- Over 400,000 acres in size, the Okefenokee Swamp is an incredibly diverse and beautiful ecosystem that straddles the Georgia-Florida border and is protected by the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Swamp wilderness.

But the Swamp is best known for its impressive population of American alligators.

One of the other things that makes the Okefenokee so unique is the 130 miles of water trails that provides access to parts of the swamp that would normally be inaccessible.

Even better, a variety of shelters are built throughout the park.

Some are only for day use, but many are overnight camp platforms that provide paddlers with an incredible opportunity to spend the night in the heart of the swamp.

After spending a couple of days exploring the outer edge of the Okefenokee, it's time to make a deeper dive.

And so we're packing our camp gear and making the three day 30 mile paddle across the refuge, including a section known to be home to the biggest gators in the swamp.

(energetic saxophone music) ♪ Yay (human vocalizing) (snappy music intensifying) My name's Ken Whiting and for over 30 years, my life has been guided by the paddle in my hand.

This is my search for the world's most spectacular paddling destinations, this is Facing Waves.

(human vocalizing) Funding for facing waves is provided by Discover the World.

Collette offers small group explorations, tours, destinations and local experiences designed especially for small groups.

Explorations by Collette Guided travel since 1918 Postum Instant warm beverage made with wheat, grain and molasses.

It's non-GMO and caffeine free.

Since 1895, all three flavors are available online at Postum.com and by these additional sponsors.

♪♪♪ (snappy saxophone music) (human vocalizing) (energetic guitar music) So we're at the launch site.

We're about to head off on a three day trip into the swamp, and this is the kind of trip I absolutely love.

It's my favorite type of trip.

I'm taking out a new kayak, whereas Dan, who's joining me, he is in a canoe, which is awesome because it means he can take a whole lot more gear, food, water, this is easy camping.

(energetic music continues) - We're, oh, we're right here.

Yep, we're starting today at the Kingfisher Landing, which is our northeastern entrance.

We're gonna be heading down what's called the King's Canal, which was originally dug as a peat mining canal, and that's our access point here, up to Mall Hammock tonight, really wide open prairie through today's paddle.

And then tomorrow we're gonna make a turn into the middle fork of the Suwannee River and following the middle fork down, Big Water is gonna be our second overnight stop.

And then paddling out here to Steven C. Foster State Park, our western entrance.

- Right on, total length?

- Total length, about 31 miles altogether.

- Sweet.

- It's gonna be a beautiful paddle.

- Well, let's do it.

- Onward.

(snappy music) - The trail we're paddling today is very maintenance intensive.

We're gonna go through some areas just like this very dense brush where it's taken a lot of work to keep this trail open and maintained.

So we really give a lot of thanks to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge staff and the work they put in out here to make it possible to canoe and kayak these areas, because this is not a natural water trail, we're gonna be on today.

We're gonna be meeting the Suwannee River tomorrow and paddling that for a few days.

But this water trail today, it took a lot of work to open up and it takes a lot of work to maintain.

So thank you to the folks who, who put in all that work.

- This section is considered an advanced section, largely because of the remote nature of the section and because in particular, the first day of the paddle is 12 miles, and if you have great conditions like we seem to today, then shouldn't be so bad.

But you have strong wind and you have some weather to contend with, then it can be a real challenge.

(upbeat music) So all this vegetation is, for the most part, it's actually floating.

It's not rooted right into the ground.

- Right, yeah, out here in the peat bog environment of these peat prairies, basically all the organic debris that falls into the water isn't gonna fully decompose 'cause the water is an anaerobic environment.

There's not oxygen to fuel decomposition.

And they'll slowly decompose with the help of anaerobic bacteria that release methane gas.

They'll become buoyant and pop up off the bottom of the swamp forming floating islands that become the platform for beautiful vegetation and little floating gardens that eventually are gonna become a large forested island covered with cypress trees.

You can see when I push on the paddle, this whole area is floating actually on the surface of the water.

And though the origin of the word Okefenokee is a Native American word, that that meant land of the trembling earth because of how this environment will just move and shake underneath your feet When you walk through there, - You know, there's two real factors that dictate what type of a paddling experience you're gonna have.

Obviously, the environment that you're in, that has a big impact, but then it's the people you're paddling with.

And when you paddle with a naturalist like Dan, it's also like a crash course in biology.

- That's the Blue Flag Iris, a calopogon tuberosus, tuberous grasspink, yellow pitcherplant over here, Sarracenia flava, Pogonia ophioglossoides, the rose pogonia orchid.

It's not one that grows all over the refuge.

So when I see it, I get really excited.

Well, a naturalist is a natural interpreter.

Somebody you know well acquainted with the area they're working in, who can put things into simple, plain language and help people to understand and learn about the environment they're in.

