Explorer Blog - Louisiana Swamp Exploration

The Horror

Part 1

By:A.C.

"But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude - and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating."
--Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

I drove along Interstate 10 once from Florida to Arizona. The drive was long and mostly unmemorable. I'm always trying to get away from my point A to point B mentality and stop and explore on these long trips but despite myself I'm unable to break old habits and I pass a lot of interesting places that I eventually forget. This one was different though. Somewhere across Louisiana a bridge began, and for the next hour or so, it didn't end. I hadn't noticed immediately but solid earth had given way to water and a vast, impenatrable swamp. True to habit I didn't stop that day, but unlike so many other forgotten landscapes the swamp stayed with me.

The bridge I travelled over was raised about 30 feet over the water's surface on massive pylons sunk into thick, coffee colored water that seemed to move with a sluggish pulse. Only a few feet seperated the edge of the highway barrier from dense green foliage. Speeding by at sixty miles per hour I could only catch the briefest of glimpses into the depths. Though the interior remained hidden its mystery had taken root in me. My imagination conjured images of explorers struggling through dark jungles, pouring rain, and unknown dangers hidden by water and fog.

And so when the chance came for me to move once again the choice was obvious. Even though years had passed I had not forgotten that image of the green that streched endlessly into darkness. And so I left behind the arid deserts of the southwest and took what I had learned there deep into Louisiana's swamps and bayous.