The swamp terrain is flat, there is no fast water and very little dry land. You may have to get out of your canoe and push across peat blowups or shallow water. Water levels in the swamp sometimes become too low to paddle on certain trails. When this occurs, reservation holders are notified. Swamp conditions may dictate closing certain trails, as has happened in spring of both '98 and '99.
Summer days are hot and humid with high temperatures and humidity and warm nights.
Winter days range from the teens to 80 degrees, but mostly in the the 50s and 60s. Nighttime temperatures can be near or below freezing and wind chills have reached -22 degrees. The rainy season is normally from June through September. Many summer afternoons are drenched with localized thunderstorms. Lightning is probably the most dangerous feature of an Okefenokee experience.