Worst idea ever... Hiking the Great Dismal Swamp

Wang was in Norfolk for training and I volunteered us to come hang out with him. While filling in at Mom's desk job, I used some off time to figure out what the heck there was to do in Norfolk. There are a lot of things, museums, zoos, naval things, historical things, but what sounded the most interesting to me, and convinced Aaron that he wanted to get up early on a Sunday to drive three hours to Norfolk, was the Great Dismal Swamp. 

Lake Drummond is one of two natural lakes in the whole state of Virginia (a necessary fact for Envirothon). One is Smith Mountain Lake and the other is Lake Drummond in the middle of  the Great Dismal Swamp. As far as natural lakes are concerned, these are still suspect as Smith Mountain lake was formed by a landslide blocking the creek and Lake Drummond... well... Aaron told me that the Indians all told a story about fire in the sky and that Lake Drummond was formed by a meteor impact. The sign at Lake Drummond (we found when we got to the lake) says it was formed by an underground peat burn. Even Wikipedia is not decisive, although Lake Drummond is remarkably circular lending credence to the meteor impact theory. 

The Great Dismal Swamp is huge and I had never been there and I didn't know much about it. Their national wildlife refuge website is pretty basic, but shows miles of trails. I think maybe I should have done more research or perhaps I glossed over some of the details, but hiking the Great Dismal Swamp was perhaps the worst idea ever. 

I packed our hiking bags, lunch, and a cooler the night before, and we got up bright and early to drive down to pick up Wang. It was gray and rainy until we crossed the tunnel and then the weather looked a bit nicer. On the way to the preserve, we passed a flock of turkey vultures which interestingly enough Wang had never seen up close. I offered to turn around to get a better look, but we just kept going.

Though the Great Dismal Swamp is huge, all the entrances are on the west side, so it was another hour before we got to the entrance and refuge headquarters. Which was closed. I thought I had read that it was only open weekdays, but was skeptical that was true. Several paths and an auto tour to Lake Drummond and a eight hundred year old cypress tree leave from the headquarters, but the gate was closed, and there was no parking. 

Using the map at the gate and the one I printed a head of time, we headed north to the Washington Ditch entrance where there was plenty of parking and two trail options. Its called Washington Ditch because it was surveyed by Washington when they used slave labor to dig the ditch. We hit the bathrooms, put on sunscreen and hit the ditch. It looks nice - big trees, shade, tannin-laden brown-tinted water on the right, a nice gravel path... and then there were the bugs. This part of the trail was heavily populated by mosquitoes and there was nothing we could do but walk faster. Hiking in a swamp? Worst idea ever. 

The mo- squi- toes appeared to like the color of Wang's shirt the most.

And how are they so smart to land in places where you cannot reach them? The funny thing is watching Wang jump when he realizes there is a bug on him or coming at him - even if it is a butterfly or dragonfly. He later told us it would be ok if they approached from the front so he knew they were coming. Yeah bugs, get with it! 

Wang and I were distracted by a pretty swallowtail butterfly that fluttered around and arroundus, but when we tried to stop to photograph it, the mosquitoes and horseflies attacked. I have identified it as a Zebra Swallowtail, and if we knew then what we know now, we would have waited to take a photo of this elusive beast because the further we got down the trail, the more there were! 

We found them in clusters eating something from the path so then we tried to get nice photos of the clusters or photos of them taking off (it is difficult to sneak up on butterflies) or pictures of them swarming around us. You'll just have to trust me that these things happened, because photo evidence is rare.


Did I mention it was 4.5 miles one way to Lake Drummond along the Washington Ditch Trail? We were walking at a brisk pace to minimize bug interactions, but horseflies are nasty buggers and the end result is a lot of ninja moves and Jackie Chan jumps while you try to kill the horsefly that is biting you on the calf. Aaron was wearing pants and was walking behind Wang and me and was seriously enjoying the show. My calves were red with bites that tingled and burned. Hiking the Great Dismal Swamp? Worst idea ever. 

