State

Amftkmcf Qut "biAmal A e tanoeiils lean forward, » tiring thru fiaddles into Inks Drummond's dulled, amber waters. The lake, high from steady winter winy la /is against the shore, exposing wots of ml maples and cypress. Overhead, a bald eagle I in I.S hall) and settles on a pine snag at tin lake's edge. Ileyond the snag, the sihvrnl mds rustle, then thin shaikh's of lie glisten ing i list above the waves ' reach. The canoe glides on, through afternoon light as cool and thin as the ghosts rumomi to minder this vast natural lake at the heart of the ( ‘neat Dismal Swamp. Don't let the name f«x»l you. Foi people who love nature, solitude .iihI (|iiiei adventure, the Great Dismal Swamp, which sprawls across Ninth Carolina's northeast comer and seeps up into Virginia, is anything but dismal. Colonial travelers by-passed the Dismals cypress- and inosqiiito-lillcd hogs and reeds marshes, but today visi- tors have easy .mess to this 107.000- acre wildlife refuge. Some drive ihtongh the western entrance near Suffolk. Virginia. to stroll along the boardwalk. Some boat np the Intracoastal Waterway from F.li/alx-tb City. tracing the refuge's eastern ben¬ der. Foi visitors with more /ip. the man- aget of the (heat Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, IJoyd Gulp, i ecom me lids heading into the refuge's heart G. times and shallow-watet Imals slip into the refuge through the rem¬ nants ol an historic canal system. "Beyond that, we also have hiking .iihI bicycling on close to 100 miles ol old limlicr-access roads." Gulp saw "It's very isolated." II reviews could kill, the Dismal Swamp would haw dried up and Mown aw-.iv around 1728 when William Bud II pul pen to paper after leading a survey team into the Dismal to plot the North ( at olina- Virginia line. ’ I lie Reeds which grew about 12 feel high, were so thick and so inlet laced with Bainboe-Briars, that out Pioneers were f'orc't to open a Passage," Byrd note'd in his journal. "The Ground, il I mas properly call it so. was so Spungv, that the Prints of our Feet were instant¬ ly fill’d with Water" ... It was an easy matter to run a Ten-Foot-Pole up to the Mead in it. without exerting any uncommon Strength to do it." Always a quick thinker. Bud passed out ”3 kinds of Rattle-snake Root made into Doses" and fled for higher ground, leaving his crew to hack through the swamp with tomahawks. “They were reduced to such Straights that they began to look upon John Kllis's Dog with a longing Appetite," Byrd wrote. "Plump John Evans . . . had reasons to feat that he wou'd he the next Morsel." Byrd, who sweated out those dillic tilt (lavs in a lamihotise beyond the swamp, never dropped his disdain for the Dismal, reporting that the air was |x»i- Notions and no creature could live in the “vast Body of mire and Nastiness." Paddle across lake Drummond, hike down a limiter trail or stroll along the Ixiardwalk and you'll quickly prove the Virginia aristocrat wrong. "We Itelieve we have the highest con¬ centration of black bears on the Fast ( /MSI." IJoyd Gulp saw A few dei ades ago. bears ran rampant here. Hunters and development have taken their toll, however. Today, only 300 Ыаск bean dwell in the refuge, but their number's on the rise. There are all sorts of surprises waiting for those making the trip to northeastern North Carolina’s eerie Great Dismal Swamp. By Sheila Turnage “In the summer when the blackber¬ ries are getting ripe along the roads, it’s not that unusual to sec a bear — partic¬ ularly if you're gofng by hievde." Gulp says. "More than likely, when the bear sees you it's going to bead into the woods as fast as it can." he adds. "If. by some way. you get between a beat and its cub ... in that instance. I'd do what¬ ever necessary to gel out from between them." You have an excellent chance of spot- ting a white-tailed deer on almost any e.irlv morning or twilight exclusion in the Dismal, and a fair chance of getting a glimpse of a bobcat. Be on the look¬ out. too. for mink, river otters, raccoons and gray and red foxes. Don’t waste time scouting gators, though. Ilie Dismal is too fat north lot them. Still, thanks to the Gull Stream, which tugs warm-weather patterns up the coast before heading out to sea. the Dismal enjoys a Southern climate. Not that all reptiles give the Dismal the cold shoulder. II you travel the lim¬ iter roads during warm months, keep an eye out foi cane-break rattlesnakes, water moccasins and copperheads. In addition to these venomous crawleis. 18 noil-poisonous snakes. 56 s|x*c ies of turtles, plus various ii/ards. salaman¬ ders. frogs and toads inhabit these waterways and forests. Even in winter, when cold-blooded “Dismalites" keep a low profile, the Dismal is a hot spot for hit (lets. More than 200 bird species frequent the refuge, and 93 nest here. “You'll see some waterfowl in the winter months." Culp says. “We have various tundra swans. Canada geese and Snow (iecse coming through the area." Twenty-one species of geese and ducks spend pan of the winter here. I he State. October 1995 24