2025 Spring Trip – Stephen C. Foster State Park
The Spring Trip was a dazzling success! Just take it from our Secretary:
“During spring break earlier in the semester, 15 students embarked on a trip to Stephen C. Foster state park located in southern Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, organized by the Society of Physics Students. The park is an internationally certified Dark Sky Site and boasts some of the darkest skies in the southeastern US. As part of the trip, we rented 3 cabins in the heart of the park, and spent 3 nights enjoying stunning views of the night sky, exploring hiking trails, canoeing through the wetlands, and seeing so many alligators.
The trip was made all the more memorable because we were able to bring telescopes that enhanced our viewing of the night skies. We are grateful to Astronomy Club for letting us borrow their Dobsonian reflector telescope as well Dr. Champan for lending us two of his personal telescopes. A special shoutout also to Jiapeng, one of the students who came on the trip, for helping set up all the telescopes and letting everyone use his personal telescopes and astrophotography equipment.
The journey began early on Sunday morning, where we all gathered in front of the Howey Physics Building and prepared for a 5-hour drive to the park. We made stops for lunch and groceries, before settling into our cabins around 5 pm. After getting some rest and bonding over cooking dinner, we brought our telescopes out in excitement to see the stars. However, the skies proved to be cloudy and we weren’t able to focus the telescopes on anything. Nevertheless, we were offered a glimpse of just how much beauty we are missing out living at the heart of a metropolitan city.
The next morning, we breakfasted at the cottages and got ready to embark on a boat tour through the waterways of the Okefenokee Swamp organized by the park. We got to see the various bird species that thrived in the swampy conditions, but the highlight by far were the gators! Since the boats had limited capacity, we did two rounds of the boat tour, and the group that stayed back got to explore the park’s boardwalk hiking trail. After a relaxing evening, we prepared once again for a round of stargazing. This time, we were fortunate to have clear skies, and spent hours under the stars which shone like a million pinpricks. We could even faintly make out the Milky Way band!
The park also provided canoe and kayak rentals, allowing visitors to explore the swamp on their own. We spend the morning of the third day having so much fun canoeing through the various waterways. Although we wanted to reach a neighboring island and explore it, it proved to take longer than expected and we weren’t able to reach on time. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed competing in canoe races, and were awed by how we could canoe in direct sight of gators.
After a late lunch, we drove to the nearby Suwannee River Sill, a 4-mile earthen dam that marks the border of the park and helps contain the spread of fires, both wildfires as well as controlled fires. There was a hiking trail that ran along the length of the dam. Although the trail itself was pretty monotonous, it was a great bonding experience for the entire group and we got some really good pictures. We also hiked the entire 4 miles there and back in remarkable time, but everyone was really tired after the long day.
After dinner, we got ready for a final stargazing session. This time, we decided to get our blankets and pillows out to lay on the ground as we watched the stars. It was an absolutely surreal experience.
Returning to Georgia Tech, everyone not only carried back incredible memories and photographs but also made new friends along the way. The night sky is something we don’t appreciate enough, SPS is glad to have made this eye-opening experience possible for its members.”
