The Okefenokee Swamp – Morning on Billy’s Lake

Thursday, March 12, 2015 – After a breakfast of freeze-dried biscuits and gravy, we loaded the cooler and our packs for a full day of paddling. We were going to press further up the Suwanee River than on our guided tour, perhaps 10 miles up closer to the heart of the swamp. Coming upon Billy’s Lake at the outset of the journey was a serene, moving experience. A hush fell over my daughter and me and we dared only to whisper rather than break the crystalline stillness. The water is a pane of glass, reflecting the tall cypress and gently swaying Spanish Moss; the light breeze, the buoyant lily pads, the echo of swishing oars…  we see no other paddlers, hear no motors… we sit and the drift is taking us. A beautiful place; an alien world found nowhere else. Perhaps not the most hospitable, but sure the hand of the Creator is here.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 – After a breakfast of freeze-dried biscuits and gravy, we loaded the cooler and our packs for a full day of paddling. We were going to press further up the Suwanee River than on our guided tour, perhaps 10 miles up closer to the heart of the swamp. Coming upon Billy’s Lake at the outset of the journey was a serene, moving experience. A hush fell over my daughter and me and we dared only to whisper rather than break the crystalline stillness. The water is a pane of glass, reflecting the tall cypress and gently swaying Spanish Moss; the light breeze, the buoyant lily pads, the echo of swishing oars… we see no other paddlers, hear no motors… we sit and the drift is taking us. A beautiful place; an alien world found nowhere else. Perhaps not the most hospitable, but sure the hand of the Creator is here.

An excerpt from my Okefenokee Nature Journal…