Since the alligators are dormant this time of year and bears stick to the islands, the most notable wildlife awaiting a group of ISU students this month in the Okefenokee Swamp is probably birds, said trip leader Steve Smith.

The fully booked canoeing trip to the swamp, which lies on the Georgia-Florida border, is one of three extended trips the Outdoor Recreation Center has planned for Thanksgiving break.

The Outdoor Rec has never traveled to Okefenokee, said program coordinator Jerry Rupert.

But lack of precedent was no deterrent for Smith, senior in physics, who was the driving force behind planning and organizing this trip, Rupert said.

Smith said he was inspired to take the trip by a co-worker at the camp he worked at this summer.

“She was making a list of all the things she wanted to do before she died,” Smith said. “One thing I’ve wanted to do for a long time is explore a swamp.”

The next week Smith read a magazine feature about Okefenokee.

“It sounded exactly like what I wanted to do and it would work well for the program,” he said.

A multi-day canoe trip across a swamp has some elements in common with an extended backpacking trip, though paddling is an experience all its own.

Canoe trails — five- to 10-foot wide swaths through the peat coating the swamp — are cut and maintained by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Smith said.

Each paddler packs all his or her supplies into a cylindrical blue duffel bag about four feet high and a foot and a half in diameter, Smith said.

Weight and space are not as big of factors in bags that are loaded into a boat every morning rather than strapped to the carrier’s back.

This was an important consideration for Nellie Young, junior in forestry, and support staff for the trip, who took an interest in planning the trip’s meals.

“When you go canoeing, you get the full canoe to keep all the food inside,” Young said. “We won’t be having dehydrated beans; we’ll be having steak and eggs.”

Though there are a couple of shore campsites, Smith said the group will sleep on half-covered wooden platforms planted in the swamp. The group’s 12 participants and four leaders will have no trouble fitting onto the platforms, which hold up to 20 campers, Smith said.

Despite the area being a popular destination for tourists and hardcore paddlers alike, Smith said the crowds should be thinner this time of year.

“A majority of the trails in the refuge are open to airboats,” Smith said. “But we’re taking the most remote route possible, so it’s not probable that they’ll be in that area.”

In addition to increased solitude, the late November trip will offer cooler weather, fewer insects and a nearly full moon by the end of the trip. The refuge requires paddlers to be off the water by dusk, and Smith said the group will be able to enjoy the moonlight on the swamp from their campsites.

“Our days are pretty long as it is,” Smith said. “We won’t have to go fast, but we’ll have to keep going most of the day.”

The first two days of 12 miles each and the final day of seven miles will be mostly flat-water paddling, Smith said, as opposed to paddling with a current.

Although flat water requires more effort than floating down a river, participants shouldn’t expect an overly strenuous workout.

“We’ll be well-fed, happy canoers,” Young said.