We returned to place we liked so much last year! If you want to experience one of last places where wildlife and nature remains wild and untamed, visit a large swamp. Though the Okefenokee Swamp was heavily logged in the 1800’s, it has for the most part returned to being very wild. The existence of American Alligators and being along the eastern flyway has helped. It has so much wildlife, it may be more than some people can handle. Mosquitoes, Snakes, Flies, bears, and very noisy birds!
We were there for the thanksgiving week 2022. The Stephen C. Foster State park stays open and has all their facilities and activities staffed and operational. The National wildlife refuge, of which the state park is inside, was closed for thanksgiving day. The State Park is almost literally in the middle of the swamp, which puts it in the middle of the wildlife refuge. The state park has 63 campsites with water and electricity, 2 bathhouses, 9 cottages, and rents motorboats, canoes, kayaks and does guided swamp tours. All for a variety of fees. See the video for 2022 costs.
There are a couple of hiking trails around the campground, and there are a few places just outside the campground in the wildlife refuge to see more and do some hiking or “car touring” wildlife viewing. One of the great discoveries I had this trip is “the Sill”. This dike was built to try to raise the water in the swamp and control wildfires in 1960. It was a total failure but now is an awesome drive to view wildlife and look down on open water and swamp creatures. While we were there, we saw lots of deer, alligators, a fox, Wood Storks and egrets, ducks and woodpeckers galore.
At the end of the road along the top of the sill is a canoe launch to paddle down the Suwannee River. There were 2 gentlemen in their late 50’s, and looking like they may have come out of the swamp to restock on beer, launching when I was there. They said the wild area they will end up at tonight was the most perfect camping spot to get away from it all. They apparently are on their 5th or 10th year. The accent was hard to understand. I’m still working on my “southern” translation skills.
The motor boat rentals were 2, 4, 6, 8 hrs for various prices averaging about $25/hr. So we decided to take the ranger guided tour for 1.5 hrs and get a good description of the swamps and its inhabitants. Our guide was a wealth of knowledge and pointed out historical changes, wildlife we saw, stopped at various places to detail swamp critters and plants, and overall was a great asset. I think the motorboat rental would have not been anywhere as good as the time with the ranger.
As a campground the Stephen C. Foster State park ( video from Xmas 2021)is as good as any. The bathhouse is 4 individual rooms with showers and toilets, and 2 toilet rooms only. There is also 2 laundry rooms in the bathhouse. As the bathhouses (there were 2) looked the same, I assume they were the same. I did not check them both out. We camped at Site 3, which was directly across from site 2 where we camped last year. The path to the bathhouse was right across the road from our campsite and we had a small “secret tent site” immediately behind us that made for a good place for Akela to look for the ball I threw.
Most of the wildlife refuge is thick in Palmetto plants so hiking off trail is impossible. However, amazingly snakes and small animals cruise through it like nothing. Out of the state park in the Wildlife Refuge proper, there are old roads into the pine plantations that can be hiked, but they are pretty grown up with grass and vegetation. Since we neglected to prep for ticks, we stayed out of the tall vegetation, though Akela did explore several smells into the bush. He ended up getting one very small tick on his forehead we removed that evening. Again if you haven’t gotten the tick removers from my link, do so as it’s a big help in removing ticks. LINK amazon here
Anyway, it was an awesome 4 day trip and I recommend it to anyone who really gets into the plants and animals when camping.
