Keith is Trippin': March 2013

This was the 25th Southern Spring Paddle Trip!

Sunset from the Coffee Bay shelter on Wednesday

Also the most consecutive days we spent spent canoeing in the Okefenokee Swamp (7, Sunday - Saturday).

Website for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Most swamp Mileage (12+12+9+10+6+4+4) = 57 miles!

Six people were on the trip - Trip Leaders Dave Seslar and Keith Finn, COP members Jeff Haven, Walt Taylor, Michael Lange and Ann Gerhkins.

The swamp canoeing was broken up into 3 segments, each segment based out of one of the 3 entrances into the swamp.

Oh, by the way, some definitions:

Swamp - Swamp in Wikipedia

Bog - Bog in Wikipedia

Marsh - Marsh in Wikipedia

Fen - Fen in Wikipedia

Broadly, the Okefenokee is a swamp, with the northeastern corner having the characteristics of a Bog.

PART 1: SUNDAY and MONDAY

First trip was an overnight trip from Kingfisher Landing to Maul Hammock Lake, and back to Kingfisher Landing the next day. This was the longest paddle of the trip, and the second day turned out to be the most difficult day of paddling we had.

Last time I made this paddle was in February, 2004. The fires in 2007 and 2011 affected this portion in sporadic areas. What Dave and I both noticed was a lot more of the "hedgy" growth along the trail - we remembered the trail to be more in open prairie than what we saw on this trip.

first part of the trip to Maul Hammock

As an out and back, I would not do this portion again. The trip to Bluff Lake is 8 miles instead of 12, and would allow you to explore more interesting areas just south of Bluff Lake.

a really skinny alligator

We had just a slight current on trip to Maul Hammock, making me apprehensive for the paddle back on Monday. The 12 miles in this part of the Okefenokee is, IMHO, the equivalent to 24-30 miles on a typical river trip. Adding in a just a slight current to fight will make that much more difficult!

paddling thru a burned over section

The mile markers went by slowly. My new Old Town Penobscot 16, on it's first trip proved to be a pleasant surprise. It has a superior glide compared to my Wenonah Rendezvous - the Rendezvous is slower but more maneuverable the Penobscot is faster but harder to turn. A good choice for this trip!

Me in my Old Town Penobscot 16

Jeff and Walt at Mile marker 7.

We keep slogging along, in and out of narrow water trails bordered by hedges that occasionally open out into broad, lily pad covered "lakes". As it turned out, the last mile marker we see is for mile 9, the others had been burned and not replaced. My bad right shoulder was acting up by mile 8, and I took a long break to give it a rest at that time. That was a good move, the pain and cramping eased off and I was fine for the next 4 miles.

Onward we slogged! The faster kayakers had long since left the slower canoes behind. And here is when being a more experienced paddler was a problem. Michael Lange had asked a kayaker we had seen earlier in the day about the Maul Hammock platform, and the person gave him some general directions to reach the platform from the trail. I didn't ask, because I had been to the platform before, I KNEW where is was!

Except I didn't. The platform had been burned down, and the refuge people had built a new platform in a different place. I hunted around quite a bit before I heard voices in a direction opposite to where I was searching. After some difficulties in changing directions in a narrow trail, I was able to home in on my yammering companions and found the new Maul Hammock shelter. Notice I didn't follow the signs to the shelter. That is because there aren't any!

The new shelter was a very pleasant surprise - situated in the open on Maul Hammock Lake, with a most salubrious aspect. Dave and Ann arrived shortly after I did, and camp was set and dinner started. A most peaceful evening ensued, interrupted only by occasional downpours and the gentle swaying of the platform when someone walked about.

sunset over Maul Hammock Lake

Monday morning is cool and damp, but the rains are gone. We pack up and head out on the looonnnnggg slog back to Kingfisher Landing. One odd thing on Monday morning - we had 2 bull alligators doing their bellow/growl. A bit early in the season for that. The Sound!

