Paddling Okefenokee Swamp (Or, So Many Reptiles, So Little Time)

Way down upon the Swanee River
Far, far away
That's where my heart is turning ever
That's where the old folks stay
All up and down the whole creation
Sadly I roam
Still longing for the old plantation
And for the old folks at home. 

-- Stephen C. Foster (1851)                

Stephen Foster was an American songwriter known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as "the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century" and may be the most recognizable American composer in other countries.  While his songs seem to depict the slavery South in rose-colored hues, he was a sympathizer with the North in the Civil War and was against slavery.

Named after the songwriter, Stephen C. Foster State Park is a Georgia state park located in the Okefenokee Swamp, surrounded by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.  It not only boasts pristine swamp, but miles of the Suwanee River, of which Foster wrote.  In November 2016, the park was recognized as a Dark Sky park by the International Dark Sky Association.

The park, and the National Wildlife Refuge that surrounds it, are known for their large alligator population.  Officials estimate that 12,000 of the country’s largest reptile live within the National Wildlife Refuge.  There must be many, many more turtles.

We camped in the state park campground, 17 miles up Georgia Highway 177, miles from nowhere.  No cell signal.  No internet.  A beautiful dark sky and lots of stars on a cloudless night.  While we have a full week here, rain is forecast for half the days, so we had to make wise choices in selecting and timing our outdoor activities.

Paddling our kayaks in Okefenokee Swamp was the indisputable leader of the list, and has been at the top of our bucket list for this region for over 9 years, since we camped near Okefenokee with our huge Freightliner truck, honking Fifth Wheel -- and no kayaks.  At that time, we visited Okefenokee twice, but didn't have a chance to paddle.  Now that we have kayaks, we will not be denied.

Thursday, February 3, 2022, our first full day here, was forecast to be sunny and a very warm 80F -- and not windy -- a perfect day for paddling.  On went the suntan lotion, sunglasses, shorts and t-shirts.  Off we drove to the boat launch:

The small boat marina is located down a 1/4 mile canal from the Suwanee River.  The slack black water gave us a chance to get reoriented to the water, although we weren't prepared for immediate encounters with an egret, an ibis and an alligator as soon as we entered the canal (so there are no photos of those critters):

We had nothing to fear; we would not be wildlife-deprived.  No sooner did we get out onto the river than Kathy spotted a colorful turtle sunning him(her?)self:

Strangely enough, this ibis and egret seem to have made best buddies with each other.  We spotted them together, and, as we photographed them and passed, they continued to fish together.  One rarely sees wading birds fishing together -- even mated pairs.  So we wondered how this unusual match had come about, and whether their diets are compatible enough to avoid competition for the same little morsels.

This is what the Suwanee River looks like as it winds through the Okefenokee Swamp:

Sorry.  We interrupt the paddling for another turtle shot:

Back to the paddling.  This is what Kathy looks like as she winds along the Suwanee River in the Okefenokee Swamp:

Don't blink or you'll miss more wildlife.  No sooner did David snap that photo of Kathy than he spotted this small blue heron wading quietly along the margins of the river, looking for its lunch among the cypress knees and Spanish moss:

Now, we know you've been wondering whether you'll get alligator photos.  Never fear.  This big Mama was protecting her nest about a mile upriver.  We were alerted to her because we saw one of the park's swamp tour boats stop for an extended look and paddled over to see what was so interesting.  We were a little more nervous about this huge 'gator in our little kayaks than the swamp tour passengers may have been in their big, flat boat:

We reached our first junction, with Billy's Lake, our first destination, straight ahead to the right.  Eventually, we would paddle back down and head to the left toward Big Water.

We could have given you dozens of photos of picturesque cypress trees, with their skirts and knees, but this is representative:

Eventually, we reached Billy's Island, where a young couple in rental kayaks had preceded us.  They were just walking back to their kayaks to leave the island as we arrived.  The step-like dock in the photo below is convenient for the swamp tour boats to discharge their passengers; we found easier disembarking on the firm, sandy shore of the river back behind the dock along the boardwalk.  

