— 24 - Georgia 7 Natural Wonders —

Okefenokee Swamp – The Final Georgia Natural Wonder

February 16, 2019

I woke up in Valdosta, GA, at my best friend’s apartment. After my solo trip to Radium Springs, I made my way further south to Valdosta where I would stay for the evening. I had two goals with this trip. The first being to visit the Okefenokee Swamp, preferably through a guided boat tour. The second was to visit my best friend since 4th grade, who was currently working and living in Valdosta and in need of a work break and a visitor. We spent the night catching up with some of her friends also stopping by talking and did not wake up on time the next morning. It was the day to visit the site of my last Georgia 7 Natural Wonders, the Okefenokee Swamp, and we were now on a time crunch. She had to be to work by 1:30 p but had graciously agreed to come with me to the swamp, which was about an hour and a half away from her apartment. When we finally woke up, it was already 9 am, so we were now within a very narrow of window of being able to make it to the park and actually tour the swamp at all. In my research to prep for this trip, I learned that there are actually 3 different parks along the swamp – The Stephen C. Foster State Park, Okefenokee Adventures, and Okefenokee Swamp Park. The first two parks offer guided boat tours but only at specific times. Measuring the distance it would take for us to get to each of the parks, do the tour activities, and return in time for my friend to go to work, we decided that we would go to Okefenokee Swamp Park.

As we drove through South Georgia, I realized how rural many parts of Georgia are, which is such a contrast from growing up and being able to call Atlanta home. However, it was calm to drive through all the fields of strawberries and trees that began transition into trees covered with moss as we got closer to swamp, which lay on the Georgia-Florida border. Each of the parks access the swamp from different south Georgia cities, as it is the largest black water swamp in North America. We ended up going through Waycross to get to the Okefenokee Swamp Park. We drove along the same road for a couple of miles before finally finding the park entrance, which led us down a road a few more miles long surrounded by tall trees as we entered into the swamp. Signs read to drive slowly as animals natural to the environment could possibly cross the road. It felt like we had just entered into a remote area as we drove along until finally we hit the welcome center for the park.  We pulled up at 10:50am with hopes of catching the 11:00am boat tour, which would last an hour and give us enough time to make it back to Valdosta for my friend to go to work.

I was extremely disappointed to find out that the boat tour for 11:00am was already full and heading off even though it was 10 minutes for the tour was supposed to be leaving. Instead, they signed us up for a train ride through out the area of the swamp covered by the park. I am a major planner, so I was also dejected that my perfect plan to end my trips to all of the 7 wonders with a boat tour in the swamp was suddenly dashed right before my eyes. Since we had come all the way to the park, my friend and I bought our tickets and headed towards the train. Since the Okefenokee Swamp Park is not a state park, the fee for the ticket was around $20. However, this ended up working out better for having more options than just a boat ride, and the train ride was also about an hour long. We hopped onto the first row of seats on the train, determined to make the most of the scenario and see all that we could. As I got on the train, we ran into Anna, who I met at Radium Springs as she also sought to complete her goal of seeing Georgia’s 7 Natural Wonders. Seeing a familiar face, I began to feel excited about doing the train ride through the swamp.

Taking the train was most likely the best and safest scenario for me to visit the swamp for the first time seeing as I can not swim. This was a place where alligators and other natural animals actually live in, the waters. As we road along the train, we were able to see the beautiful mixture of forest and lake that was the swamp. Our tour guide told us about the various creatures that called the swamp their home, stories about working in the park, and the names of some of the alligators that they track living in their part of the swamp. There were opportunities for us to get off and walk around also allowing us to see some of the alligators in the water, which was both fascinating and scary. At one point when the train stopped by a pond, one of the alligators in the water began to swim towards us as our instructor introduced him to us by the name “Big Toe.”

Overall, I was happy to have been able to see a small portion of the swamp and will have to make plans to return better prepared for the boat tour. This was a fun experience, and I was able to give my friend a well-deserved break from her normal routine of work and studying. At the end, I knew that I would have been stressed if I had done the boat tour with alligators and other things in the water when I cannot swim; so I found myself feeling grateful for the way the tour worked itself out.

With this final visit, my birthday goal was now officially done. It was exciting but almost felt a little surreal to be done with something that had been a year in the making. Nothing went exactly as planned or even stayed on my timeline, but I enjoyed every minute of it. While I am officially done with visiting the 7 natural wonders, I have a better view of some of the different parts of Georgia, and a desire to continue spending my time in nature outside of just a birthday challenge.

How do you show support to those that you value (i.e. visiting them, words of encouragement, etc.)?

What is something that you recently accomplished?

How did it feel to reach this achievement?

How do you celebrate yourself and/or your accomplishments?

Read more about my challenge to see Georgia’s 7 Natural Wonders:

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