Views from the Big Country: Our Summer Travels ~ From Shrimpin' to Swampin'. The Okefenokee Swamp!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Our friend, Lynn Bishop, loves swamps as much as we do. She's told us how much she loves the Okefenokee Swamp and we really should visit it. Even though it was hot (it's always hot here) we decided to go to the swamp. We drove to Folkston...

Our first stop was at the Visitors Center where we gathered the information we needed...

making a plan

We decided to take the Swamp Drive to the Chesser Island Boardwalk and Owls Roost Tower...

the drive is a seven mile loop

Some sights along the drive...

Longleaf Pine Restoration. Once covering 90 million acres in the southeast,
fewer than 3 million acres remain. Prior to the refuge, most of the longleaf had been
harvested and replaced with faster growing pine species. Okefenokee
is restoring longleaf habitats on refuge uplands.

longleaf pine restoration.

Prescribed burning is a management tool used in these pine forests to
maintain the open understory.

still smoldering

A slight elevation change creates this hardwood hammock where oaks and
other deciduous trees are common. Black bears and turkeys
love this area. They feed on acorns and other fruit.

hardwood hammock

The low growing, fan shaped, Saw Palmetto is common in the southeast US.

saw palmetto

The long, narrow ponds along the road are called "borrow" ditches where material for the road was dug,
and never returned. They are rich in aquatic animal and plant life. Alligators and turtles are happy here.

borrow ditches

Notice the white bands on the trunks? These are cavity trees for red-cockaded woodpeckers.
These birds depend on the longleaf pine forest, and require mature trees that are at least 60 years old.
Loss of the mature longleaf pine forest is a major reason the species is endangered.
Since these woodpeckers use living trees, it takes them longer to complete a cavity
than other woodpeckers that use dead trees. We were fortunate to see a couple of these birds;
they were too fast for us to snap a picture.

the bands are easy to spot

Soon, we arrived at the Chesser Island Boardwalk. This walk will take us to Owls Roost Tower.

It was HOT; we decided to walk it anyway.

we always pick the hottest times...

and we're off. I've got three bottles of water in my bag

In 2011-2012 the Honey Prairie Fire roared through Okefenokee. The landscape and boardwalk have changed significantly since that fire. The old, wooden boardwalk built in 1969 was destroyed. This new boardwalk has been built to more likely withstand the next fire. It is made of a composite of recycled plastic and wood (Trex) and is protected by 88 sprinkler heads.

On average, intense wildfires burn the swamp on 20-year cycles following periods of drought.

This habitat is "fire adapted" meaning certain trees and plants are resistant to, and may even benefit, from fire.

notice these stumps? these are the remains from the original
boardwalk

The majority of our walk was in the sun. Three shelters lined the boardwalk along the way.

almost there

we were so grateful for the shade

green anole lizard hanging out. because they can change
colors, they are often mistaken for chameleons

"Okefenokee" was named by the Native Americans as the "land of the trembling earth." If you were to walk on what looks like solid ground, you would be surprised to find that it is merely floating. Over time, as the peat accumulates, these floating "batteries" may become solid islands in the swamp.