And people think of the swamp as being a dark, dank place, scary, but it's really beautiful.

And getting a chance to come out here with somebody knowledgeable to the area is a really fantastic experience to really gain some knowledge and gain some appreciation for this environment.

(snappy guitar music) - When you think about camping in a swamp, camping on such a luxurious platform is not what comes to mind.

But that's the joy of this place, camping does not get much better than this.

- Backcountry camping out here on our platforms is a really unique experience.

And they're very comfortable camp sites.

They all have a roof and a picnic table and a bathroom right there for you, often just placed right out in the middle of the swamp.

It's an amazing experience to have all the wildlife right around you and the, the night sounds are just incredible.

(gentle music) - Well, what an amazing 12 miles of paddling, finish with chicken Alfredo amongst a chorus of frogs.

It doesn't get any better than this except, for the fact that we get to do this again tomorrow, love it.

(gentle guitar music) (energetic guitar music) - Man, what a beautiful night we just had.

Clear, clear skies, no moon, the stars were out and we dropped down to about 50 degrees, which was really refreshing, after such a hot day, even though we still have nine miles to go today to the next camp spot, should be an interesting day.

The the terrain is gonna change quite a bit as we get into the Suwannee River itself, but I'm gonna enjoy every minute before we hit the water.

(energetic guitar music) - Bye-Bye.

- [Dan] See ya, Mall Hammock.

- Mall hammock.

It's day two of our three day trip across Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and we've got nine miles to cover today.

We're paddling from Mall Hammock to Big Water Shelter and I'm looking forward to it.

- So Dan, what have we got in store for us today?

- Well, we've got about nine miles from Mall Hammock down to Big Water.

The first two miles is kind of our last miles of this eastern prairie, this really wide open fire-dominated area.

And then we're gonna make a sharp turn into the middle fork of the Suwannee River and we're gonna catch the current of the river and it's gonna really change from there, really dense cypress forests gonna be a lot more closed in than we had over yesterday and this morning.

- Cool.

- The Suwannee River is just a beautiful river from start to finish.

It starts right here in the Okefenokee.

This is the headwaters of the river.

And from where we are, you know, up at the, the Middle Fork, it's gonna be over 240 miles all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, where it empties out right at Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge.

So it starts in a wildlife refuge, finishes in a wildlife refuge, and it's just a gorgeous river along the way.

- I love how you go from these tight little corridors to these open prairies.

- The wide open areas are really evidence of the fires that are burned through here.

Anywhere we see this open grass land it means there's pretty recent fire impacts and especially the eastern side of the Okefenokee is a really fire-dependent ecosystem.

And when the fires are really intense, when we get what we call a prairie-making fire, it'll actually burn down into that peat layer, excavating out the swamp and forming new ponds and lakes.

And that's all the standing water we see out here is evidence of that fire as well.

If we get a deep lake or pond, that's because fire has burned the peat to excavate that out.

- Oh wow.

- This eastern prairie area, a lot of it appears very wide open grassland and that's because of very heavy fire impacts, it's a fire dependent ecosystem.

Fires will burn through clearing out the forest and the brush opening it back up to a wide open grassland and that's a fantastic beneficial cycle there.

There's so much wildlife that loves these very open areas and in the plant community, in the years after the burn is just beautiful.

(energetic guitar music) As we get over to the western side of the Okefenokee, the environment really changes around us from the very open eastern prairie to the huge bald cypress forest that dominates the western side.

And it's gonna be beautiful along the way for the next two days, just gorgeous large cypress forest.

Even growing out into the water around us, it's just like an iconic, beautiful scene.

- My neck was already sore from looking back and forth and checking out everything down below.

And now my neck is gonna get doubly sore 'cause I have to look up.

One of the things I love about multi-day trips is you have time to go through very different ecosystems and things have changed a lot today.

We've gotten into some gorgeous big cypress trees with beautiful Spanish moss hanging off of it.

There's been tight sections, there's been wide sections with pads.

It's really been a beautiful transformation and shown a whole different side of the swamp.

So we've been making some good time here.

Where are we?

- Oh, we are right here, just past mile marker 18 where we see the little paddler icon on the map.

- [Ken] Oh yeah.

- And yeah, we left Mall Hammock out in the open prairie.

You can see all the open water on that map, made that sharp left hand turn into the middle fork of the Suwannee and we've been feeling that river current and now it's really channelizing into this deep forest.

You can tell on the map.

- Yeah.

- It's tightening in around us.

We see more of that dark green of the heavy forest and we're feeling this great shade.

- So three miles of, of heavier forest straight south pretty much.

- Yep, yeah, and then Big Water is a nice open spot, cypress forest around its beautiful location.

- Well, we're gonna get to camp with plenty of time, but not if we don't get moving.

(bright folk music) Home sweet home.

