midwest and Russ’ family was in Florida so we found ourselves without any commitments for the Thanksgiving holiday. This would give us a very comfortable 6 days of travel without the need to take any time off of work. We have a two-week trip to France planned for June of 2010 and I am avoiding taking any vacation days until that trip given that I just started a new job in September 2009. Russ generously made all the travel arrangements and booked our campsites at two different state parks. Apparently, staying at state parks over Thanksgiving is a popular time to travel and we could not book the entire trip in the Swamp so we started our stay at Reed Bingham State Park. The final destination was Stephen C. Foster State Park in the heart of the Okefenokee swamp.
We arrived at Reed Bingham State Park on Thanksgiving around mid afternoon. The drive down was easy. Russ had cooked a Thanksgiving meal at home and we settled in to our cozy home on wheels to a delicious turkey dinner. We went on several hikes with the dogs and saw some lovely scenery all the while hoping to spot our first alligator. Honestly, the park was lovely but I wanted to be at the swamp and that is just about all I thought about. They had great facilities and it sat on a large lake. My only complaint would be the open campsites. One reason I love state parks is that they tend to be a bit more private. The spots at this site was more like camping in an open field. In the summer, it must get very hot with very little tree canopy to shade the tents and RV’s. We spent two nights at Reed Bingham before moving on to Stephen C Foster.
Entrance to Stephen C Foster Camp
It took about an hour to get to the swamp after a brief stop at Lowes in an attempt to get a new thermostat after discovering that our heater intended to kill us by cooking us alive! The park was packed with visitors, but we found a rather nice site to set up camp. Once we parked and hooked up the electrical and water, we headed to the lodge to rent a canoe and get out on the swamp right away….and see some alligators! Now its important to mention that we rented the boats at 3:30 even though we were required to be back at the lodge at 5:00. Neither Russ nor I are experienced canoe people so this may have been a poorly planned excursion.
The lodge is about 1/8th of a mile off of the actual swamp and is connected by a narrow channel of some of the darkest water you have ever seen. On our way to picking a canoe we spotted our first gator sitting placidly in the dark water sort of staring at the world as if to say “try me”. Needless to say I was a little nervous as we turned the canoe right-side up and set her in the water. Canoes are tippy little vessels and don’t feel like a natural choice of craft once your floating haphazardly down the channel towards ALL the other boats as they come back from a long day. Remember I mentioned that neither of us was experienced at the canoe. So here we are paddling from one side of the narrow channel to the other (unintentionally) into oncoming traffic over what I imagine is a bed of man-eating alligators and snakes in the worlds most unstable craft. We bickered and ultimately stopped speaking to each other as we tried our damnedest to get out of that rush hour freeway of a channel.
But once we did escape we were awestruck! The water opened up as we entered the swamp onto what looked like a narrow lake. Soaring cypress lined the shores and that dark water turned into an undulating mosaic of bright blue sky, cottony clouds and soaring trees. Stunning. The air was crisp, clean and fresh. I had expected it to smell swampy but instead it smelled rich and lovely. At this moment and time as we gained some confidence and experience in the canoe both Russ and I fell in love with the swamp. It was as if we had entered another planet filled with terrifying beasts and beauty beyond imagining. Birds were everywhere perched in trees and flying about. And these were not small birds either. We spotted another alligator laying serenely on the shore nearly camouflaged against the black mud. Our hour was quickly up and we confidently turned the boat around and headed back to the lodge.
That first night at camp was hell. The site was beautiful, the air was perfect, the fire was roaring and the kids were screaming…from every direction. And screaming and screaming and screaming. I know they were just having a good time but really…screaming? Where the hell were the parents? Probably drunk, screaming and laughing like hyenas around the campfire. I don’t want to sound indignant (maybe just a little) but my mother would have killed me if I had behaved like these kids behaved. It was at that moment that I realized I am becoming crotchety and I’m only in my late thirties. Luckily the demon seeds calmed down and went to bed by about 10:30 and the swamp’s night sounds enveloped us.
Stay tuned for more in Part 2!
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