Congaree 3/31/2019

When we first decided to visit Congaree National Park in South Carolina, our concern was finding a place to stay in our RV. Fortunately, we found a place 30 minutes away near Columbia, SC. So on Saturday, with dry, comfortable weather in the 70s in our favor, we headed to the park.

Congaree was added to the National Park system in 2003. It includes almost 27,000 acres, and the largest tract of old growth hardwood forest left in the US. An old growth forest is one that has attained great age without significant disturbance. Congaree has some of the tallest and largest trees of 15 particular species, and has one of the largest concentrations of Champion trees in the world. We took this opportunity to view some of these giants by walking the trails.

We started on a boardwalk that soon took us down to the forest floor. There is an elevated boardwalk here because 80% of the park floods up to 10 times a year. That boardwalk during those floods provides the only access to the park. This shows the extent to which the flooding can go. Fortunately, the forest was mostly dry during our visit. On our walk, we found ourselves scrambling over huge logs, mucking through deep mud, and picking through fields of downed branches. Incredibly, there were no mosquitoes. (We were amused by the t shirts sold in the visitor center proclaiming: "I gave blood at Congaree National Park", with a large mosquito pictured on the front.)

What a beautiful, serene place. The forest is studded with giant trees, ponds are everywhere, as are

Lunch with a turtle  friend

bald cypress trees with fields of "knees"(see photos). We walked for a few hours, then sat on a log to

Traversing the mud

eat lunch. I was half way through my sandwich before I realized that there was a turtle on the path not 4 feet away. A bit further on, we found ourselves with a 30 yard long field of deep mud through which we needed to proceed if we wanted to get to the trail ahead. We picked up branches and used them to balance on a few branches embedded in the mud to get through.

If you are ever anywhere near here and love the forest as we do, we strongly recommend a stop here.

Our photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/e3jpB5aYmTz9C3eKA