Okefenokee | Blackwater Swamp

In the quest to find some semblance of remoteness here in the southeastern US, I spend a lot of time looking at maps. I used to think this might be odd, but I've found in recent years that there's actually a good community of people who enjoy this as a pastime. There's a lot of interesting geography to discover, and some of it is only appreciable from an overhead view. Besides that, map study is also a good way get a real sense of the larger region, find good spots to explore, and connect some of the dots of an area's history. After a while, you might find that some maps are even beautiful, though maybe I am wandering back into the land of the odd, saying so? Anyway, not having grown up here in Georgia, I have enjoyed catching up on all that the state has to offer. Despite it's population density and the city of Atlanta, it really does provide a great setting for outdoor pursuits. It was during my "catch-up" on the state that I learned about the place called Okefenokee. I was first surprised to learn that the place was real. For some reason, I had assumed it was from a country song or something. Since then, the Okefenokee Swamp has been scratching at the back of my mind as a place that needs a visit. My usual getaway spot, the Cohutta Wilderness, is about 40,000 acres, by way of comparison. The Okefenokee is about 400,000 acres. See that promising dark spot just NW of Jacksonville? That's it.

A bit of history from wikipedia:

"The swamp was formed over the past 6,500 years by the accumulation of peat in a shallow basin on the edge of an ancient Atlantic coastal terrace, the geological relic of a Pleistocene estuary. The swamp is bordered by Trail Ridge, a strip of elevated land believed to have formed as coastal dunes or an offshore barrier island. The St. Marys River and the Suwanee River both originate in the swamp. The Suwanee River originates as stream channels in the heart of Okefenokee Swamp and drains at least 90% of the swamp's watershed southwest towards the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Marys River, which drains only 5–10% of the swamp's southeastern corner, flows south along the western side of Trail Ridge, through the ridge at St. Marys River Shoals, and north again along the eastern side of Trail Ridge before turning east to the Atlantic."

"Longtime residents of the Okefenokee Swamp, referred to as "Swampers", are of overwhelmingly English ancestry. Due to relative isolation, the inhabitants of the Okefenokee used Elizabethan phrases and syntax, preserved since the early colonial period when such speech was common in England, well into the twentieth century.[2] The Suwanee Canal was dug across the swamp in the late nineteenth century in a failed attempt to drain the Okefenokee. After the Suwanee Canal Company's bankruptcy, most of the swamp was purchased by the Hebard family of Philadelphia, who conducted extensive cypress logging operations from 1909 to 1927. Several other logging companies ran railroad lines into the swamp until 1942; some remnants remain visible crossing swamp waterways. On the west side of the swamp, at Billy's Island, logging equipment and other artifacts remain of a 1920s logging town of 600 residents. Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the 403,000 acre (1630 km²) Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge."

Well, the good news is that I am going to get a chance to spend a few days exploring a small area of the eastern side of the swamp next month with a good friend of mine. We have about 30 miles of paddling planned over 3 days. And although 30 miles means pretty fair paddle distances each day on flat water,  we are only going to get to visit a tiny portion of this huge wilderness.