Thank an Okefenokee NWR Ranger!

Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

White juvenile Little Blue Heron by canoe kayak trail directional sign in Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. Blackwater, spatterdock lily pads, cypress trees. Billy`s Island, Canal Run, Minnie`s Lake, Floyd`s Island, Big Water, Mile Marker 30.

​Okefenokee Swamp paddlers owe much to the federal and state park employees that keep the National Wildlife Refuges canoe and kayak trails clear, maintained and well-marked. When one visits today, direction signs label and point to Billy’s Lake, Minnie’s Lake, Big Water, Canal Run and more. Since cell phone and GPS signals can be unreliable in the heart of the swamp, the regular mile markers are a true blessing as well. But it wasn’t always that way! Hamp Mizell writes in 1926 of his father: 

“It was in the early winter of 1874 that my father found Chase Prairie. He had determined to try a boat in an effort to get through the Swamp instead of the old way of wading and jumping from one clump of bushes to another, all the time bogging from knee deep to armpits, which was the old way of traveling in the great Swamp.
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“Let me say right here that it is no small job to find the right course to take in the Swamp and the right route to take to reach the mainland. It is a dangerous thing for one not familiar with this Swamp to undertake, for one not familiar with it will surely get lost and begin to travel in a circle. Old-timers in the Swamp can even tell the directions by the growth of bark on the trees, etc., but it requires an expert to do this.” 

History of Okefenokee Swamp, 1926, AS McQueen and Hamp Mizell, pp. 31-36

​So unless you’re an Okefenokee expert, it would be a nice thing to thank the park employees if you encounter them on your journey, or during your stay in the wonderful Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge! 

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge staff clearing overhanging limbs and bushes from the Middle Fork trail.

Large alligator basking in the Okefenokee Swamp Billy`s Lake, Georgia. Laying on a log near spatterdock lily pads. March 10, 2020.

Large alligator basking in the Okefenokee Swamp Billy`s Lake, Georgia. Laying on a log near spatterdock lily pads. March 10, 2020.