Okefenokee Swamp Part 5: Back to Civilization

Our night at Round Top was pretty mellow. After dinner, it didn't take long for us to find our pillows. The wind slowly died down to a mere 10 to 15 MPH while we slept. Sunrise quickly led to bright blue skies overhead. We ate breakfast and packed up camp without fear of chasing stray items into the swamp.

We began our paddle with the remaining three miles on the purple trail, the last miles of open prairie before Suwannee Canal led to our takeout. The warmth of the sun tempted many animals out of hiding. The slight wind worked in our favor, allowing us to sneak up on many of them before they saw us and ran, swam or flew away.

Not far from our shelter, a turtle had propped himself up on a peat quagmire for a better position to sun himself. He heard us because of the whirr of my camera. I managed a second photo before he un-propped himself and heaved himself into the murky water to hide. We saw some Egrets and a very large alligator sunning himself in the distance. The Egrets weren't fond of our presence and flew away several times, but never really invested in enough distance to hide themselves properly. The alligator couldn't care less. He was too busy enjoying the sun.

Soon we came upon another alligator sleeping and sunning on a peat quagmire. Eventually, he woke up and made a halfhearted attempt to hide from us. He slid into the water from his head up to his torso, leaving the back half still exposed on the peat. Sort of an alligator imitating an ostrich.

Soon we reached the Suwannee Canal junction and picked up the orange trail on the canal to head for home. We had 8 miles of slowly meandering, tree-enclosed canal ahead of us. Without the wind blowing, the day quickly began to feel like summer. Wildlife sightings weren't as frequent as in the prairie, but we were treated to a few turtles, lizards, birds and swimming alligators as we paddled.

We decided to break for lunch after the second swimming alligator. This one seemed pretty domesticated as far as alligators go. As he swam on canal right, he watched us pass on canal left. We rafted up for lunch after he was about a hundred yards behind us. He kept swimming toward us, slowly ambling through the water. When he got closer, he swam to the opposite side of the canal and watched. We decided to move on and finish our meal at the nearby day use shelter. This time, he didn't follow. I guess he figured out that he wasn't getting any handouts from us.

At the shelter, we finished our lunch with a chorus of alligators around us. Spring is their mating season, so we weren't sure if they were arguing over territory, attempting to claim mates or just swapping recipes. Of course none, not even our swimming friend, were nearby.

We saw more boaters as we got closer to the boat ramp at Suwannee Canal. The first group was canoe party on an overnight permit, heading toward the shelter we left that morning. Other groups passed in john boats and the bigger guided tour boats. Eventually, these boats had to turn around. The polite boaters dropped their motors to idle speed as they passed us. The less polite boaters drove right past trailing decent-sized wakes. Of course, the whitewater boaters in us took over and we tried to surf the wakes. The trick was to catch the wake long enough to enjoy it but get off it before getting washed into the trees. One of the tour groups thought we were trying to grab on to their boat for a ride. The operator knew better and gunned the engine just for us.

Despite all the commotion, we saw a couple more alligators and birds in the last few miles, including a pair of goldfinches that looked like they were playing tag.

Compared to the prairie, the canal was a tad on the boring side. Still, the end came too quickly. The trail split for incoming and outgoing traffic to not trip over each other. The number of signs increased. Then, the boat ramp was in sight.

Weekday traffic meant the ramp wasn't in high demand. Most of the park visitors were doing the tourist thing with the rented boats or the guided tours. We were able to unload our boats without being in anyone's way. We moved everything off to the side and began working on the final puzzle. How were we going to fit a flatwater canoe, two sea kayaks and four people's gear on top and in the back of Lucas's pickup truck? The ropework was quite artistic, but the back of the truck wasn't as stuffed to the gills as we feared.

We headed to the put-in to retrieve Gene and Sheila's truck and to make a final sort of the gear. We finished sorting and loading just after dark and said our goodbyes to each other and to the swamp. Alligators croaked in the distance.