One of the biggest blind spots I had when living in North Florida, was a lack of interest in the estuaries and wetlands of N. Florida and S. Georgia. My favorite wild places as a young man in the area were the Okefenokee Swamp and the Long Leaf Pine forests of the Ocala and Osceola National Forests and I spent a fair amount of time tromping through them when I could. But nearby were hundreds of square miles along the Nassau River, the St. Marys, the Little and Big Satillas and all sorts of other tributaries and coastlands I largely neglected. Marshes, arguably more interesting–and unique in their abundance–were similarly neglected, outside of the areas on the edges I could walk to. The truly primitive areas are accessible only by boat.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot this year, having visited my folks before the pandemic hit the US–and driving down from Atlanta, looking at many of these places from the higway–staring into the distance with older eyes. In retrospect, it seems that to know the Region, not just certain forests, but the unique character of the region, one needs a canoe. These ecosystems simply dominate the geography and are among the last primitive / wild places in the area and to my mind, dominate the natural character of the place.

In any event – I just wanted to relay that point in case it lands with anyone. There is a lot of interesting outdoor ecology that you can’t just drive to in the area. As someone who strives to get well out into the wildernesses of the West Coast these days, it is interesting to consider that despite treks far afield to places like the Nantahala NF in NC, or the Everglades and Florida Bay far to the south, there were neglected areas in my own back yard, that could have been accessed more frequently with a modest investment in something as inexpensive as a used canoe or kayak.

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