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Stephen C. Foster State Park

Photo: Tabetha Moe (TabethaLynn) / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

🌊 Lakes & rivers

Stephen C. Foster State Park

Fargo, GA · Southeast Georgia

About

The western gateway into the Okefenokee Swamp, where you trade your car for a canoe and paddle blackwater channels lined with cypress trees and Spanish moss. Roughly 12,000 American alligators live in the refuge, and the boat tours and rental kayaks put you out among them, the wading birds, and the trembling peat prairies the Okefenokee is named for. After dark the park turns into one of the only certified Dark Sky places in the South, so the Milky Way comes out over the water and the night programs run late.

Highlights

Western gateway to the Okefenokee SwampCanoe and kayak the blackwater channelsAround 12,000 American alligatorsCertified International Dark Sky Park3,000-foot boardwalk and night programs

Getting there

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Georgia State Parks18 places

Georgia State Parks

Georgia's state parks pack a remarkable range into one state. Up north there are deep gorges and the tallest cascading waterfall in the Southeast; in the southwest, a pink-and-orange canyon erosion carved out of old farmland; through the middle, mineral springs and CCC-built lodges; and down south, the wild blackwater edge of the Okefenokee. These are the ones worth building a weekend around, from the Blue Ridge to the coast.