Paddling
the Okefenokee
Article and Photos By Amy Thurman
This image: A large gator in the swamp ahead of us shortly after we set out. Judging from the size of his head, this one was fairly good-sized. As we drew closer, he sank below the surface leaving barely a ripple. Below: Joy kept an eye out for wildlife while Chip told me about the different flora and fauna we came across.
W
hen I arrived at Okefenokee Adventures at 6:45 in the morning, heavy fog filtered my first view of the swamp. The dark waters of the launch basin faded into a wall of gray nothing, leaving little indication of what might lie beyond except the ghostly outlines of trees. I love fog and hoped it wouldn’t fade before we got out into it, and I got my wish. Chip and Joy Campbell, owners and guides, had us on the water and paddling through the cool gray morning within 30 minutes. The basin leads out into the Suwannee Canal that was dug in the 1890s for drainage and logging, but now serves as a water trail for paddlers and for fishermen in jon boats. As we paddled out we passed a couple such boats, with anglers catching warmouth and flier, but then seemed to leave them and the rest of civilization behind us. When you think swamp, do you think dark and eerie, moss and snakes dripping from trees, gators slicing into the water as you pass as if they’re stalking you, and mosquitos determined to drain you of blood? If that’s your expectation of a swamp, you might be disappointed by the colorful array of flowering plants, expanses of bright open areas (called prairies), and the lack of snakes dropping into your boat or even mosquitos munching on you. Plenty of alligators, but they have less desire to interact with you than you do with them, and of course, plenty of Spanish moss. As we paddled along the canal, I was surprised by the lack of trees bordering it in one stretch. Chip explained that large areas of the swamp burned in wildfires in 2007, 2011 and 2017. The open areas didn’t prevent us from seeing wildlife though. After seeing the first gator of the day only about a quarter of a mile into our paddle, we also saw evidence of gator trails — paths running from the canal out into the wetlands. In addition to gators, we also saw 16
Southern Tides Magazine
May 2019
