Congaree National Park

 We have arrived in South Carolina! (By way of North Carolina!) 

And now we are at Congaree National Park!

It is located in SC not too far from the capital of Columbia, found in a forest nestled in the floodplain of 2 rivers. Because of this the water level in the park can vary up to 7'! Crazy! When the water is high it is very difficult to access the park on foot... since there is nowhere to put them. Unless you are a squirrel. Which we are not. The area is technically not a swamp because it doesn't have standing water throughout the year, but it is definitely a damp area that seems pretty swampy when you walk through; we stayed on the boardwalk so we didn't get sucked into the mud that can be over 8' deep!

The park features many varieties of trees including Bald Cypress, Tupelo, and Loblolly Pines, many over 100' tall. In fact the park features several national champion trees. Bald Cypress are indeed interesting to see, they develop "knees" that are small root protrusions that come up out of the ground for 10' or more around the tree. Nobody is quite sure why they do this, but they do. None of the trees I asked could tell me, so apparently they don't know either.

Driving access to the park is very limited, there is one entrance on the north side of the park that goes about 1/2 mile into the park and stops at the visitor's center. It turns out that even in summer there are no hiking trails that reach a good portion of the park. You can access much of it (depending on the water level) via canoe/kayak if you want to do some deeper backcountry camping though! When we were there the water level was low enough that it didn't seem like it would be a great option, so we stuck to the main boardwalk trail for our visit.

Personnel:
We only encountered one of the staff at this NP, but she was pretty fantastic. We found her in the Visitor's Center, we were there shortly before closing, and she was very excited to find that we had come from the distant land of Oregon. In fact, she requested that we sign the guest book as she likes to keep track of where people are coming from, especially if they have come a long way! We were the 3rd farthest travelers she had seen the day we were there. She also was very helpful with how to see the park, and was very excited that we share Congaree with anyone and everyone after we left (we got SEVERAL free bookmarks!)

Climate/weather:
The weather when we were there was quite pleasant! Even though you are definitely in the south and there is plenty of heat and humidity to go around, the trails that wind through the forest are all in shaded areas, and our hike was quite pleasant. I feel like it would have been very hot if we had gone in the summer, but in the early fall it was quite nice.

Facilities/signage:
The facilities at Congaree were fantastic... until they closed and locked them at 5:00... Most of the NPs we have been to had their restrooms in a separate part of the building which remained unlocked, but apparently the Congareens didn't get the memo on that. But when we could get into the restrooms they were quite nice. Also keep your eyes out for the misquito-ometer sign that is located above the drinking fountains! Speaking of signs, the walking path we were on was very well marked, and navigating the park while driving was a breeze (partly because there are less than a mile of roads, but the signs were good none the less!)

Hiking experience:
The path we took was (Boardwalk Trail), by itself, very pretty and quite pleasant. But with the self guided tour it was enriched so much. Instead of just meandering along we could stop and look at a tree and actually understand what we were looking at, what made that tree unique, and how the environment and the tree interacted. Definitely worth the hour or so we spent on the 2.4 miles.

Driving experience:
Well... there really isn't one. You pass the sign, pass a campground, then you are at the visitor's center, which is as far as you can go. This is one park you cannot experience from your car.

Camping options:
There are 2 campgrounds at Congaree, one of which you can drive to (but not car camp at), the other requires you to hike about a mile to the campsite. Both of them are paid campsites, but you can camp in the backcountry for free (permit required, but the permit is also free).

Hammockability:
There were definitely places where you could set up a hammock in the park, but doing so was a bit less appealing with the swampy ground, spiders (we saw several that were 2" across including legs), alligators, and humidity. It would have been OK in the picnic area by the parking lot, but out in the park itself we didn't really feel inspired.

Scenery:
As we mentioned on the hiking section, having the self-guided tour made the scenery in this park fantastic. At first glance the swamp area all looks the same, but once you know what you are looking at you can see the incredible diversity of the ecosystem and really enjoy the view. The towering trees create one of the tallest deciduous forests in the US, and the warm and wet environment makes for incredible diversity of life. This forest was completely different from the others we have thus far encountered.

Nearby food:
The entrance to Congaree is not that close to any restaurants, we passed a lot of farmland on our way in, but not a lot of towns. Columbia is probably the closest place with food (about an hour away).

Our visit to Congaree was surprisingly pleasant and beautiful. We expected to be hot and humid and see a swamp, but we found that it was very pleasant and the forest was incredible! Definitely a place to visit when you are in the south!