It was well over 22 years since I last visited the Congaree National Park, in fact, it was still the Congaree Swamp National Monument back then. It didn’t become a National Park until 2003. I know it was over 22 years as there was no Andrew – our son. So it falls into that BA time period – Before Andrew. It was a Sierra Club outing and at the time, Linda and I were producing the Club’s statewide newspaper – the Congaree Chronicle.
I can’t remember all the folks on that trip – excuse my poor memory if you were on that trip, but the group was led by Dick Watkins – the Sierra Club’s man behind making the Park a National Park. Dana and Virginia Beach were there. That was back when Dana was involved with the Sierra Club – before founding the SC Coastal Conservation League. Our friend and nature photographer John Moore was also there.
The things I really remember about the trip is the record trees we saw (some national record trees) and walking or should I say wading in the swamp – at times up to our waist. And, I can tell you – all our eyes, at least mine, were on the look out for snakes in the water, snakes on the ground, and snakes in the trees – snakes on the plane – who cares – we were walking in the swamp. Luckily that trip – most of the ground we covered was above water.
Our son Andrew is hoping to get a job as a geologist or as anything, with one of the National Parks around our country, so after two weeks of freezing winter weather, we decided the next warm day to head for the Congaree National Park which is less than an hour and a half away from our home on Lake Moultrie – down river from the Park. The day we went it was 65 degrees – 67 in the sun.
We traveled the back roads to get there seeing parts of South Carolina I haven’t traveled through in years. The Park entrance is near the town of Gadsden, SC, There are a lot of small towns in SC – mostly farm and timber country. We arrived just before noon and went straight to the Harry Hampton Visitor Center – which wasn’t there when I was there last. There wasn’t much there before, other than a sort of check-in center – to record your entry into the swamp. They wanted to know who didn’t make it back so they could go looking for you.
The Visitor Center is a large facility which offers visitors lots of educational displays explaining features of the Park. We talked some with the rangers and volunteers there – trying to get tips on getting a job with the Parks Service and then we watched a movie about the history of the Park. We picked up some trail guides and headed out. Unfortunately, the folks at the Visitor Center said they had reports that some of the boardwalk was under water – due to recent rains a few days before.
We started out on the Low Boardwalk and after a few hundred yards down it – we saw the boardwalk disappear under the water. I did not come prepared to get wet on this trip. It was a beautiful day, but I bet that water was cold – really cold. And, I remembered that things swim in that water. Although Andrew was gung-ho, I convinced him that I did not want to get wet – end up sick – days before I have to deliver the paper around the Carolinas. So we turned around and picked up the Elevated Boardwalk – which was high and dry.
Before long – I’m sure less than a quarter of a mile on the boardwalk – and we were out there. There weren’t many sounds other than a few squirrels scampering around and the wind blowing through the pines – the old whispering pines – and an occasional bird noise, but before long we were commenting about the lack of bird sounds. I heard more birds getting the car packed for the trip in our own yard. We could have been in the middle of nowhere and there were no sounds of any other people out there either – and we knew people were out there by the cars in the parking lot.
The trees were amazing. By the end of the day my neck was aching from looking up so much. The boardwalk had markers which corresponded with a self-guided boardwalk trail flyer and the first one we came to described the experience we were seeing best.
One of the tall tree’s bottom
The tree’s middle
Looking up toward that tree’s top
“The trees you see here average over 130 feet in height. Here the tops of the trees come together to form the forest canopy. The forest canopy at Congaree has been said to be taller than any other deciduous forest on earth, taller than the hardwood forest of Japan, the Himalayas, southern South America, and Europe.”
It seemed every 100 feet or so there was something more amazing as we walked further into the Park, even though we were only scratching the surface of the Park. I don’t think we walked more that 5 or 6 miles in total and some of that was a trail to a camping site and then around the parking area. The Park has 24,000 acres with miles and miles of trails – unfortunately this day most was under water.
Andrew on the “elevated” boardwalk
We just missed the opportunity to see some of those national trees by a few days. A ranger on the boardwalk told us a few days before most of the area was high and dry. Bummer. In one place we were just a few hundred yards from a national Loblolly Pine which is 167 feet high – the tallest Loblolly Pine in the US.
This was dry land a few days earlier
I remember back on that Sierra Club trip there was a tree where it took six to seven people, hand to hand stretched out to go around the trunk of one tree. I’ve seen the great Redwoods in California when I was much younger – trees you could drive a car through, but to think that some of the tallest trees in America are an hour and a half away – less than 30 minutes from Columbia, SC – it’s astonishing that it took me over 22 years to come back.
These trees are strong – not much stops them
We’ll be back sooner this time – I want to see those big trees, but Mother Nature might not cooperate. On this day – in the middle of our winter – it was 65 degrees – NO bugs – I’m mean not one bug and the humidity was probably below 60%. Oh, and did I say – no snakes. Water levels around SC are high and rain is in the forecast, at least once a week it seems. I hope that return trip isn’t in August when it’s 95/95 (95 degrees and 95% humidity) and I’m covered in bug spray. Or I’m just going to have to go prepared to be wet.
Eventually we heard some – tap, tap, taps – and saw a few Red Headed woodpeckers and then, a TAP, TAP, TAP – it was a Pileated woodpecker. We saw it for a few seconds and then it dove deeper into the forest. Other than those woodpeckers all we saw was one red Cardinal and a few Nuthatches. Where were all the birds?
It was a nice day of being out in nature – away from everything else. The silence was great – when the SC Air National Guard wasn’t flying over head, but all and all – well worth the trip, even though we didn’t get to see any BIG trees, but the ones that were 130 feet up were still okay.
The Congaree National Park is open 24/7 and it’s free admission, no charge for parking and they have very nice rest rooms.
The funny thing, at the Visitor Center the rangers said the Park is better known around the world than to the folks in South Carolina. Which is about par for the course. I still meet folks who have lived in Charleston, SC, all their lives and have never gone to any of the plantation gardens, Ft. Sumter, or the Gibbes Museum of Art.
The Congaree, besides being a National Park is a National Natural Landmark, an International Biosphere Reserve, a Wilderness Area and a Globally Important Bird Area. Cedar Creek, which runs through the Park, is on the list of Outstanding National Resource Waters.
You can learn a lot more about the Park at (www.nps.gov/cong/). You can also become a member of the Friends of the Congaree Swamp by visiting (www.friendsofcongaree.org), and if you want to plan a trip there, you can call the Harry Hampton Visitor Center at 803/776-4396 to check on water levels or temporary closures and other visitor and safety info. They can also tell you what number the bug meter is set on.
Be adventurous – go see some of Mother Nature’s art.
