Since I still have time remaining before I need to be at the lodge where I will be staying the next couple of nights, I decide to hike another trail at Reed Bingham State Park. This time, I'll be walking along the Little River and Birdwalk Loop Trail, which will pass over several boardwalks through the swampy bog.
The trail starts out easy enough as it heads into the woods along a wide, well-maintained path. Soon, I hit a couple of junctions, but opt to stay on my current route, which soon takes me along the river and move up onto the first of several well-constructed, but aging board walks. The ground below is a soupy black color, with lots of vegetation both growing out of and floating on top of the surface. The boardwalk is slippery in places. I'm sure both this and the state of the woods decay are aided by the humid air and the molds and other fungus that thrive in such environments.
As I continue along the river, a couple of spots allow me to walk out onto overlooks. It's a pretty standard view of a river in the south. The waters seems to sit in an perpetual state of stagnation while all kinds of plants and insects thrive around the area. All along the trail, I'm watchful for gators, snakes, or other inhabitants, but the only resident I see is a small tree squirrel who barks at me for interrupting his search for food as he runs off to climb one of the trees growing nearby the board walk.
The return trip along the Birdwalk Trail is nothing really noteworthy, but I do catch up to a couple on a small weekend vacation and enjoy a nice conversation with them as we return to the parking lot. My GPS track informs me that I hiked about 2.3 miles along this short path through the swamp. It was nice and a great way to stretch my legs a bit, but now it's time to move onto the prime target for the weekend, the Okefenokee Swamp.
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