Another great adventure. You two have fun together. I left a comment on YouTube but a link I referenced must not have made it past the spam filter. I recently read the blog about your 2023 travel plans and I had some suggestions. The Ultimate Campgrounds app is my go to travel planner but Garmin bought it and integrated into their devices for their exclusive use. I recently discovered the Kampnik app ($2.95) and I have been comparing it to the UC app since I paid for it and I still have access to it. Kampnik is an equal and in some ways better app. The database is the venerable uscampgrounds.info website that lists 13,000 US and Canadian public campgrounds. The app utilizes the data way better than the search feature on the website. It allows you to sort by category and campground amenities such as water, electricity, sewer, etc. If you only want to see municipal campgrounds you can do that and there are plenty. The data is stored on your phone so is usable without cell service. I highly recommend Kampnik. For those who like two lane highways travel I recommend the book Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen (Amazon, 25th edition!) which has 11 classic two lane road trips and the sights to see. I have been entertained by you and the boys since we all thought we were going to see you showering naked. Funny stuff. My wife and I travel in our 2018 Expedition with our rottweiler and sometimes her half sister (our son’s rottweiler) comes along. Reppin the big dogs. Safe travels and see you on the road.
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Hi Wayne, Thanks for the comments (both). Yes my channel is set up to send potentially bad comments to a review and anything with link can go there or the link can be stripped if that is not going to change the comment. I have no idea how Google does that. And I do get some very weird comments sometimes, but these days most people realize is they don’t see it, it was stripped out.
I’m going to have to make another naked showering video since that is one of my most popular videos. Must be a click bait thing. The Cheoah Point video we almost went skinny dipping but a few boats came by as we were getting into the lake so I thought it better to just be a stripped whale instead of a all white whale.
Thanks for the recommendation on the app. I’ve been looking (not very hard) for something like that. When I do finally start my travels I will hopefully be mostly set up with reservations of reliable boondocking sites, but nothing is ever 100% so back up information is very helpful. And as you know, stealth camping in an Aliner is not realistic since you really have to set it up (Despite what Slim did). And I may check out the book too. Great info!
Thanks again, and may we meet on the road someday!!
Rick & Akela
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Rick & Akela, congratulations on your 10,000 subscriber mark, that’s quite an achievement. Anyone who has ever tried to put together a presentable video knows all the work that goes into just one.
I have been a subscriber and liked your video’s but I think the Google machine gives you extra love if you are engaging people with comments. I have been slacking and I will a comment from now on to help that algorithm. So don’t be surprised if a comment pops up on some old videos.
Wayne
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I can do without snakes and ticks. We found a tick on our Belgian Malinois ( Grady} camping this summer and it fell off him onto the bed in the camper. Thank God we spotted it and got rid of it.
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The only good way to get rid of a tick is to drop it into a small bottle of alcohol. Akela has a bottle just for him. The boys had a bottle that had over 100 ticks in it. They were tested every year and never got sick from any of them but I was really good at finding them as soon as we got back from a hike. I do spray Akela with Permitherin and that stop them very good. But he isn’t as big a bushwacker as the boys were, they were always following squirrels and chipmunks. And as far as snake, I’ve never seen one that wasn’t more interested in getting away than coming closer…lol
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That sounds like a lovely Thanksgiving weekend! I’ve never stopped at that park, but it sounds wonderful! I’ll have to make a point of it in the near future. Thank you!
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It a ways out of the way for most any route. There are 3 other parks on the other sides (South, East, North) but they are too touristy for me and really push the airboat rides and restaurants and pay for everything. I visited the southern one which is a US wildlife Refuge park, but is all run by concessionaires selling tickets to towers, boat rides, bike rentals, expensive foods. And the volunteers at the “nature center” could not tell me the name of the trees all over the forest (pine trees is as close as they could get). So I was not impressed, but they did have the neat old homestead and trails we enjoyed.
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Well written blog, nice that there are laundry facilities at the campground.. Bummer about the ticks. At least in the North you get a break from them for a few months.
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Not really. When I used to take my boys snowshoeing they would still get ticks in the state park. It is all about the density of rodents and mammals. Ticks spend most of the life on mice, squirrels, and other small creatures.
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I didn’t know that! Ugh! Thank you for letting me know.
