An evening and overnight at the Round Top Shelter on Chase Prairie; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. 

From our home in Athens, Georgia, the drive to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is about five hours. Even if we start early, it is mid-afternoon when we arrive. There typically isn’t enough time left in the day to go out on the water. So when visiting the eastern side of the Swamp at the Suwannee Canal entrance, as we did in March 2022, our first order of business is a drive along the Swamp Island Wildlife Drive.
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This seven-mile drive winds through a beautiful landscape of upland Slash Pine and Saw Palmetto. With car windows down and the MPH at a near crawl, my eyes are always scanning for a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (one day!). Occasionally, Sandhill Crane walk down the middle of the paved drive, and juvenile alligators can always be spotted in the roadside borrow ditches. To the excitement of the first-time visitor, there is often an adult female alligator at the small pond along the roadway, and many times a larger gator basking roadside before reaching the loop. 

Excerpt from the 1875 Okefenokee Exploration by The Atlanta Constitution:

"Now our knees began to feel weak, and tremble beneath the weight upon them; and indeed, we became so thoroughly exhausted that we trudged on and on, with the greatest indifference as to danger of any kind. At one time one of the party trod on a moccasin, and his comrade next behind called to him that he was on a snake, but he did not seem to care, and moved slowly on without looking back, and carelessly asked if he had hurt it!

"This was an actual occurrence, and the man shudders now when he thinks of his own carelessness and of the danger of being bitten by that deadly serpent in that dismal wild far from home, and from physicians! If there were any objects of interest in this most hideous part of the swamp, I was too near “wearied unto death” to appreciate it. No, we longed to place our feet again upon terra firma, and our sole idea was to this end." 
         - The Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1875.

What lurks beneath those waters? That question rolls in the mind as one attempts to peer through the blackwater of the Okefenokee Swamp. The swamp creatures may not be visible in plain sight, but you know they are there. You squint your eyes to look into the dark mirror, but only see the reflection of the dense vegetation and skies above.  A dark, monster-like, scaled foot and claw breaking the sphagnum laden surface give only a creepy clue to what may lie below the swamp waters. ​

The Chesser Island Boardwalk is one of most frequented paths by human visitors to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. And it usually doesn't disappoint! Often, along the way, there are birds, lizards, insects and a snake or gator or two to view. But you have to keep you eyes scanning and searching the details. Other than the birds, the critters may not be right in the open. But a glistening scale from a slithering serpent, or a strange looking object poking from the water has to catch the eye and alert your senses to the presence of a swamp inhabitant. 

I have often found a medium-sized American Alligator along the first half of the boardwalk. Being creatures of habit, I wouldn't doubt if this is the same gator on multiple visits. On this particular occasion, his clawed foot breaking through the waters along the trail were my first clue to his presence. Being practically right on top of the gator, I got some close-up detail shots of its foot and scales with those surprisingly long claws.

The trails, wildlife drive and guided boat tours at the Suwannee Canal entrance (on the eastern side) of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge make this a great entry spot for a one-day introduction to the Okefenokee. But if you have more than a day, there is plenty more to explore. But where do you spend the night?

Being a wildlife refuge that is primarily managed for wildlife, there is only one campground within the Okefenokee: the Stephen C Foster State Park on the western side. There are also overnight platforms within the interior but they require permits obtained 2 months in advance.

​However, right outside the gate of the Suwannee Canal entrance is a private campground called Okefenokee Pastimes. I had passed this campground entrance many times but had never looked into a stay. I typically stayed at Stephen C Foster or Laura S Walker State Parks.
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Needing an early morning start for our multi-night paddling trip in March 2022, I decided to try Okefenokee Pastimes… and I wasn’t disappointed. In order to avoid setting up and breaking camp, I booked one of the camper cabins. This little cabin was plenty of room for my daughter and I. In fact, we could have fit two more people on the full size bed and bunk bed! The campground was clean and quiet, and the staff were very hospitable. And the fresh chocolate chip cookies handed to us at check-in certainly sealed the deal. I’ll be staying at Okefenokee Pastimes again when the need arises! 

​Off the backside of the Chesser Homestead in the Okefenokee Swamp there is a dead-end trail named Ridley’s Island Trail. Having hiked this little spur before, and facing only a wall of vegetation at the end of a brief boardwalk, I had pretty much written it off as “not much there to see.” But was I wrong! 

Arriving in the Okefenokee later in the day, there was no time to get on the water for a paddle. So my daughter and I chose to walk the trails on Chesser Island. The Homestead Trail is a short loop that circles the old Swamper cabin where swamp life reenactments are made by refuge staff. An off the backside of the Homestead Trail is the Ridley’s Island Trail. Although some maps show a longer trail that connects to the Swamp Island Drive, the current Ridley’s trail ends after less than a half mile.

But with a lot of daylight remaining, we deiced to hike that short spur. All along the way, I prepared my daughter for a letdown. I explained to her that the boardwalk ended abruptly at a wall of vegetation. There is a “wildlife viewing” interpretive sign at the end, but it appears that the jungle hadn’t been cut for some time. But as she was reading the sign, a coiled serpent caught her eye just a few feet from where she stood. With a loud whisper, she got my attention… “Dad! Cottonmouth right there!” A fairly young, thin Cottonmouth then slithered off into the water before I could get a good photo.
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Excited by the find, we turned to go back and scanned the swamp jungle a little more closely. I then happened to lay my eyes upon the fattest Cottonmouth I’d ever found. I really don’t know how we missed it on the first pass. This thick beauty lay curled asleep about five feet off the boardwalk trail. What a great spot! Two Cottonmouths practically side-by-side. And to think, I dismissed this dead-end trail as pointless.
There is never any guarantee of a great find when you set out birding or herping. But the only guarantee is that if you don’t look, you certainly won’t find! So take that “pointless” dead-end trail anyway. You never know what you’ll see! 

A handful of observations along the Chesser Island Boardwalk Trail, Deerstand Trail, Homestead Trail and Ridley's Island Trail in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.