![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/6\/65\/AmericanAlligator.JPG\/800px-AmericanAlligator.JPG\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
An “alligator mississippiensis<\/a><\/em>,” prevalent in the\u00a0Okefenokee Swamp<\/a>\u00a0– where I’ll soon be kayaking…<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n It’s that time of year. \u00a0Time to train for future adventures this summer, and<\/em> <\/strong>finish some unfinished business from last fall. \u00a0The future adventures – this coming August – will include a four-day hike on the\u00a0Chilkoot Trail<\/a>. \u00a0(“The meanest 33 miles in history.”) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n And once that’s over, \u00a0my brother and I plan a 16-day, 500-and-some-mile, primitive-camping<\/em> canoe trip “down” the Yukon<\/a>. \u00a0(From\u00a0Whitehorse<\/a>, up through\u00a0Lake Laberge<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 of ‘Sam McGee<\/a>‘ fame \u2013\u00a0to\u00a0Dawson City<\/a>. \u00a0And the Yukon is a rare river that flows north, so technically we’ll be going “up…”)<\/em><\/p>\n Back in October 2015, I noted – in\u00a0\u201cInto the Okefenokee<\/a>” – that I’d finally fulfilled a life-long dream. \u00a0“I took my little 8-foot kayak and paddled deep into the Okefenokee<\/a>.”<\/p>\n In a few days I’ll be going back.<\/p>\n But last October there was a problem. \u00a0The only reservation I could get was for the\u00a0Cedar Hammock<\/a> shelter. \u00a0Unfortunately, that was a mere three miles from the main (east) entrance.<\/p>\n And that<\/em> <\/strong>pretty much\u00a0put the kibosh on<\/a>\u00a0my plan to “bisect the swamp.” \u00a0(See “Okefenokee\u201d \u2013 Part II<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Part III<\/a>, where I noted a plan to come in on a later trip from the\u00a0Stephen Foster State Park \u2013 Fargo<\/a>\u00a0– to the west.)<\/em>\u00a0 So this then will \u00a0be that “later trip,” upcoming…<\/p>\n But this time I have a reservation at the\u00a0CANAL RUN shelter<\/a>. \u00a0It<\/em> <\/strong>is some nine miles in from the Foster State Park launch site. \u00a0And\u00a0that<\/em> <\/strong>means that if I can somehow reach the Coffee Bay day shelter on the first day, I will have indeed “bisected the Okefenokee.”<\/p>\n Of course there were\u00a0naysayers<\/a>\u00a0– recently – when I announced my latest plan. \u00a0(With comments like: \u00a0 Where did I want to be buried, and had I made out my “last will and testament?<\/a>“)<\/em><\/p>\n So I’m looking forward to my adventure, which will<\/em> be the subject of a future post. \u00a0But first a few highlights, from the first trip:<\/p>\n …a word about permits<\/em>. \u00a0Before you camp overnight in the\u00a0Okefenokee, you need a permit. \u00a0(See\u00a0Overnight Camping Permits \u2013 Okefenokee<\/a><\/em>.) \u00a0That<\/em><\/strong> costs\u00a0$15 a night. \u00a0(Of which $6 is non-refundable. \u00a0And none<\/em> of it is refundable if you cancel less than a week before\u00a0the reservation date.) \u00a0 Then I also found out Recreation.gov<\/a>\u00a0tacks on a $6\u00a0\u201creservation fee.\u201d \u00a0So for a grand total of $21, you may tent-camp in a swamp.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another note: \u00a0When paddling a canoe or kayak In the Okefenokee, it’s a rare place where you can actually stop, get out and stretch your legs. \u00a0\u00a0“(And give other body parts a break as well.)” \u00a0 <\/em>The shelters – day shelter or overnight – are few and far between.<\/p>\n As noted in\u00a0Donkey travel \u2013 and sluts<\/a>\u00a0– in my companion blog –\u00a0Stevenson was an – if not the<\/em><\/strong> – original modern travelogue<\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>writer.<\/p>\n For example, he wrote books like\u00a0Travels with a Donkey in the C\u00e9vennes<\/a>. \u00a0(Which laid the groundwork for John Steinbeck’s\u00a0Travels with Charley<\/a>.)