Billy's Island, as all of Okefenokee Swamp, has a checkered history.  The following history is taken from an article published in USA Today on April 9, 2018 and written by Judith K. Tingley. The story of Billy’s Island is a tale of land rights, intrigue, conservation, industrial exploitation and wildlife preservation. Though most early European settlers in Georgia viewed the Okefenokee as uninhabitable, mound-building Indians dwelt there from prehistory. They were followed by other indigenous groups, notably the Creek Confederacy and the Seminole Nation. The name “Okefenokee” probably came from the Hitchiti (Creek) word meaning “trembling earth” or “bubbling water.” The reason for this trembling or bubbling could be the none-too-firm peat deposits that shake and send up bubbles when trod upon.  During the Seminole Wars of the early 19th century, a small party of Indians evaded capture by retreating into the swamp. Over time, this group grew to become a community where escaped slaves and AWOL soldiers were welcome. Their leader went by the name of “Billy Bowlegs.” It’s generally agreed that it is this Billy for which the island was named.  Despite the resistance of the Seminole community, the U.S. forces could not be stopped. By 1838, U.S. troops had progressed deep into the interior, taking over the island and even using it as a base of operations.

In the 1850s, the Lee family moved to Billy’s Island and boldly laid claim to it. There they lived off the land for decades – independent and reclusive – growing corn, wheat, beans, sugar cane and potatoes. They were fishermen, foragers, hunters, cattlemen and beekeepers. In the meantime, the state of Georgia, as the swamp’s legal owner, authorized expeditions of surveyors, scientists and reporters to explore and map the region. They set up camp at Billy’s Island, undisturbed by the Lees.  When Georgia offered the Okefenokee for sale 1889, a small group acquired the swamp and attempted to drain it by means of a canal that would leave land available for development. In two years, they managed to build 12 miles of canal, but soon ran into money troubles and had to abandon the project. The Hebards, a family of loggers, bought the Okefenokee in 1901 and set up a logging operation on the island.  A little community of workers sprang up that eventually included a church, a movie theater, a machine shop, a general store, eateries, a school and even a baseball field. It’s estimated that 425 million board feet of timber were taken from the Okefenokee, and cypress trees several hundreds of years old were felled. The U.S. government purchased the swamp in 1937.  After the Hebard logging interests departed, the Lees returned. 

A group of Cornell University’s entomologists, zoologists and other scientists made an expedition to the Okefenokee in 1912, setting up camp on Billy’s Island and published their findings. The public was enthralled, and a movement to preserve the swamp grew. The federal government purchased the property, and in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge by executive order.  The Lee's were evicted from the island for the final time, although it is reported that the Lee family still holds reunions on Billy's Island.

Now, an historic plaque at the boat dock refers to this history, and a 0.7 mile loop path takes visitors to various sites of interest on Billy's Island.  The trail is marked with white blazes, and, if we didn't know where we were, we might have thought we had stumbled on the Appalachian Trail:

A glass window with an etched image of the Lee family cabin helps visitors imagine the Lee homestead, although nothing apparent is left of it.  A little more is left from the logging operations, because it appears that some equipment was abandoned where it broke down:

The island also contains a fenced-in cemetery for the Lee family, where perhaps 10 or 12 family members are buried, some with well-preserved or newly carved marble headstones.  We paid our respects and walked back to our kayaks, putting back into the Suwanee River:

We worked our way back downstream to the branch that heads west toward Big Water, and, sure enough, found some more reptiles, including this one:

We're not sure what was going on with these two turtles, but maybe they were fishing buddies, like that ibis and egret we saw earlier in the paddle:

Yet another turtle with some beautiful gold accents kept tabs on us as we paddled quietly up the channel:

This fellow obviously had a tiring day, because he was just knackered and had to rest his little paws on either side of the log:

Yet another one --

-- and this behemoth won the prize for the most creative lounge.  We couldn't see his/her face, but could tell from the rest of him/her that we shouldn't get too close:

We eventually worked our way back out the side channel to the main channel of the Suwanee.  There, we spotted another egret, who seemed to be resting between fishing shifts:

The entire stretch of paddling water in the state park is well signed, and the park provides an excellent paddling map -- so we never felt uncertain about our position in the swamp.  Still, after nearly 6 miles of paddling, much of it with headwind (both ways!) on the main channel of the river, it felt good to work our way back into the quiet waters of the channel leading to our boat ramp.

This was a route well paddled, and we'll remember it for a long time.  We may get another chance to paddle early next week, but, for now, weather is coming in tomorrow afternoon.  We want to get one choice hike in tomorrow morning before the rain comes, and then we'll spend a day or two hiding from the showers.