When we came around the corner and saw Mall Hammock shelter last night, I remember saying to myself, wow, that is one of the coolest campsites I've ever seen.

and then I saw Big Water Shelter, that is also one of the coolest campsites I've ever seen in one of the most Jurassic like settings.

Oh, well those nine miles were quite a bit easier.

Having the current of the Suwannee today really made a difference and wow, what a spectacular section of water.

But now, I wonder what Chef Dan has up his sleeve for dinner.

(gentle music) - One of the things I love about backcountry canoeing is the ability to, to haul gear and to put a cooler right there in the boat.

You can eat so well out here and that really elevates the experience to come out to one of these platforms and, and eat a great meal.

And I'm as excited about food in the evening and coffee in the morning as I am about anything out here.

- Boop.

- Cheers.

- Well, another great day in Okefenokee, but this day has to end 'cause these mosquitoes say so and so, it's bedtime.

(soft music) (gentle music) Well, a little sad 'cause it's the final day of this adventure, but this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful sections of river.

We will end with a bang, - The section we're paddling today from the Big Water Shelter, a little over 10 miles, down to Steven C. Foster State Park is just gorgeous, really mature cypress forest on both sides.

And it changes from really wide open lakes to really, really tight channels, weaving in and out of some of these huge cypress trees.

and it's just gorgeous.

And it ends out at Billy's Lake, a big wide open lake on the Suwannee River and we'll get to see some beautiful scenery along the way.

- Right outta the gate, leaving Big Water Shelter, we're in one of the most incredible, pre-historic looking environments with the big cypress, with Spanish moss, the pads and gators and immediately we see one of the biggest skaters of the whole trip.

Ooh, that's a big one, big sucker.

Wow, tail's still on shore.

- Yeah, this section of the middle fork is really well known for some large alligators, in Billy's Lake as well.

And as you get to the west side of the swamp, the alligators grow larger in size and you can really tell, and there's a couple different thoughts there, it's a much larger habitat for them, deeper water, large lakes, and that can help them to grow larger.

And there's some speculation that it might have to do with availability of larger prey, but when you get over here, you start noticing how big these alligators are.

- Look at that one.

- Look at that one, that is a creature.

That is a creature.

One of the coolest parts of this trip is that it's got just breathtaking scenery, but the gator factor, every shoreline that you paddle along there can be a big old reptile and can easily be a spooked big old reptile that just blows up.

And having that unknown around every corner, just changes the feel of the paddling trip.

(energetic music) (snappy saxophone music) (human vocalizing) (aligator growling) Wow.

So that's a little territorial display, I'm guessing.

He heard us coming and thought we were another gator in his space.

I'll tell you what, it worked.

it intimidated me a little bit.

- [Crew Member] 1, 2, 3, 4.

- It's our alligator mating season right now and they're very, very active this time of year.

We've been hearing some alligators bellowing, this really dramatic territoriality display and we're seeing a lot of these male alligators, patrolling their territories swimming out into the water in front of us, it's really dramatic this time of year.

- They hear us coming and they just swim out in front, check us out.

And once they realize we're bigger...

In theory, they move on, this guy's a little bit more bold.

That's a good size reptile right there, such a cool creature.

He's keeping his eye on us, but he is definitely not afraid.

Look at that, he is just watching.

What's really neat to see is how gators don't just act one way.

I mean, there's some gators that are really skittish and other gators that are really curious.

You know, they come right up to you and check you out and other gators that just look lazy.

They're just lying there like, don't bother me.

I just want a lie here.

You know, you have such a variety, in such a small area.

Well, the final push, unfortunately, only one mile to go.

(bright guitar music) I've been fortunate enough to paddle in a lot of cool places around the world, and I can say with complete sincerity that this is one of the coolest places I've ever paddled, and what's so great about it is that it's so accessible.

You know, whether you're a beginner or an experienced paddler, you can enjoy this place.

And on top of that, Okefenokee adventures really makes it easy.

You don't have to travel with kayaks.

They have the rental kayaks, they have guided trips, they have even just boat tours.

It's very easy to come here and experience what is would otherwise be a very inaccessible spot, and it's definitely something you need to put on your bucket list.

- It's easier than you might think to get out here and explore the wildlife refuge, it's an incredible experience.

- Well, sadly, our journey is coming to an end.

I hate it when multi-day trips come to an end, but it's nice to know that the next multi-day trip is not far away.

Next trip down Okefenokee is not far away.

(gentle instrumental music) Funding for facing waves is provided by Discover the World.

Collette offers small group explorations, tours, destinations and local experiences designed especially for small groups.

Explorations by Collette Guided travel since 1918 Postum Instant warm beverage made with wheat, grain and molasses.

It's non-GMO and caffeine free.

Since 1895, all three flavors are available online at Postum.com and by these additional sponsors.

♪♪♪