Another great adventure. You two have fun together. I left a comment on YouTube but a link I referenced must not have made it past the spam filter. I recently read the blog about your 2023 travel plans and I had some suggestions. The Ultimate Campgrounds app is my go to travel planner but Garmin bought it and integrated into their devices for their exclusive use. I recently discovered the Kampnik app ($2.95) and I have been comparing it to the UC app since I paid for it and I still have access to it. Kampnik is an equal and in some ways better app. The database is the venerable uscampgrounds.info website that lists 13,000 US and Canadian public campgrounds. The app utilizes the data way better than the search feature on the website. It allows you to sort by category and campground amenities such as water, electricity, sewer, etc. If you only want to see municipal campgrounds you can do that and there are plenty. The data is stored on your phone so is usable without cell service. I highly recommend Kampnik. For those who like two lane highways travel I recommend the book Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen (Amazon, 25th edition!) which has 11 classic two lane road trips and the sights to see. I have been entertained by you and the boys since we all thought we were going to see you showering naked. Funny stuff. My wife and I travel in our 2018 Expedition with our rottweiler and sometimes her half sister (our son’s rottweiler) comes along. Reppin the big dogs. Safe travels and see you on the road.
Hi Wayne, Thanks for the comments (both). Yes my channel is set up to send potentially bad comments to a review and anything with link can go there or the link can be stripped if that is not going to change the comment. I have no idea how Google does that. And I do get some very weird comments sometimes, but these days most people realize is they don’t see it, it was stripped out.
I’m going to have to make another naked showering video since that is one of my most popular videos. Must be a click bait thing. The Cheoah Point video we almost went skinny dipping but a few boats came by as we were getting into the lake so I thought it better to just be a stripped whale instead of a all white whale.
Thanks for the recommendation on the app. I’ve been looking (not very hard) for something like that. When I do finally start my travels I will hopefully be mostly set up with reservations of reliable boondocking sites, but nothing is ever 100% so back up information is very helpful. And as you know, stealth camping in an Aliner is not realistic since you really have to set it up (Despite what Slim did). And I may check out the book too. Great info!
Thanks again, and may we meet on the road someday!!
Rick & Akela
Rick & Akela, congratulations on your 10,000 subscriber mark, that’s quite an achievement. Anyone who has ever tried to put together a presentable video knows all the work that goes into just one.
I have been a subscriber and liked your video’s but I think the Google machine gives you extra love if you are engaging people with comments. I have been slacking and I will a comment from now on to help that algorithm. So don’t be surprised if a comment pops up on some old videos.
Wayne
I can do without snakes and ticks. We found a tick on our Belgian Malinois ( Grady} camping this summer and it fell off him onto the bed in the camper. Thank God we spotted it and got rid of it.
The only good way to get rid of a tick is to drop it into a small bottle of alcohol. Akela has a bottle just for him. The boys had a bottle that had over 100 ticks in it. They were tested every year and never got sick from any of them but I was really good at finding them as soon as we got back from a hike. I do spray Akela with Permitherin and that stop them very good. But he isn’t as big a bushwacker as the boys were, they were always following squirrels and chipmunks. And as far as snake, I’ve never seen one that wasn’t more interested in getting away than coming closer…lol
That sounds like a lovely Thanksgiving weekend! I’ve never stopped at that park, but it sounds wonderful! I’ll have to make a point of it in the near future. Thank you!
It a ways out of the way for most any route. There are 3 other parks on the other sides (South, East, North) but they are too touristy for me and really push the airboat rides and restaurants and pay for everything. I visited the southern one which is a US wildlife Refuge park, but is all run by concessionaires selling tickets to towers, boat rides, bike rentals, expensive foods. And the volunteers at the “nature center” could not tell me the name of the trees all over the forest (pine trees is as close as they could get). So I was not impressed, but they did have the neat old homestead and trails we enjoyed.
Well written blog, nice that there are laundry facilities at the campground.. Bummer about the ticks. At least in the North you get a break from them for a few months.
Not really. When I used to take my boys snowshoeing they would still get ticks in the state park. It is all about the density of rodents and mammals. Ticks spend most of the life on mice, squirrels, and other small creatures.
I didn’t know that! Ugh! Thank you for letting me know.