It’s Not As Dismal As We Thought.
26 October 2018
When we arrived at the Welcome Center dock on Wednesday our original plan was to stay one night and move on to Elizabeth City for a couple of days. However, as mentioned yesterday, more inclement weather is forecasted for the next next couple of days so we'll stay here until Saturday. Luckily this place is like a diamond in the rough, the Center is primarily the NC State Welcome Center on a major highway plus it is the entrance to The a Dismal Swamp Park. The area is super clean, the washrooms are open 24 hours, and the gift shop has a lounge for us to use with complimentary coffee and wifi. Their dock is right behind the complex and they allow 3 nights free docking With drinking water nearby. The Centre staff are extremely friendly and accommodating.
The Dismal Swamp Park is on the opposite side of the canal and is accessed by a floating pedestrian bridge that swings open to allow boats through. We spent yesterday afternoon in the park. We started our tour with a visit to a small but informative museum then walked around the 1/2 mile elevated Swamp boardwalk. There are 22 miles of hiking and biking trails so we set off an a 5 mile walk through the Swamp and saw 7 deer and one tiny snake. We were amazed at how thick the under brush is and how hard it is to spot animals. Besides deer, the Swamp is home to bears, bobcats, fox and numerous other species. I'm sure more animals saw us then we realize. Along the way we came across a replica still, back in the day the Swamp was also home to moonshiners hiding from the revenuers.
Today's picture is of a replica still.