The long paddle (10 am to 6pm) leaves plenty of time for my active imagination. Here is a series of thoughts I had while looking at a mat of sphagnum peat moss

peat moss in the wild

why don't woodpeckers get concussions? Article!
Would there be a market for ranch raised opossum? Yes!
How silly it was for native american women to be forced into the "moon hut" during her menses. How modern women would not put up with that. Then, hey! The women are getting away from men and family for one week out of every month, what a break. I always assumed this was a Man's idea, but maybe not! Maybe this was a "Brer rabbit" ploy from the women. I pondered all this while looking a mat of sphagnum peat moss, a natural Kotex pad.

Sometimes it is fun to live in my mind.

Monday is HOT! Mid 80's at least. Slog, slog, slog, paddle, paddle, paddle...

a pretty big gator does not mind the heat

After a very long, hot, tiring day - we get back to Kingfisher Landing at about 6pm.

Nobody wants to camp tonight, so head back to the Western Hotel in Folkston for a shower. Dinner that night is at the Okefenokee Restaurant. They have fried catfish in the buffet! Review!

PART 2: TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY - THURSDAY

Second trip was an two night trip from Suwanee Canal Recreation Area (SCRA) to the Monkey Lake shelter. Then Monkey Lake to Coffee Bay Shelter, and then Coffee bay back to the SCRA. We had breakfast at the Huddle House. Should have known better.

We have gotten pretty good at getting the boats and gear off and out of the vehicles. We are on the water by 10:30 am - even without some officious little twit getting on our case (note, that is a bitter interlude from years ago, the current staff is really very nice...)

ANYWAY...we have a 9 mile paddle to Monkey Lake. Most of this is new to me, and a very nice trip it is. We were in a lot of open prairie wetlands. A very nice day, not as hot as Monday. As usual, Michael takes the lead and paddles out of my sight. It is just a nice paddle today, does not feel like endless slog. No real twinge of shoulder pain today, and it feels good to have the really hard paddling behind us.

on the way to Monkey Lake

For whatever reason, this a just a nice day to paddle.

The Monkey Bay shelter is tucked in a woodsy pocket out of sight of Monkey Bay Lake. Too bad, cause this is one buggy shelter. Not too bad this time of year, but in another month - ug!

Monkey Lake aerial view.

Still, another pleasant evening. We had some raccoons try to visit, but no serious assaults.

Wednesday - Monkey Lake to Coffee Bay

Wednesday dawned gray and cloudy, with a chilly breeze. A cold front is moving thru. We have a 10 mile paddle to get to Coffee Bay, so we best get going. As it turns out, I misplaced my camera for most of the day, so no pictures until I get to Coffee Bay and found where I had "lost" it. We had some light rain, and just enough to keep you in rain gear for most of the day. Again, a very nice paddle for the day, and the rain kept the larger wading birds in the wet prairies. Saw a lot a Wood Storks today - a bonus. Had not seen many of these in prior trips.

Wood Storks!

The route backtracks about 6 miles of the trail we paddled, and then we branch off towards the west to find the Orange trail again. Part of what we paddle is the wider power boat channel, but no power boats out today!
Coffee Bay is where we stayed on our overnight last year, and it is a newer shelter. Very nice. One bonus is that with a canoe, I can unload the boat from the edge of the platform without dragging the boat onto shore. The height of the canoe and the height of the platform and the depth of the water all conspire to allow me to lay on my stomach and comfortably unload my boat.

boat loading from platform edge

Have I mentioned my Tent Cot? This has been working out very well on the trip! A very good choice for an Okefenokee trip, but it is an awkward burden on the boat. We call it the Helipad when it is strapped on the back of the boat. It takes up very little room on the platform, and has been a very comfortable sleeping space.

Tent Cot with rain fly at Coffee Bay

starting dinner

sunset Wednesday

Wednesday night is Cold! No frost, but temps dropped into the 30's.

Thursday - Coffee Bay to Suwanee Canal Recreation Area (SCRA)

Thursday morning dawns clear and cold. I do not fell like getting out of my cozy sleeping space, but I do...and have a very rare cup O coffee. We have an easy 6 mile paddle today.

trees that burned but survived

We will traverse much of area burned in 2011. Another nice surprise is the Orange Trail that used to be shared with power boats has been allowed to revert back to just a canoe trail. Makes for a nicer paddle!

this used to be a wide open channel for power boats!

