In short: This is our first camping trip of the year, launching from Stephen Foster State Park in Fargo, Georgia with Tina and our grandson Buggy for an overnight on the Minnie's Lake platform. We paddled the water trails past more than a hundred alligators on the way in, counted 162 by the time we took out, and slept on a wooden platform surrounded by them. This is what it is actually like to camp on the water in the middle of gator country.
We slid the canoes in at the park and eased down the canal into Billy's Lake, then turned toward Minnie's. It did not take long to start counting. Big old gators sunning on the banks, ten and twelve footers laying half in the water, little four footers trying to stay hid from the bigger ones that would take them in a bite. Buggy was excited and a little nervous, and I do not blame him. When you are down at water level in a canoe you are almost eye to eye with them, and that is a whole different feeling than looking down from a bass boat.
We kept a running count out loud the whole way, and it just kept climbing. By the time we reached the platform we had passed well over a hundred. The trail narrows down to where you weave between cypress trees, and in those tight spots the gators are right there beside the boat. The move is always the same. Stay calm, keep your line, and give them room.
The Minnie's Lake platform is a raised wooden deck out in the swamp, and that is home for the night. We tied up, hung a hammock, set the tent, ran the Starlink, and set the porta potty. There was a little four footer laying right there at the base of it while we unloaded, just watching. We cooked supper right there over the swamp, said grace, and thanked the Lord for the day and for getting us through the swarm. Buggy slept fine, gators growling out in the dark and all.
We got a surprise at 5:30 when raindrops started, and there was zero rain in the forecast. That is the swamp for you. We waited it out, cooked steak and eggs when the sun came back, packed clean, and left the platform exactly like we found it. On the way out we saw a second otter in as many trips, which is rare out here, and kept adding to the count. We took out at 162 alligators. That is a lot of gator for two days on the water, and a trip Buggy will not forget.
Route planning, permits, platform camping, and keeping your head calm on gator-thick water. It is all in the Canoe Camping Playbook.
Read the Canoe Camping PlaybookIt is a raised wooden camping platform out in the Okefenokee, reached by paddling the water trails from Stephen Foster State Park at Fargo, Georgia. You sleep on the deck above the water on a reserved permit.
We counted 162 over the two days and know we missed a few. More were out the first day than the second because it was warmer.
Yes, when you respect them. The platform sits above the water, you manage your food, you never feed wildlife, and you keep pets out of the water. Stay calm and give them room.
Overnight trips require an advance reservation and permit for a specific route and platform. You launch from an entrance and paddle the trails to your assigned platform.
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