Swamped With Fun - Grandparents.com

Georgia's Okefenokee is as close to a Jurassic experience as you and your grandchildren are likely to get

Tom and Penny Thoburn live full-time in their RV, spending half the year as volunteers in Georgia's state parks, including Stephen C. Foster State Park inside Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. "It's always been a favorite of ours and the children as they were growing up," they report. "What a treat it is for us now to have our grandchildren — Rachel, 12, and Stephen, 6 — share the experience as well. Often we are three generations camping together, side by side."

"Okefenokee's highlights for our grandchildren are the same as they were for our children," Penny Thoburn says, describing a primeval swamp that looks, sounds, and smells the same now as it did centuries ago. Think birdsong, the whisper of the wind in trees, scents of damp earth and fragrant water lilies and, in mating season, the husky call of alligators seeking brides.

Evening interpretive programs rate high on the grandchildren's list, and they also enjoy bike riding, hiking the trails, fishing, and especially canoeing. In fact, all three generations learned to canoe in the swamp. "This year," Thoburn says, "Rachael went kayaking on her own for the first time. She was very proud of herself, and Tom and I were proud grandparents, as well."

A Unique Ecosystem

Nature stays the same decade after decade in this unique ecosystem of more than 400,000 acres in southeast Georgia, yet every day brings surprises. The Thoburns have spotted alligators, turtles, waterbirds galore, otters, deer, fox, raccoon and occasionally a black bear with her cubs. "Oh, the excitement in a child's eyes the first time he sees an alligator or bear!" Thoburn enthuses.

Typical fauna

No other natural phenomenon in the nation is like Okefenokee, a place named with the Indian words meaning "Place of Trembling Earth." A vast, shallow basin of freshwater is filled with "islands" that are actually city-size tangles of floating peat. Many are large enough to be home to plants, animals, and even massive trees, yet the earth can quiver underfoot. Small clumps look so deceptively solid, an unwary visitor might fall right through. It’s best to stay on paths and boardwalks, and to tour with ranger guides.

Water spills out of the Okefenokee basin to form the St. Marys River flowing east to the Atlantic, and the mighty Suwannee River, which flows across northern Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s possible to launch a canoe in the Refuge and paddle your way to saltwater.

People of the Swamp

Hunting and fishing in Okefenokee supported Native American settlements as early as 4,000 years ago. Squatters known as Okefenokee Folk lived off the land here until the

Taking it to the swamp

early 20th century, when logging companies came to harvest cypress trees. Ridges of high ground were firm enough to support a rail line to carry the lumber. A bustling community on Billy’s Island held schools, a church, hotels, stores, and homes. Now, almost nothing is left but the old cemetery, where one gravesite is reserved by the government for the last survivor of a family that lived here for four generations.

"Our favorite adventure is to paddle canoes to Billy’s Island and search for traces of bygone days," says Thoburn. "This always yields stories to share around the evening campfire along with the marshmallows." Little remains of the settlement, which can be reached only by boat, but relics found here raise endless questions. Who owned the strange, right-hand-drive automobile that lies in rusty ruins? Which plants did early settlers use to cure headaches or broken bones? What could pioneer children buy at the general store?

Visitors can get into the Refuge from three points. The north entrance at Waycross is closest to Atlanta and has the largest choice of lodgings and man-made attractions. The park here has boat tours, wildlife talks, canoe rentals, an old train and depot, an 1850s homestead, a forestry museum, and an 18-hole golf course. Don’t miss the self-guided walking tour of historic downtown Waycross.

From Fargo, to the west, you enter Stephen C. Foster State Park, which has a campground with electric and water hookups, nine rental cottages, nature trails, boat launch, rental canoes and motorboats, and guided ranger tours and programs. A museum honors Stephen Foster, whose song made the Suwannee River famous, and Walt Kelly, whose Pogo comic strip put Okefenokee in the national spotlight.

The Refuge can also be entered from the east at Folkston. The kid-friendly visitor center

Lush flora

here has interactive exhibits, a boardwalk and observation tower, a restored homestead, and trails for bicycles and boats. Folkston has quaint B&Bs, an 18-hole golf course, and a viewing platform where rail buffs from all over the world come to watch a nonstop parade of passing trains.

The Refuge is open all year. Spring and fall offer the most comfortable temperatures. Summers are humid, hot, and buggy, but the nature show is at its busiest. In winter, nature slumbers in quiet beauty. Cold fronts can bring stinging winds and frost.

"When I grow up, I want to be a camp host like Papa and give boat tours in the swamp," little Stephen recently told his grandparents. Says Thoburn, "These are the things we will cherish forever."