<\/em> \u00a0And a\u00a0year or so before that, he wrote\u00a0An Inland Voyage<\/a>. \u00a0(About\u00a0\u00a0a canoe<\/a> trip through France and Belgium<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n Stevenson said he took pleasure in such arduous trips because he’d “been after an adventure all my life, a pure dispassionate adventure, such as befell early and heroic voyagers<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n And quite often that meant “not knowing north from south, as strange to my surroundings as the first man upon the earth.” \u00a0It also meant putting up with the occasional \u201castonishingly ignorant\u201d fellow traveler. \u00a0(Or for that matter the two young country girls he came across, near an isolated French village; “impudent sly sluts<\/strong>, with not a thought but mischief. “)<\/em><\/p>\n But in the end, such a hard and difficult journey – or\u00a0pilgrimage<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0is usually well worth the effort. \u00a0Anyway, that’s what I noted after my first trip into the Okefenokee, last October:<\/p>\n …despite the discomfort that seems to got along with such efforts, it felt good to finally visit the home of\u00a0Pogo\u00a0Possum<\/a>. \u00a0To visit \u2013 even for such a short while \u2013 the \u201chollow trees amidst lushly rendered backdrops of North American wetlands, bayous, lagoons and backwoods<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And speaking of Pogo Possum, here’s a bit of homespun wisdom to meditate…<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Alligator – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0“American alligator<\/a> (A. mississippiensis).” \u00a0The next-down “gator picture” I took myself, in October.<\/em><\/p>\n The blog-post title alludes to “There you go again<\/a>,” a phrase made famous by Ronald Reagan, and later used by politicians as diverse as Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin. \u00a0See\u00a0<\/em>Wikipedia<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n For other past adventures, see 12 miles offshore<\/a>\u00a0and\/or\u00a0A late-fall mountain trek\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The lower \u201cenemy is us\u201d cartoon image is courtesy of\u00a0Pogo (comic strip) \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0\u201cPogo<\/strong> daily strip from Earth Day<\/a>, 1971.\u201d\u00a0 In the alternative:\u00a0 \u201cA 1971\u00a0Earth Day<\/a> comic strip written and illustrated by Walt Kelly<\/a>, featuring Pogo<\/a> and Porkypine [sic].\u201d\u00a0 Wikipedia described Porky Pine<\/strong>:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n A porcupine<\/a>, a misanthrope<\/a> and cynic<\/a>; prickly on the outside but with a heart of gold.\u00a0 The deadpan Porky never smiles in the strip (except once, allegedly, when the lights were out).\u00a0 Pogo\u2019s best friend, equally honest, reflective and introverted, and with a keen eye both for goodness and for human foibles. \u00a0 <\/span> I wondered<\/strong> why I liked him so much\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An “alligator mississippiensis,” prevalent in the\u00a0Okefenokee Swamp\u00a0– where I’ll soon be kayaking… * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * It’s that time of year. \u00a0Time to train for future adventures this summer, and finish some unfinished business from last fall. \u00a0The future adventures – this coming August – will include a four-day hike on the\u00a0Chilkoot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6208,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions\/6208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"1445624973384\"](\"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/1445624973384-300x198.jpg\")
But first things first. \u00a0I finally wangled a permit to camp overnight at the Canal Run shelter in the Okefenokee. \u00a0Which means I’ll be finishing up something I started last fall.<\/p>\n![\"SwampWaterPoster.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/4\/46\/SwampWaterPoster.jpg\")
Yet despite it’s fearsome reputation – as illustrated by the lurid movie poster at right – the Okefenokee itself is quite peaceful. (That is, if you can stick to canoe-only water trails and avoid the noisy and\/or obnoxious air-boats that touristy-types love.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nI.e., any “banks” you see will likely be nothing but mashed down reeds or bulrushes. \u00a0Beyond that, many of those banks of bulrushes will be already\u00a0ocupado<\/a><\/em>, by basking gators like the one at left. \u00a0But the good news is that you’ll be following in the footsteps of people like Robert Louis Stevenson<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Pogo](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/4\/49\/Pogo_-_Earth_Day_1971_poster.jpg\")
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