Peter went camping with the Scouts by the Great Dismal Swamp for three days after Christmas. The campsite was on an island in a swamp. He canoed for about 30 minutes to get to the site. The water is black from all the tannins in the vegetation. (As vegetation decomposes it releases tannins which make the water black and the water was pretty black). The water also had duck weed on the surface which makes the water look scummy. You can see it in the picture with Peter and his friend in their life vests. The canoe in the background aside the dock is in the water. It looks like it is on the ground, but the green stuff is the duckweed on the water.
The trees were also really cool. Some of them were cyprus trees and they grew right out of the water. They have the wide bases to provide stability in the water - you can also see them in the pictures. Some of them were covered with spanish moss, and some of them had mistletoe on them.
The trip was fairly cold. It got down in to the 20s at night and was in the 40-50s during the day. They always had a good fire going at night and everyone brought two sleeping bags.
During the day one of the leaders taught the finer points of managing a canoe (e.g. the J-stroke) in the morning and the afternoon was set aside for exploring the lake and surrounding rivers. Three of the boys did swim in the lake, but not really by choice. One of them tried to jump from a tree into a canoe the other two boys were in. He ended up tipping the canoe and all the boys ended up in the water. Lesson learned, don't jump from trees into canoes.
There are alligators in this lake, but they didn't see any this year. A few years back they saw one about 5 feet from the Scoutmaster's canoe. The group did see turtles, bald eagles, a deer and a beaver. (Peter and his Dad sang the beaver song as they went by a beaver house.)
The morning they left they had to break through ice with their canoes in some places in the lake. It was cool. (ha, ha).
All in all it was a great trip.
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| Check out the swamp and the duck weed and Peter |
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| Cypress trees and Peter |
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| Peter in the Great Dismal Swamp |
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