Another pleasant day of paddling, my hands are hardened up nicely, my shoulder has given me no problems since Monday afternoon, I am eating OK - my allergies to maple tree flowers is NA is part of the world... things are just duckky. No sunburn even!

We stop for lunch at the junction to the Cedar Hammock trail and the Orange trail. I hear people talk about some really small alligators, and hear "chirps" that may be the noise from a really young gator. Then I spot 4 small alligators just a few feet from me - these are the smallest ones I have ever seen in the swamp, probably late hatchlings from last year, maybe 7 to 9 months old. The Sound!

really young alligators

So we saunter back into the Suwanee Canal Recreation Area, and once again do the tear down / unload / load truck routine.

Tonight we are going to stay in Cabin #9 at Stephen Foster State Park! We got a cabin there a couple of years ago, and they are fairly priced and very comfortable. We are packed up and are on the road to the Stephen C. Foster State park, and our cabin. Dave is making burritos for us tonight! It is 72 miles to get to the western entrance of the swamp.

We arrive at 5:15pm, and find the office is closed. I was told we had to be there by 10pm, but there is nothing to tell us how to find a staff person to get the keys. After wandering around a bit, a fellow cabineer tells me we have to find one of the staff residences and they will know what to do. After some time and a couple of knocked doors (and one pissed off staffer...) we find the on duty guy and we get the keys.

As anticipated, the cabin is very nice. Dinner is had, and I picked up some eggs and bread for breakfast in the morning.

The only real disappointment we have is the the Big Bang Theory was pre-empted by the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

PART 3:FRIDAY - SATURDAY

Now we have a short paddle into a very beautiful section of the swamp. Just 4 miles to the Minnies Lake Platform, thru the big cypress tree section of the swamp. We are actually paddling the East Fork of the Suwanee River.

loading again...

And another really nice day of paddling. That sounds monotonous, but is is not! We paddle for a mile or so on the wide open Billy's Lake, and the head up to Minnies Lake.

Jeff gives me some batteries and my camera is resurrected

This has to be one of my favorite trips in the Oke.

Blue Flags

And after a short day, we find the Minnie's Lake platform. This also serves as the rest stop for boaters in this section of the swamp, so we will be sharing it for a while.

and our new safety director is?

Dave and Michael head north to check out where the Big Water platform used to be. Jeff leaves a little later for somewhere else, Walt and Ann take naps. I start my Vegan Dinner.

We are having Mushroom Rice with fake vegan beef slices and a Thai Noodle soup.

Another peaceful night (many owls and frogs, but no Raccoon Raiders.) Ann did have to rescue a Cotton Mouse that got trapped in a ziploc bag.

Saturday morning is cool and humid, with Ominous Skies. We are packing up when the first Tourist boats start checking in. The first group was some kayakers, and nice people. Then a motor boat full of younger kids and parents shows up, and it is time to go! Just as the thunderstorms starts up, even more people are headed for the shelter in motorboats! We vamoose!

Saturday Morning departure

The rain starts slowly, and then commences into a genuine downpour. I was last off the platform, and the only person I see in our group is an occasional glimpse of Jeff. This is fine, we do not want to bunch up in a thunderstorm. From what I have researched on lightning storms in a swamp environment, we are best off in our boats, away from land / water interface, and not bunched up. This is what we do.

Hard Rain! Even the gators are hidden now.

Jeff and I arrive back at Stephen Foster State Park at the same time. Everyone else is there and we commence to tear down and pack up. While ANYTHING is bearable on the last day, this is a really sucky packing situation. Everything in the back of the truck is now wet. Tempers get a bit frayed, but no handles fly off and we get things put away. I decide we need to take pirate showers at the campground, and that does raise some spirits. Lunch is then done in the warn and dry Suwanee River Cafe in Fargo, and we decide to take I-75 north to get home.