Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

We had such fun checking in at the visitor center yesterday. Who sees a quilt in this welcome mat?

Since arriving here in Folkston we've had the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on our radar screen, but really, no idea what our agenda should hold. Since we also had groceries on our minds, we decided to first check in at the visitor center and see what there was to do here. We'd heard there were canoe and kayak rentals, and possibly, boat tours. If a boat tour seemed like a good idea, we wanted to get tickets ahead, if necessary. Before we could do anything, however, we'd promised Himself a walk.

Sometimes in a new place, he'll want to sit on the step of the RV for a long time before hopping off to the ground for the actual walking part of our walk. Not so here. He hopped right off the step, and away we went. When he walked into the dead end of an empty campsite, I carried him back to where there was a hiking trail. There, we sniffed all sorts of things, but we stopped dead in our tracks when we saw this:

Holy Catnip! It's The Apawminable Woofie! Why do I never have my camera with me when I need it? No other cats will ever believe me when I tell them I've seen Saspawtch!

And let me tell you, you have to admire the cat's courage. He fluffed up his tail, but held it together. He looked at the horse. The horse looked at him. It was a stare down of the highest order. When the horse moved closer to the fence though, he thought a full-blown panic might be in order. I scooped him up and carried him back toward the RV. All the while, he was looking over my shoulder to be sure that monster wasn't chasing us down. When the RV was in sight, I set him down again and he trotted right back to the step and inside. Phew! Cheated death once again.

So, then it was time for our little outing. The RV park is literally across the road from the entrance to the park. It was a distance of a few miles to the visitor center. This is what we saw along the way.

Lining both sides of the road were long-needle pines and saw palmetto plants.

Eventually we arrived at the visitor center. The parking lot was full, let me tell you.

There wasn't much going on inside the visitor center...not even any refrigerator magnets for sale...and so we wandered next door to the "concesssion." Behind, we found a row of tour boats lined up on the Suwanee Canal, which leads back into the swamp. It seems in the late 1800's some folks got the wild idea to "drain the swamp," with the intention of having it drain into the nearby St. Mary's River. With that accomplished, they could sell the land, and build homes and businesses. Well, as you might guess in the 1800's they were using shovels to do the work and found it to be an impossible task. Still, the Suwanee Canal was created, and now tour boats operate there. Not a bad trade-off.

The next tour was leaving in 25 minutes, and we were so on that boat! There were six of us, in all.

We were traveling the National Water Trail. Along with tour boats, canoes and kayaks are available for rent, and indeed, we did see a few canoes in here. There are little signs marking the canoe trail and also some directional signs marking the various trails.

Right away we started seeing alligators of all sizes.

Some were shy and ducked under water within a few seconds of our approach. Others were more willing to pose for their pictures.

The ones barely visible seemed the most menacing; however, American Alligators are not aggressive unless provoked. Mike asked about whether canoeists or kayakers had any worries from the alligators. According to our guide...no. Hm. Not sure I believe it.

At our last stop, we learned the alligators are a keystone species, meaning if the alligators disappeared, the entire ecosystem would change. Also, they have a brain about the size of a walnut, meaning they have no sympathy for you or your family. They are simply in survival mode...looking for something to eat. If necessary, you'll do.

Here, we were passing by the now-familiar bald cypress trees. The bald cypress, we learned, is one of two deciduous conifers in the United States. The other is the tamarind tree, also known as the larch. We might have them in Portland, if I could identify them. We have a Larch Street there. Also, we learned that the swamp is no more than four feet deep at its deepest places. In some areas, it was only about a foot. It was blackwater, but scooping some of it up into a jug, we could see that the actual water was more the color of strong tea.

Also, we learned that this is a swamp in the technical sense. It depends entirely on rainwater for its existence. No rivers flow into it, but two rivers flow out of it: The Suwanee and The St. Mary's Rivers. It takes 11 billion gallons of water to raise the water level one inch. Amazing.

Along the way we saw a cormorant high over head.

Also this green heron. When we came back this way more than an hour later, he was still in this same position. He allowed us to get very close, and he was intent on catching minnows. This word is actually pronounced "minners," according to our 7th generation Okefenokee Swamp guide. Also, in the Northwest, we have mosquitos. Here, they are known simply as "skeeters."

As for the green heron, he is one of the smallest of the herons. There is only one smaller than he.

A little later, we crossed this line, which turns out to be nothing more than a county line.

Beyond, the look of the swamp changed, and we saw a lot more of the Spanish Moss draping the trees.

When we came to this sign, we turned left and headed out onto the Grand Prairie.

There, it was much more open. There were millions of lilypads and little frogs known as "cricket frogs." They could only be seen when they jumped, and they looked for all the world like crickets when in motion. When they could be seen standing still, they looked like tiny little frogs.

Also, out here there were some blooming things. I was hoping to get a closer shot.

Eventually, I got the chance. These are Swamp Sunflowers.

Also growing in the water was this interesting plant known as a bladderwort. It's hard to see close up, but at the ends of its little "leaves," are tiny little "bladders" with small openings. The plant sucks up living matter from the water. They are, in fact, carnivorous.

This is our guide, Joey. As I mentioned, he is a 7th generation native of the Okefenokee Swamp, and he imparted a lot of knowledge on our tour. He was also quite a crack-up. As you might guess, he had a thick southern accent, but claimed from the outset to be from New York City. We all laughed. Toward the end of the tour, he said he was kidding about New York City. Who woulda thunk it? He was very funny.

Far across the prairie, we saw this Great Egret.

We were heading for the dock at this point and we passed the next tour along the way.

Also, I'd hoped to get a really good picture of an alligator, and we found a cooperative one on the way back. I'd estimate his length at about eight feet.

The image below is going into my Sketchbook.

My one word for this One Word Wonder: Primeval.

And there we are...cheated death once again. It's a good day for cheating death at the Three Cats Ranch Traveling RV.

After that, we went back to the RV, had some lunch, took naps, and then went on our grocery shopping expedition. The closest full-service market was actually south of us across the state line into Florida. Florida is the last state to fall along the Atlantic coastline. Now we've seen every state that touches the Atlantic Ocean.

Today we'll head back into the refuge to do some hiking. I'll tell you more about that in tomorrow's post. As I'm writing this, I can hear occasional raindrops on the roof. It could also be from fog coating the trees and dripping. Hard to tell until the sun comes up. Today we're expecting good weather. Let's hope it materializes.