The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is comprised of approximately 111,000 acres of forested wetlands with the 3,100 acre Lake Drummond at its center. The Canal is along the eastern border of the refuge. As mentioned in a previous entry, the water is a dark brown color caused by the tree tannins and because of the acidity, bacteria will not grow in these waters. In fact, the early sailors used to fill their drinking water barrels with this water before going to sea as it stayed fresh much longer than any other. The water appears black when it is still because of the underlying peat beds which, in places, can be several feet deep.
It was a great day to finish the Dismal Swamp adventure. The temperature was comfortable, the sky was clear and there was no wind. We cast off at 9:30 am and by 10:45 am we were pulling up to the dock opposite the Feeder Ditch into Lake Drummond where we tied up, dropped the dinghy and made our way up the three-mile long ditch to the park area of the wildlife refuge just before the entrance to Lake Drummond. During our morning travels we saw a few very large blue herons, a beaver, hundreds of large swallowtail butterflies, dozens of turtles warming themselves on logs or lily pads and dragonflies galore. We could hear birds, cicadas and a few bullfrogs. The water was so still, the sky, clouds and trees were mirror reflections before us.
Once at the park area, we had to use a small trolley to lift the dinghy up and out of the ditch, across 100-feet of land and up to the level of the lake. After bringing the dinghy up to spillway level and traveling a few hundred yards more in the ditch, the scenery opened up onto beautiful Lake Drummond. Imagine a gigantic round black mirror surrounded by trees and topped with clouds. We motored near the shore and saw some very interesting cypress trees that appeared to be very old creatures standing in the water. Out towards the middle of the lake we shut off the motor and sat for awhile absorbing the silence. We could not hear birds or insects – only the sound of a jet in the vicinity marred the effect.
By 2:15 pm we were back on Blue Heron with the dinghy up and ready to complete the canal. When we docked earlier to make this side trip to the lake, we noticed that the canal up ahead was blocked by a bridge.
We had read in our guidebook that a local farmer had permission to “slide” a portable bridge across the Dismal Swamp Canal to move his livestock and farm implements across the canal. We assumed the bridge would be gone by the time we were ready to pass since it was supposed to be removed as soon as his task was complete. Evidently, the farmer didn’t always move it immediately since it was still there when we were ready to go.
We called the Visitors’ Center who instructed us to lay on the horn and the farmer would move it. We weren’t able to raise anyone and soon there was a powerboat waiting behind us as well. Neither of us could get anyone’s attention so Maureen called the Deep Creek Lock. The lockmaster said he would do what he could and get back to us. He was able to contact the farmer, the bridge was pulled back (by tractor) and we passed through. Robert, the lockmaster, was kind enough to wait for us until 4:30 pm to lock through. The last northbound lockage of the day was posted as 4:00 pm.
The day wasn’t over yet. After locking through at Deep Creek, we came to our first set of channel markers and promptly ran aground. The green and red markers had changed sides again from where we had been used to seeing them and we found ourselves on the wrong side. Not to worry – Gale had Maureen walk up to the bow to distribute her weight forward, he grabbed the boat hook, raised the lower unit and was able to maneuver us back into the channel manually. We were once again on our way.
We decided to continue on to Norfolk and soon found ourselves in a very industrial area of the waterway where the scenery changed dramatically. By 7 pm, we had made our way to mile 0.0 of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and anchored at Hospital Point in Portsmouth, Virginia, across the bay from Norfolk. We were not alone here – among others, we saw our friends from France and Switzerland that we had last talked to in the Dismal Swamp Canal.
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