My wife and I are thinking about taking the kayaks down to the Okefenokee Saturday. We’ve never taken the boats there before. Where to go? I assume we can put in and take out at the same location since we’ll have one vehicle. Hopefully we won’t be fighting a current??? Is there any place along the way to get out for a picnic? Most likely this will be a 3 hour trip as apposed to an all day one since she’s rather new at this. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks…
Click on Places To Paddle
There are a few trip reports posted there.
If the wife is new to the yak, I hope you have good insurance. Wouldn’t want to flip out the yak in the swamp.
okefenokee
the okefenokee is a wonderful place in its wildness. good day trips could be had from several points along the way. the current is negligible over most of the swamp. there are few places to get out of the boat over most of the swamp. i would recommend a trip starting from the stephen foster state park access located on the southern end of the refuge, paddling north across billy’s lake to reach billy’s island where you can get out of the boats and walk around looking for remnants of the human presence on this island. the round trip would be approx. 5 miles. if you wanted more you could explore some of the red trail, with a couple of day use shelters along the way, or the brown trail leading to the suwannee sill area. you’ll for sure see gators and a variety of birdlife. remember to take some insect repellant along! hope you have a good trip.
harry
The Okeefenokee is a great place!
The Okeefenokee is a great place to paddle. Every March I go to Stephen Foster State Park for the weekend. We usually paddle on up to Billy’s Island and then up towards Minnie’s Lake. I’ve never noticed the current being a problem.
A question in the same venue…
When do the bugs get unbearable for summer, and when do they subside for the winter? When are the north/south bird migrations through the swamp?
where from
What part of the state are you Georgia guys located?
Valdosta
North Georgia
I’m in the mountains.
Cabinwood?
How’s the Chestattee over by Dahlonaga? We hope the rain brought it up a little. We will be there next weekend Memorial Day.
Once the day time temps get up into
the 80’s and the night times stay in the mid 60’s and higher, the mosquitoes get bothersome. In that latitude, the bugs begin getting difficult to live with by mid-May, earlier sometimes. Actually, when I’m on the water, the bugs aren’t generally bad, it on shore where the problem begins. Thank God for DEET and pink skinned people with blood veins close to the skin. I generally try to go with one of those types. For some reason, the biters don’t bother darker skin with yellowish tones as much in my experience.
Sorry,
but I haven’t been over that way. We did have quite a bit of rain up here in the mountains last weekend.