2 Days Our First Overnight in the Okefenokee Swamp | A Gator Wouldn't Leave

In short: This was our first overnight paddle into the Okefenokee, loading the canoe over the Fourth of July weekend and heading out to stay at Round Top and Coffee Bay. Me and Tina counted mile markers down the main canal, passed big gators putting their whole bodies up out of the water, fought yellow flies that ran her into the tent, cooked beans and rice on a little backpacking stove, and watched a gator hold by camp all evening into the dark.

Down the canal, counting mile markers

We paddled out onto the main canal heading toward camp, and it was beautiful and peaceful, mile marker after mile marker ticking by. It took us about an hour and forty five minutes to make the first three miles, then we picked up speed, a mile in fifteen minutes, another in twenty two. The gators showed up quick, big ones close together putting their full bodies up, and they did not seem afraid at all. Four in the last fifty yards at one point. We made Coffee Bay a little past noon, unloaded, stretched our backs, and got tight before the afternoon thunderstorm rolled in.

Yellow flies and a swamp stove supper

The yellow flies were the real fight. They were not bad through the day, but come evening they came on thick, and Tina spent the afternoon in the tent to get away from them. I set up my backpacking stove, first time using that type, screwed the adapter onto a one pound propane bottle, and got it going with the little igniter. That thing puts out flame and gets hot quick, so you have to stir or it will scorch. Supper was ham and bean soup my daughter cooked, warmed up with rice we had frozen, quick and simple. The one trick that beat the yellow flies was learning to live in the smoke. In the smoke they leave you be.

The gator that stayed all night

As the sun went down our little gator friend was right there, holding just off camp, and a big owl flew in and perched in the tree across from us to watch too. When it got dark, it got dark like there is no other dark, and the sky came clear. I shined the light around and counted eyes glowing all over the water, one down there, one right there, a little friend close in. That gator hung by our camp into the night, but he wanted nothing to do with us. You keep your food and scraps out of the water, never feed him, give him room, and he just sits there with the fireworks going off somewhere far away and the frogs sounding off loud as anything.

Questions about camping the Okefenokee

How do you deal with yellow flies?

Dealing with yellow flies in the swamp comes down to getting in the smoke. They were not bad through the day on our first Okefenokee overnight, but they came on thick come evening, thick enough that Tina spent the afternoon in the tent just to get away from them. The one thing that kept them off was campfire smoke, so we built the fire and learned to live in it rather than fight them in the open. In the smoke they leave you alone. They also tend to die off after dark, so once the sun goes down the worst of it passes on its own. A tent or netting gives you a break from them earlier in the evening if you need to step away and regroup before committing to sitting in smoke for a while. Between the fire and the tent, we made it through the worst hours without the flies running the whole trip.

Will a gator bother your camp overnight?

A gator will often hang around a camp out of curiosity rather than out of any real interest in bothering you. Our first overnight in the Okefenokee, a gator held just off the bank near our camp as the sun went down and stayed there into the dark, watching. It wanted nothing to do with us. We kept our food and fish scraps out of the water and never fed it, and in return it just sat there with its eyes glowing whenever we shined a light out over the water, one set of eyes there, another close in. Give a gator like that room and it stays put instead of coming any closer. Ours hung around all evening and into the dark while fireworks popped somewhere far off and the frogs sounded off loud as anything, never once giving us a reason to worry, just a quiet, curious neighbor keeping its distance the same as we kept ours.