Low Waters along the Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee NWR

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. -- "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-tailed Deer crosses the low waters of The Sill; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.

A few weeks before my October 2022 trip, I was told by a fellow iNaturalist user that the water levels were low in the Okefenokee, but I wasn’t prepared for what I found! When I arrived on in the Refuge on October 25, 2022, my first outing was to be on The Sill Recreation Area on the western side of the swamp just before the Stephen C Foster State Park campground. As soon as I turned the corner and the channel came in sight, I could see the waters were very low. The canal is typically deep and wide, but not now.

Normally it’s a short walk with my canoe from the parking lot to the water’s edge. There are even times where the lower parking lot is totally submerged. But today I had to drag my canoe about eighty feet just to reach the water’s edge! I had a feeling that paddling was going to be difficult and my trolling motor was out of the question in the low waters. 

The low waters in the Okefenokee Swamp reveal the old pylons of the logging railroads that ran through the swamp in the early 1900's.

The low water exposed some of the cypress stumps and debris usually concealed by the dark, tannin-stained blackwaters. I a few places, the pylons of the railroad tracks that once crossed areas of the swamp during the logging days of the early 1900’s were visible.

​My biggest hope upon seeing the low water was that the alligators and birds weren’t spread out through the swamp like they are in times of high water, but would be more concentrated along the lakes and canals for some prime photography. This was certainly the case. I shot twenty gators, a Great Blue Heron and Wood Stork along the Sill before even getting out of my vehicle!