CONGAREE NATIONAL PARK

OK, I'm going to ask this again.  I want to see a show of hands of anyone who has heard of THIS national park.  That's what I thought.  I had no idea either!

This national park is located southeast of Columbia, SC.  This 24,000-acre park protects the largest contiguous area of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the United States.  Until the latter half of the 1800s, there were over 52 million acres of floodplain forests in the southeastern United States--with over one million acres in South Carolina alone. In the 1880s, the lumber industry began harvesting these forests.  Congaree's trees escaped large-scale cutting due to the difficulty of logging in a wetland area and to the timber conservation ethic of Francis Beidler, whose lumber company purchased bottomland forests in South Carolina between 1890 and 1905.  In the 1950s, conservationist Harry Hampton recognized that the Congaree forest was one of the few remaining ecosystems of its kind and began efforts to protect it.  Two decades later, when logging again threatened the area's giant trees, a public campaign led Congress to establish Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976.  In November 2003, it became Congaree National Park.  Today it is a sanctuary for plants and animals, a research site for scientists, and a peaceful place to explore a forest of towering trees and diverse wildlife. 

Congaree is known for its hiking trails but there is also a 20 mile marked canoe trail on Cedar Creek.  Primitive and backcountry camping is available.  It is free to enter.  There is an elevated boardwalk trail that is 2.4 miles and is the most popular trail.

So, Monday, Mr. W, Daughter, and I went to hike around the boardwalk trail at Congaree.  Curly and Popcorn were starting Vacation Bible School at their church so we had only a brief window of time to take this hike.  We left Daughter's house at 9:20 and had to be back by noon to pick up the girls.

I had read information about the park and everything I read said to be sure and wear bug repellent.  Great.  But, I sprayed down and fortunately, it was cloudy on Monday so it wasn't too bad as far as temperature goes. Believe them about the bug spray. The bugs were out in force. At one point Daughter told Mr. W that he looked like "Pigpen" from Charlie Brown with all the bugs flying around his head. :)

I was not aware that the Visitor's Center was closed on Mondays. But, they had pamphlets that you could take along on the trails that gave you information.  It was basically a self-guided tour.  Here's the first sign we saw.

Like someone would have to tell me to give them distance and respect?

This park is known for its bald cypress and loblolly pines.  This is very unusual for pines and hardwoods to grow this close together and reach the size that both have. They are all huge and the park either holds or previously held champion heights and circumference size in both species of trees.  The loblolly pines have outgrown the hardwoods but they are not regenerating.

As we were walking on the boardwalk, there was a bird sitting in its nest in a limb that was right by the boardwalk. We were hoping to get a picture of the bird in the nest but it flew off.  The nest was high enough in the tree that only Mr. W was tall enough to raise his arm as high as he could and point the camera down blindly to take a picture of what we were hoping was in the nest.  Sure enough, there were eggs.  Pretty cool.

They had markers along the boardwalk that matched the points of interest in the pamphlet.  Mr. W was our tour guide.

It really was a beautiful walk.

 

Daughter went to school at Stephen F. Austin University.  They were the Lumberjacks.  Notice her hand on the fallen tree.  That was the sign that went along with their school chant at sporting events. "Axe 'em Jacks".  What better place for an ex-Lumberjack than a forest?

It made me nervous for her to get off the boardwalk for the picture.  Remember the sign?

One of these held the South Carolina record for tallest and biggest.  Can you guess which one? :)

When we reached the lake below, which was marker number 12 out of 24 on the self-guided tour, the boardwalk was blocked due to damage. What?  OK, so I thought we turn around and go back the way we came.  But, Mr. W wanted to get off the boardwalk and take another trail that actually walked through the woods where the venomous snakes could be crawling around! Of course, I had not worn my hiking shoes because I'm thinking I'm only going to be walking on a level, off the ground, boardwalk. So, as we are walking through the woods, Mr. W reads us what we missed at markers 13-17 to keep my mind off the POSSIBILITY of snakes! Then, all of sudden the trail meets back up with the boardwalk and I hop back on at marker 18.  Thank you God!

 

I know I will be back in the area again and this is a great place to come for a nice walk/hike.  So, I'm sure I will be back.  If you aren't in shape for a strenuous hike or you don't want to spend the entire day on a hike, this is a great place.  Older kids would probably love going on a walk on any of the trails.  If you are in the area, check it out.