We are currently camped in the Buck Hall Recreation Area in the Francis Marion National Forest. The forest is located in the coastal plain of South Carolina and is bounded to the north by Santee River, and by the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The forest was named to honor Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero known as The Swamp Fox. Mel Gibson loosely based his movie The Patriot on the exploits of Francis Marion. Marion used irregular methods of warfare and is considered one of the fathers of modern guerrilla warfare.
The other day we stopped at the Sewee Visitor Center in order to pick up maps and suggestions on where to hike, bike and paddle. The volunteer ranger suggested we paddle the Wambaw Creek Canoe Trail. The five mile trail follows Wambaw Creek as it winds through a federally designated wilderness area. Even though a weather front was moving through and winds were expected to be 20 miles per hour, the surface of Wambaw Creek was smooth as glass.
The Still Boat Landing was a short drive from our campground. Here Dave prepares to let loose the kayaks!
Wambaw Creek is a peaceful, blackwater creek flowing through majestic cypress-tupelo stands. A tributary of the Santee River, the creek meanders languidly through vast swamps.
Dave is ready to meander!
Kathy was first to launch. She's keeping an eagle eye out for the neighborhood gators.
As we paddled down stream, we noticed a number of overgrown side channels. In the 1700s, settlers used slave labor to convert parts of this swamp into rice fields and harvest timber ,these were the remains of long-abandoned canals and rice-field dikes.
We also noticed at least 12 different bird boxes placed by the Department of Natural Resources. At this time of year, they were all unoccupied.
As we slowly floated down, we noticed signs of spring.
We noticed that most of the trees seemed pretty young for a national forest. As it turns out, in 1989, the forest was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Hugo; only the young growth survived the storm and its aftermath. Today, most trees in the forest do not predate this hurricane. So, when we came across a massive cypress tree like this one, it loomed large next to the new growth.
The forest was alive with bird song, but the little birdies were so fast, it was hard to get any photos. However, the turtles were more than happy to pose for us. Here's a big one.
The black water of Wambaw Creek was great for reflective photos.
Turtle Alert!
Low hanging trees made for fun paddling.
This old log will someday be an island.
We had paddled for about an hour before we saw our first gator. He's just a baby gator with a tail that seemed way too big!
Tag your it! As we paddled down, we disturbed a pair of blue herons. They kept flying ahead of us, landing in a tree and then taking off again as soon as we approached. This happened about six times before the herons decided to double back.
After several hours of paddling, your mind starts to play tricks on you. Can you see the gator?
We made it about three miles down stream before we realized the tide was going out, making the current stronger. Time to turn around and start paddling back up stream.
By the way, we disturbed the herons again and had a second game of tag. We startled two gators, but they quickly disappeared before we could get a photo. The rest of our return trip was uneventful.
Tomorrow, we hope to get out and explore around the Intercoastal Waterway near Bull Island. Stay tuned!
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