Okefenokee Swamp – Land of the Trembling Earth

My friend Lee Howard does a fantastic blog called Way Into. His posts are filled with gorgeous photography that makes you want to drop whatever you’re doing and head out. He also finds the quirky and offbeat, which I love. Here’s a taste of the Okeefenokee Swamp. Follow the links to his longer post for more information. 

By Lee Howard, Way Into Atlanta

Seeing Mother Nature at her best really feeds the soul and there’s nowhere quite like Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp to inspire awe when it comes to landscape and wildlife. The waters of the largest blackwater swamp in North America are decked with colorful lilies, are populated by alligators and, like a perfect mirror, they reflect banks of tall cypress trees draped in Spanish moss.

For visitors, there are three main entrances to the Okefenokee, each one offering boat trips and boardwalk trails.Okefenokee Swamp Park, the northern entrance near Waycross, has a small zoo and a railroad tour and is the most suitable for young families. 

Get a little closer to nature at the eastern entrance near Folkston. Here, the Suwannee Canal Recreation Area is a largely open prairie landscape, where you can take a boat tour, hop off and stand on the peat bogs, feeling the earth quake underfoot – Okefenokee means “land of the trembling earth”.

Feeling adventurous? The Stephen C Foster State Park is the western entrance and the most remote part of the swamp. At the park’s office you can hire kayaks, canoes, boats and book guided tours on much larger craft during the day, at sunset or, for astronomy lovers, experience programs at night. In nearby Fargo, the Suwannee River Eco-Lodge has eight comfortable cabins for hire with hot showers, A/C, a porch with rocking chairs and a kitchenette – so that both the stomach and the soul can be fed.

Find more information on Okefenokee here http://wayinto.com/atlanta/okefenokee-swamp/