The scenery was nice and monotonous in a pleasant way. About a mile in, the tree cover decreased which decreased the mosquitoes (but not the horseflies). The ditch to the right was a great place for spotting all kinds of turtles which made a beeline into the water as soon as they realized we were there. I even spotted an enormous alligator snapping turtle that I thought was some weird mirage until I pointed it out to Wang and Aaron and it then jumped off its stump into the water. There were cypresses and trees, and pools, and a beaver dam. We saw tons of really cool dragonflies too which are impossible to photograph.

I am not sure when we saw our first snake, but I am pretty sure it involved Wang jumping from his tire tread trail to my tire trail read in an awesome Jackie Chan ninja move. Nope. I remember now (although the above description is accurate for all subsequent snake sightings). Our first snake encounter... Wang and I were walking single file on the right (Wang in front) and Aaron was on the left even with me. We were walking in the tire treads of the grassy path. I saw it in the grassy area between the treads in the middle right between us and said "Aaron, keep walking." We've had encounters before and also discussed that vague warnings like "watch out" just freak people out and don't actually help anyone 'watch out.' 

After that we were on a higher alert for snakes, but were still surprised every time we saw one. There were two types of snakes we regularly encountered and I was really disappointed that I had no idea what kind of snakes they were. The only snake I can identify on sight is a copperhead (though there are a few harmless snakes that look really similar). One snake was black and white striped, and upon further examination and encounters was actually black and white blotchy. Wang identified this as a gopher snake (based on his California experiences). The other snake was solid black with a white chin - and most of the time when we saw one it had its head raised so we could see it's white chin and underside. Wang identified this a cottonmouth and we just went with it because we didn't know otherwise. We gave all the snakes wide clearance, but these kinds especially. Every one we saw had its head up watching us. Total we saw nine snakes and all of them were at least two feet long - three "cottonmouths," five "gophers," and one green snake. I can honestly say that I have never seen more than one snake while hiking and even that has been rare. Hiking the Great Dismal Swamp? Worst idea ever.

Aaron mentioned that he wanted to get bit by a snake as long as he was ok afterwards because it would make a great story, but I didn't see him leaping towards any snakes or taking the lead when Wang I really started to scan the path as we walked. Of course as we neared the end of our hike where the bugs were really annoying, Wang admitted to having stopped looking for snakes and we immediately encountered another. You know we are true science geeks when the first thing we did when we got back to the car was get on our smartie phones and look up snakes. I chose the Virginia Herpetological Society's Snakes of Virginia and realized how little I know about Virginia snakes (watch out envirothon kids!). Turns out the black ones are harmless northern black snakes and the black and white blotchy ones are eastern king snakes. I think we were all a little disappointed to fin we were in no danger. 

Eventually we made it to the shores of Lake Drummond and it is huge. There was a little dock jutting in to the water and thankfully a breeze so we could stop moving and lower our horsefly alert just a bit. We rested, refueled, and geared up for the hike back. I peed in the middle of the path and hoped that I would not get bit on the butt as I maintained my balance and tried to swat away any flies trying to make a landing on my rear. 

Rested & ready for the return

On the walk back we were on high alert for snakes and this is when we saw most of them because the sun had come out. Then it started to rain. We all dug out our sandwich bags to wrap our smartie phones which is kind of hilarious. Rain might seem to add to "the worst idea ever" concept, but it was actually cool and refreshing and kept the bugs at bay. It would have been nice if it had kept raining, but the shower was brief. 

At the parking lot you can go straight for the ditch trail or take the boardwalk. We decided to take the boardwalk on the way back and this was really what we expected when we thought "swamp." It was cool, moist, and shady, and there were a lot of cypress with jutting spindly knees. But we were tired of walking and tired of bugs so we traversed this portion fairly quickly and made a beeline for the car. The goal was to make a running start into the car so as to not invite the cloud of mosquitoes in to the car with you. With this, we were successful, and it is funny to watch one at a time people running and jumping into a car.

Somewhere on the walk back, despite the snakes, the horseflies, the mosquitoes, the heat and humidity, and the length of the walk, we decided that maybe hiking the Great Dismal Swamp was not the worse idea ever. Encountering snakes is adventurous, the scenery was beautiful, and the company was excellent. Just next time, bring some bug spray.

 NOTE: Horsefly bites itch. At least mine do. I have tried ChiigerX, Lanacane, Hydrocortisone, and Benadryl, and I still itch.