Flordia & Georgia - Swamps

When we had limited vacation days, we targeted the premier tourist spots: Old Faithful Geyser, the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Valley… Now that we have more time to explore we are visiting the not-so-popular places – like swamps – and taking the time to appreciate the little things we see.

While camped at Florida's FAVER-DYKES STATE PARK, we hiked most of their nature trails. The man who donated the land for the park wanted it to be an outdoor classroom, so the park had informative signs along the trails that explained the plants, wildlife, and natural features.

Here is a spot with a little overlook of the wetlands along the river.

Next we were off to OKEFENOKEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE. This refuge encompasses most of southeastern Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, which is actually a peat bog, not a swamp. We checked out the visitor center with informative displays and a video with great close-up shots of wildlife. Barbara picked up the “Oke is 80” Passport Challenge which had a list of 80 activities like “hike the Boardwalk Trail” or “look for turtles.” With this in hand we explored some of the park and spotted wildlife:

We visited the Chesser Island Homestead to see a slice of pioneer life in the early 1900’s and had an interesting talk with the docent: a National Forest Service Volunteer.

The Sugar Cane Mill – mules pulled the sweep
so the rollers could squeeze the juice
from two stalks of sugar cane

Then we took the Chesser Island Boardwalk to Owls Roost Tower. The wildlife was pretty quiet by this time of day, but we enjoyed the swamp walk.

As for the Passport Challenge, Barbara completed 25 of the activities just before the office closed, so she got the patch.

And we saw this hawk on our way out of the park.

a Red Shouldered Hawk