BS: Okefenokee Swamp

Subject: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:39 PM

Have you ever visited the Okefenokee Swamp? [state of Georgia, USA] I've often dreamed of visiting it. What is it really like?

Yes, I know it was the home of Pogo.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:44 PM

My neighbor took his family to the Okefenokee Swamp for a vacation. His sister and brother-in-law accompanied them. After a picnic, the sister was packing up when she cried out and fell over. She never recovered consciousness and died after a few weeks in a coma nor did they ever indentify what bit her. Wear boots.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 02:31 PM

it looked a bit sweaty and miserable in that film with Kirk Douglas - was it the Big Sky?

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: gnu
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 02:58 PM

SINS.... don't go.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:15 PM

It's all burned up....




It's all burned and charred from the fires earlier this year...

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:17 PM

The swamp was heavily damaged by fire this year, so you may want to check on what's open - but it's one of the most wonderful and beautiful places I've ever visited. This article (click) says the park is open to visitors and definitely worth a visit - but the water level is down so canoeing is limited.
I was there a few years ago, and loved it. I entered the swamp from the west side and found a boardwalk that must have been 1-1/2 miles long, weaving through the oak trees growing in the black water. At another place in the park, I found a huge alligator with her tail partly cut off, and perhaps a dozen baby alligators crawling on top of her. I lost my camera with those pictures in it, which was a big disappointment.
There are canoes available for rental - but I have to admit I didn't have the courage to go canoeing alone in the Okefenokee swamp.
-Joe-

---

Click here for an article that tells how well the swamp is recovering from the fire.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 05:47 PM

Here are a few pictures that Google turned up - Okefenokee Swamp! (Scroll down.)

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST,haRPGIRL
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:44 PM

I've wanted to see it more intensely, for a while. I'll go sometime soon and take pictures for my blog. Then you can see it from my eyes... Stay tuned in a few weeks...

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 01:02 PM

Thanks, everybody. I'm reading the articles.

Elderhostel is having a trip to the Okefenokee this October, so there must be something to see, fire or no fire. Trouble is, it's only two weeks from a big trip I've already scheduled.

(Elderhostel trips are now open to any adult. You don't have to have white hair to go along.)

As for boats, I prefer rowing to paddling. Rowing uses your back and legs, the strongest things you have. Paddling a canoe uses the arm and shoulder. I find it very hard on my shoulder, and did even when I was much younger.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Scotus
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 02:38 PM

Didn't MAD magazine used to have a regular strip set in the Okefenokee swamp?

Jack

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 02:46 PM

If you're paddling with your arms, you're not doing it right. :-)   (Kneel in the canoe, if possible, keep your arms relatively straight, and put your back into it.)

We had a lovely visit to the Okefenokee from Stephen Foster State Park (on the southwest edge of the swamp; not the main entrance) in early December a number of years ago. It was quiet and lovely. The canoeing was stunning. There were gators to be seen, but it was the relatively inactive part of the year for them, and I never felt worried about them at all (even with a small child in the boat).

If you like wet places, check it out.

~ Becky in Tucson (a place that's only wet at this time of year)

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 05:00 PM

I remember a poem from my childhood called "The Ballad of Lake Okefenokee" but I can't find the book it is in and it doesn't come up on a Google search.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Amos
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 11:45 PM

The cartoon strip was Pogo, not Mad. And I think the ballad was inside the cartoon strip somewhere.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 12:34 AM

I have a distinct memory of it being on a regular printed page. And I think my dad may have put it to music. I haven't come across it yet, though.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:35 AM

The next time I'm in a canoe, I'll try using my back more. Thanks, Desert Dancer.

Once we took our rowboat on a creek in Suwannee River State Park. (The river itself looked too big and powerful.) For a long time we followed a beaver downstream. It seemed to have no idea we were there, then suddenly it cottoned to us and disappeared.

Later we encountered another visitor and told him about it. He said, "What's a beaver?"
====
About those inactive gators. Once I was on a viewing platform in the Everglades in January. I said that alligators don't feed in winter, and a man turned to me and said, "I saw one eat a turtle last week." I believe him.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Amos
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:55 AM

Overview of Okefenokee Folklore.

