The ranger who verified our reservation at the Ochlockonee River State Park entrance station warned us, “I wouldn’t let your dog swim in the rivers. We have a little bit of everything here, snakes…gators…bears.” A sign at the boat ramp went a step further and advised visitors, “Caution. For Your Safety. Alligators are dangerous. Do not swim with alligators. Do not approach, frighten or feed by state law.” I wondered; How many Florida visitors tried to swim with gators before the sign was posted?
The tag line for the Sunshine State’s state parks is “…the Real Florida.” Based on the boat ramp’s sign, I guess visitors need to be reminded that they’ve left the theme park zone and gators are wild animals. While standing at the edge of Ochlockonee River, I noticed the distance horizon lacked relief. It was flat. So flat, that if I’d grown up here, a round world would have been inconceivable. We didn’t see any signs of gators, but I still voted to walk away from the water, on a path through the pine trees. Our late afternoon hike was short; we followed the river trail loop through the pine flat woods until we found a trail back to the campground.
We stayed just one night, but we noticed each campsite was equipped with a clothesline and most campers brought along kayaks. This park was an ideal destination for river sports, but only if paddlers are comfortable sharing the waterways with reptiles. We stuck to drylands and stretched our legs with a morning stroll through the woods, searching for birds. I spotted a yellow-bellied sapsucker pecking a neat row of holes in a pine tree trunk as if it was writing out a message. Thankfully during our short visit, we didn’t encounter any snakes, gators or bears.
