Okefenokee Camping & Stargazing

Chasing the Milky Way into the Georgia Swamp

Being based in Maryland, there are closer places to go to find dark sky and see the galaxy. But this trip had a couple more purposes. After being cooped up during the Covid pandemic, we were itching to just get away from home for a bit. When our close friends down in Florida mentioned they were going on a camping trip with their new motorhome, we jumped at the opportunity to join them. They have 3 great kids of their own, the youngest not too much older than my oldest. So also a good opportunity to let the kids play together, as normally we’re separated by 900 miles.

It was also a good opportunity to test out the minivan’s newest addition, a trailer hitch I installed, ordered from etrailer.com, and a hitch cargo carrier to carry our coolers. Normally we camp with the F-150, but with the 14 hour drive to reach the campsite, the minivan was the way to go. We just had to make up for the reduced storage space compared to a full size pickup. I’ll go over the carrier and hitch receiver in the gear section of the page, but long story short, they worked perfectly with no issues. Next time, however, we will set up the roof cargo basket, as we were pretty tight on space, even with the cargo carrier. Traveling with small children dramatically increases the cargo load, far more than we would have expected.

The first couple of nights, we stayed close to the campsite, viewing the galaxy through the trees. This allowed for some beautiful foregrounds for the shots. The final night, however, we walked to a clearer area to get a better view, and we were rewarded with beautiful clear views of the sky, no light pollution, and endless stars.

A fantastic weekend, with great weather, amazing friends, in our billion star hotel.

Check out more photos at the gallery here: Okefenokee Camping & Stargazing