On our drive back from Amelia Island to Charleston we decided to make a short detour and visit Okefenokee Swamp. Quick research revealed that this swamp has 3 different entrances, West side, North side and one on the East side. Since it was a Thanksgiving Day, only East entrance was open, and thankfully this is the entrance that we needed. Since it was a holiday, pretty much every person was loading on turkey somewhere else but not at the park, so when we arrived there, I think I only saw couple other cars parked by the main lodge.
One of the best attractions of this swamp is done via canoeing or kayaking expeditions into the swamp, but according to the park ranger right now most canals and access to the big water is dried out. Fortunately they have an 8+ mile paved biking road into the swamp area and even better – we had our trusted bikes strapped to my Pilot. I was not expecting to see much of a wild life and we did not see whole a lot, except a mama alligator with two babies. This was a highlight of this day as I never saw baby alligators before, both of them seating on top of the mama, soaking under the sun.
This swamp had couple fires in recent years and it was seen in many places. The boardwalk was burned away and throughout the trail we could see areas of old fires and new tree grows. One area really got our attention as it looked really nice under late afternoon sun and it is how in my imagination I expected the swamp to look! So I had to take a photo. Some fancy maneuvering between tree trunks, dry humps and patches led me to the edge of this green swampy area. About 30-40 feet of the road. No alligators attacked me and overall I escaped back to dry ground unharmed. I have couple other shots with different views into this wetland, share it some other day!
And btw, this photo is better viewed in higher resolution – just click on it to open it in my photo gallery. Enjoy!
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