Not much out there in the way of Okefenokee ballads, though, except for some trashy pop stuff.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Amos
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 12:05 PM

Oh, and speaking of pop, there's Freddy Cannon's hit from the early days of rock and roll:

"Freddy Cannon was born Frederick Picariello in Massachusetts, and by the age of 19 when he signed with Swan, he was already a veteran performer. He had fronted his own band, Freddy Kannon & the Hurricanes, and had played lead guitar on the 1956 hit "Ka-Ding Dong" by the G-Clefs (Pilgrim 715). In early 1959, he worked with arranger Frank Slay of Swan to record a rock and roll version of a song his mother had written, "Tallahassee Lassie" (Swan 4031). The 45 version featured a prominent kick drum sound which gave Cannon the nickname "Boom Boom," and the device was used to good advantage on subsequent recordings. His followup single "Okefenokee" (Swan 4038), predictably keeping with the Florida theme, just missed the top-40. But his third single, a remake of the old standard "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (Swan 4043) went to #3 and established him as a rock and roll star. "

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 12:23 PM

That folklore page is a nice one, Amos.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 11:34 AM

The poem I recall was a silly one, but not a pop culture one. I still haven't found the other book I think it could be in.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:49 PM

Hey Maggie.....Could it be this one?

There once was a frog,
and he lived in a bog (possibly on a log instead?),
On the Banks/Shores of Lake Okefenokee.
And the words of the song
That he sang all day long
Were Croakety, Croakety, Croaky.

My Ol' Man was the master of half remembered weird shit. Sometimes he remembered all of somethng if it was particularly jumbled or extremely annoying. Most times he just had the snippets of things and the above was one of those. I heard the rest of it from a book but you could always count on Croakety as one of his many personal contributions to the world of poetry recitation. I found something close to the above on the net and they attribute it to Laura Richards.

If this is it and you find the rest, please post it or let me know. I'll do the same.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Amos
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 12:20 AM

A LEGEND OF LAKE OKEEFINOKEE

THERE once was a frog,
And he lived in a bog,
On the banks of Lake Okeefinokee.
And the words of the song
That he sang all day long
Were, " Croakety croakety croaky."
Said the frog, " I have found
That my life's daily round
In this place is exceedingly poky.
So no longer I '11 stop,
But I swiftly will hop
Away from Lake Okeefmokee."

Now a bad mocking-bird
By mischance overheard
The words of the frog as he spokee.
And he said, " All my life
Frog and l've been at strife,
As we lived by Lake Okeefinokee. "
Now I see at a glance
Here 's a capital chance
For to play him a practical jokee.
So I '11 venture to say
That he shall not to-day
Leave the banks of Lake Okeefinokee."
So this bad mocking-bird,
Without saying a word,
He flew to a tree which was oaky.

And loudly he sang,
Till the whole forest rang, "
Oh ! Croakety croakety croaky ! "
As he warbled this song,
Master Frog came along,
A-filling his pipe for to smokee,
And he said, " 'T is some frog
Has escaped from the bog
Of Okeefinokee-finokee. "
I am filled with amaze
To hear one of my race
A-warbling on top of an oaky ;
But if frogs can climb trees,
I may still find some ease
On the banks of Lake Okeefinokee."
So he climbed up the tree ;
But alas ! down fell he !
And his lovely green neck it was brokee ;
And the sad truth to say,
Never more did he stray
From the banks of Lake Okeefinokee.
And the bad mocking-bird
Said, " How very absurd
And delightful a practical jokee ! "
But I 'in happy to say
He was drowned the next day
In the waters of Okeefinokee.

"A Legend of Lake Okefenokee"
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
In My Nursery--A Book of Verse
Published 1890
Roberts brothers
238 pages

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 03:20 AM

Thanks Amos. I dunno' if it was the one Maggie was looking for, but it certainly was mine!

Muchass Grassius

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Alice
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 11:27 AM

weelittledrummer, the Okefenokee swamp is in the southern US.
The "Big Sky" is Montana state, on the Canadian border. Very far apart.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 11:53 AM

If you run into "Swamp Thing" don't be too alarmed. He really has a heart of gold.

However, if you get lost and run into Tammany Tiger remember that "If you starve with a tiger, the tiger staves last!"

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 12:12 PM

My husband's family took him there when he was 7 as a HUGE birthday surprise. it was somewhere he'd been wanting to go ever since he could say the word "swamp" apparently. Dave says he bugged his family to take him there because that's where the Addams Family went on vacations! Dave said he loved it as a kid but was sad that the alligators were so far away. Somehow I imagine his parents were relieved about that!

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 01:28 PM

We were rowing our john boat on a canoe trail in the Everglades when a big one swam within four feet of us. I suppose it was curious. It was a thrill to see it, but I'm glad it came no closer.

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 01:29 PM

"Running like a deer in the Everglades!"

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Okefenokee Swamp
From: Janie
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:10 PM

The one and only time we kayaked in the Everglades we got terribly lost. We weren't on a canoe trail. I don't think we knew there were such things at the time. We were simply crossing to the west coast on 41, decided to explore a gravel road, saw a place to put the boat in, and went for it. Stupid.

I think it would be neat to do a trip that hit all the swamps along the East Coast. I'd probably want to time it for either the spring bird migration, or breeding season.

Janie