Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia

If you want a park where you can really get away from it all, may we recommend Georgia’s Stephen C. Foster State Park. Located in the Okefenokee Swamp, it’s far away from any town or attraction that will draw your attention away from camping. As you may know, we had a bit of trouble on our trip up here. After we got back on the road, we were in a bit of a hurry to get to our campsite before dark.

After leaving the fire station, we figured there would be somewhere to fuel up along the way, so it was a little surprising to see the turn for the park without having passed anything. We had driven over 30 miles without seeing a business of any sort, let alone a gas station. The road to the park had two signs: Stephen C. Foster State Park, 17 miles, and Dead End, 17 miles. We weren’t worried about running out of fuel before the park, but knew we’d need to fill up before we left.

Next morning we went to check in then went into town to get fuel. We figured we’d eat breakfast while we were there, too. We used the office’s Wi-Fi to look up the closest gas station, about 20 miles away. That brought us to the town of Fargo. They had a gas station/ convenience store and a Dollar General, and we didn’t see much else. There was a permanently closed restaurant, but that was it. Hoping there might be something to eat in a nearby town, we looked up “Breakfast near me,” and the closest options were over 20 miles away. So, we headed back to the camper and LeeAnn made breakfast. It was good, of course.

Breakfast

Being so far away from everything is kind of nice, though. Often when we’re at a campsite, we spend time driving around and exploring the nearby towns. The little towns frequently have something interesting: a cool shop, a funky eatery, a strange monument, or the world’s blankest blank (my favorite). Knowing the nearest towns were 40+ miles away, we just stayed here and enjoyed the campground. We walked all the trails, spent time on the boardwalk over the swamp where we saw some wildlife, had several campfires, and enjoyed the sunsets and stars when the weather cooperated. The stars are supposed to be one of the attractions of this park. Its seclusion means there’s little light pollution from nearby cities. The park has made an effort to keep the night dark, too. There are no streetlights, and the lights on the bathhouses are minimal and shaded from the sky.

The marina by the campstore

There’s a nice camp store here that’s next to a small marina. They have boats, canoes, and kayaks for rent, and they have group tours through the swamp. We didn’t go on any, but the tours appear to be popular. Many people also brought their own boats to tour the area. Even though we didn’t go on any tours, we saw plenty of wildlife. The deer were plentiful and not particularly shy. There were several alligators in the water around the marina/ camp store. There were the obligatory small birds and squirrels around the campsite, and the boardwalk had birds large and small, including robins, woodpeckers, egrets, heron, sandhill crane, red-shouldered hawks, and a few mystery birds (or ones I couldn’t identify).

A deer on one of the roads near the campsite

Overall, this is good park with good facilities. We wouldn’t mind spending more time here someday.