The Great Dismal Swamp - Another View

Written by: L.W. (Skip) McLamb

A serene tree line

A friend and fellow member of the East Beach Writer’s Guild, Mary-Jac O’Daniel, recently shared a post on EBWG’s blog about the Dismal Swamp.  Her posting, motivated me to revisit the Swamp for the first time in ten years.   My daughter, Katie, visiting from Los Angeles, accompanied me, and made the trip a father-daughter adventure.

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge contains over 100,000 acres of land, of which, approximately half is forest.  The refuge is on the North Carolina and Virginia border, located between Hwy. 17 South in Chesapeake and Hwy. 58 West in Suffolk.  The swamp is home to many plants, mammals, birds, bats, and, as Mary-Jac described, plenty of hungry, pesky, aggravating insects.

Skip & Kate on Feeder Ditch

It was a clear, sunny, relatively warm December day, so Kate and I decided to enter the swamp via kayak.  We selected the Feeder Ditch, one of several waterways available for small boats, canoes, and kayaks.  While paddling, we observed majestic, blue herons, a noisy woodpecker, several small, song birds and a large, ugly turkey vulture that swooped directly over our kayak.  The Feeder Ditch was lined by tall, old growth bald cypress, pine, and oak trees.  Lucky swamp visitors might see black bears, bobcats, deer, and other small mammals; though, none were spotted on our trip.  We traveled in four miles, stopped for a rest at small Army Corps of Engineers Spillway, then paddled the four miles back to the boat launch area.  The trip was a good workout, and a great opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter in a beautiful, and relaxing natural area.

The Great Dismal Swamp is a unique place, ecologically, geologically, and historically.  Exploration is possible using hiking, biking, boating, and automobile trails.  If interested, you can learn much more about the area by visiting the Great Dismal Swamp NWR website.  I recommend you put this on your “to do list”, and also highly recommend you visit on a sunny, warm, winter day to avoid the bugs.

About the author: Skip McLamb, a retired educator, writes for pleasure to make good use of his new found free time.  Contact him at ovmclamb@live.com.