Okefenokee is Okey Dokey!

Hi Blog!  Today we got a chance to visit the Okefenokee Swamp. We didn't want to do just the quick tourist trip, and we also wanted to learn more about the animals and plant life in the swamp, so we found an outfitter that would provide a guide and take us on a four hour trip into the back reaches of the swamp.  Truth be told, we didn't want to get lost. You hear all kinds of stories about people being eaten by alligators and getting lost in bogs for days.

Now, we've all heard of the Okefenokee, but does anyone really know anything about it?  Not us.  Did you know that Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000 acre, peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border in the United States. It is just about as big as Rhode Island!

A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. (We can't wait to find the other six!) The Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America.  The blackwater comes from all the tannins.  Eagles and ospreys don't like to hang out here because the water is so hard to see through they can't fish. Hawks, however, love these ecosystems because they don't primarily hunt fish, but prey on mice, small birds and other wildlife that does live in Okefenokee and is not underwater.

The term Okefenokee in Native American is "land of trembling earth."  The "ground" is actually grass and bushes and stuff growing on top of floating peat.  It makes it feel like you are walking on a mattress.  The land shakes and jiggles when you walk.

INTERMISSION - ADVERTISEMENT FOR OUR SECOND-FAVORITE HOBBY:  TASTING SINGLE MALT SCOTCHES.  Scotch is often fermented with peat, and many single malt scotches from the Islay section of Scotland are very peat-y.  So peat has many valuable uses.

The swamp was formed over the past 1,500 years by the accumulation of peat in a shallow basin on the edge of an ancient Atlantic coastal terrace, the geological relic of a Pleistocene estuary. The swamp is bordered by Trail Ridge, a strip of elevated land believed to have formed as coastal dunes or an offshore barrier island or large sand bar. This basin is about 100 feet above sea level.

The Okefenokee is not just a swamp.  It has all kinds of habitat - islands, lakes, cypress forests, scrub-shrub areas and open wet prairies.  the prairies were definitely a surprise to us.  One minute you are cruising down this tree-shrouded canal and then it opens up to this great floating grassy area.  Here is Kathy with our tour guide, Ron, as we traveled down a man-made canal.

We spotted this red shouldered hawk searching for field mice over an open prairie.

We turned off the canal and out into a great open basin.  Here is a great egret hunting for little minows in the shallows.

At the far end of the shallow basin several pairs of sandhill cranes were grazing on the swamp plants.  here is a pair that posed for photos.

No trip to the Okefenokee would be complete without an alligator or two.  Here is one young adult we found sunning himself or herself (you can't tell without looking inside).  David adds that, despite being invited to look inside an alligator, he isn't about to do so.

When we started our tour it was about 45 degrees.  When we finished, it was close to 60.  Here are a couple of turtles taking advantage of the late afternoon sun and warmth.

When we left for our tour, every log and rock was empty.  When we came back, every one had a turtle or two.

We had a chance to stop in the visitor center and watch a movie on Okefenokee.  While it would have been nice to see the wildflowers in spring and hear the summer frogs, we did not encounter a single bug.  Winter is a nice time to visit.