Hundreds of ALLIGATORS | 2 Nights in the Okefenokee

In short: This is a two-night canoe trip into the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia, paddling through Minnie's Lake surrounded by hundreds of alligators. The video shows what it is actually like to move a loaded canoe through a stretch thick with gators, how to keep your head when the big ones are a foot off the bow, and what happens when you get to camp and realize the tent poles are still sitting at the house.

Into the gators at Minnie's Lake

We loaded up at the truck and headed out for two nights in the Okefenokee, first night at Minnie's Lake, second at Mixon's Hammock. What we paddled into at Minnie's was something else. Gators everywhere. Eight, ten, twelve foot alligators a foot off the front of the canoe where Tina was sitting. I actually clipped one with the trolling motor and felt a couple more bump the bottom of the boat as we pushed through the thick section. My hand was shaking on that motor, keeping us pointed straight and moving.

Here is the thing about that moment: the move is to stay calm and keep going. You do not stop, you do not stand up, and you sure do not get in the water. A gator wants nothing to do with a canoe. Keep steady, keep your line, give them room, and let them slide off. Panic is the only thing out there that can hurt you.

The tent poles that stayed home

We got to camp, unloaded, and found out real quick we had left the tent poles back at the house. Two weekends before, on the St. Marys, we had packed the tent bag up without the poles and never caught it. So there we were, roof and no frame, six hours of daylight left.

So we made do. Strung up what we had, rigged the tent body over a floating swing bed to hold its shape, and figured it out. A little backwards ingenuity. That is the whole game out here. You do not get mad, you get to work with what is in the boat.

Counting gators at dusk

By evening the water was calm and the eyes came up. Standing at the platform near dark I counted better than thirty gators in one look, the little four footers right in close and the big ones holding out in the lake. We said grace over a supper of fried rice and chicken, thanked the Lord for getting us through that swarm, and asked Him to send the gators somewhere else for the paddle out in the morning.

Next day my daughter ran up to the truck and dropped off the tent poles and a hot breakfast, and we paddled on toward Mixon's. Ran into a fellow YouTuber out there too, Fish on the 4th Side. That is the Okefenokee for you.

Questions about paddling the Okefenokee

Is it safe to canoe among alligators?

Yes, if you handle it right, and we proved that ourselves paddling straight through hundreds of them at Minnie's Lake. We had eight, ten, twelve foot alligators coming within a foot of the front of the canoe where Tina was sitting, close enough that I actually clipped one with the trolling motor and felt a couple more bump the bottom of the boat as we pushed through the thickest stretch. My hand was shaking on that motor, but the move in that moment is to stay calm and keep going. You do not stop, you do not stand up, and you sure do not get in the water. A gator wants nothing to do with a canoe, it just wants you to leave it alone. Keep steady, keep your line, give them room, and let them slide off as you pass. Panic is really the only thing out there that can turn a safe paddle into a dangerous one.

How many alligators are in the Okefenokee?

The Okefenokee holds a very large alligator population, estimated in the tens of thousands, and paddling through Minnie's Lake gave us a real feel for that number. On a single paddle through an area like that you can see dozens at once, especially near dusk, and that is exactly what happened to us. We had eight, ten, twelve footers a foot off the front of the canoe as we pushed through, and by evening, standing at the platform with the water gone calm, I counted better than thirty gators in one look, the little four footers holding in close and the big ones out further in the lake. That is one stretch of one swamp on one evening, and it gives you a sense of just how many are out there across the whole Okefenokee. Numbers like tens of thousands stop being an abstract statistic pretty fast once you are the one counting eyes at dusk.

Do you need a permit for an overnight trip?

Yes. Overnight paddling trips in the Okefenokee require an advance reservation and permit for a specific route and platform. Day paddling from the entrances is different and does not require that overnight permit. Our own trip followed exactly that structure, two nights on a set route, the first night at the platform at Minnie's Lake and the second at Mixon's Hammock, each a specific, named stop rather than just camping wherever looked good on the day. That is the kind of planning the permit covers, a route and a platform locked in ahead of time rather than picked on the water. If you are only paddling for a day trip out of one of the entrances, none of that reservation and permit process applies to you, it is only the overnight trips like ours that need it arranged in advance.