Okefenokee Swamp Part 2: Alligator Alley

Camping makes me a slave to the daylight. Even though we crawled into our tents sometime around 3am local time, all of us were awake by 7am. When denial wore off, we crawled out of our tents, lit the citronella candles, bathed in bug dope and began making breakfast. We enjoyed buckwheat pancakes with strawberry syrup (frozen strawberries + sugar = yum) around our citronella campfire and then left for the nearby putin at Stephen Foster State Park.

Our plan for the day was to paddle upstream on the Suwannee River for a while and then hang a left to follow a winding trail to a day use shelter at Minnies Lake. The waters were deep, so the alligators should have been plentiful. The sun was hiding behind the rain clouds and the day wasn't particularly warm, so the alligators had better places to be. Still, our day trip was our most alligator-rich day, with my tally at 15. On a warm, sunny day, the alligator count can be closer to 100, depending on how much paddling you do.

Our first alligator sighting was right at the launch. We saw a medium-sized gator chillin' by the rental canoes. It seemed a busy place for a nap, but then again, I'm not an alligator. We paddled past him, followed the canal out to the Suwannee River and hung a right to head upstream.

The Suwannee had some current to it as we paddled upstream. When we turned left onto the much more narrow red trail, the current was still running against us noticeably. There were a bunch of other boaters out there, including other canoers, kayakers and some people in small motor powered john boats. Along the trek to Minnies Lake, we chatted with a few of them, including one couple in a beautiful wooden canoe. We saw a couple of alligators and a cute goldfinch fluttering around in one of the nearby trees. When the guy first said goldfinch, I thought he said goldfish and looked around in the water. I remember thinking, I know goldfish can live anywhere but sheeesh... Then he said goldfinch again, pointed toward the tree and all became clear. Cute bird. It's smaller and squatter than a parakeet, with bright yellow and black markings. I may have gotten a picture of it, but no promises.

It's funny how perceptions change over time. At first, both of us said how they seemed really nice. Later on, when we were driving home on Wednesday, both of us remarked that he sure liked to talk about himself. They turned back about halfway to the shelter, so when we got there, we had it to ourselves. Another group joined us. They mentioned that they had an overnight permit for Friday, but opted to not launch because of the weather. We didn't really want to hear that. Weather was one of those anxieties that we had tucked way back in our minds. When we left town on Friday, the forecast for the area on weather.com didn't look so good for our launch either. We were hoping for a revision before Sunday morning.

On the trek back, the current was working with us so the miles took hardly any time at all. The weather wasn't looking great, but we decided to paddle upstream on the Suwannee some more to check out Billy's Island. There used to be a decent sized settlement there, so some of their stuff is still lying around the island. There's a short trail that you can walk where some things like pieces of farm equipment are still there. Near the end of that hike, we crossed paths with an elderly raccoon. He had that washed up, formerly hard-living musician swagger, if you can imagine a raccoon channeling that sort of persona. His back was arched. His walk was slow and deliberate. Occasionally, he turned to look at us, but without any air of curiosity. We gave him his space and eventually he left the trail.

Finally, the sun had poked through the clouds and warmed the afternoon. Alligator sightings increased. My alligator tally pretty much doubled in the short paddle back to the boat ramp. There were a few more alligators hanging out on the grass near the canal, despite the racket of boaters and campers. Our lazy friend from the morning had moved a whole 10 yards to a new patch of grass.