Congaree National Park

We've hit the weather jackpot the past few days, and it was a perfect day to explore the national park yesterday.

An article from the Washington Post travel section some time ago tells us that the former Congaree Swamp National Monument became Congaree National Park in 2003. It encompasses 26,000 acres of meandering waterways and champion trees. A "champion" tree is the largest of its species and is judged on a points system of three criteria: height, trunk width, and crown spread. There are more champions in Congaree than any other place in North America. Five of them are national record-holders; more than 20 claim state records.

Congaree is mostly not a true swamp. The "swamp" designation requires a forest to be wet year-round. The national park forests, known as bottomlands, are only wet when the Congaree and Wateree rivers seasonally flood. They are ecologically significant because floodplain forests absorb a lot of rain, easing the impact of floods on towns and cities. Also, they recharge aquifers and provide habitat for an incredible array of wildlife.

We had insect repellent along, but we didn't need it, according to the park's Mosquito Meter.

It was a good thing because mosquitoes generally find Mike particularly delicious. There are no roads through the national park. It must be seen by kayak or canoe or by getting out and hiking. We'd read about the hikes in our parks book and decided there were two we wanted to do...the Boardwalk Hike, and the Weston Lake Trail. We had the best chance at seeing wildlife on the Weston Lake Trail, but we saw none in our walking yesterday.

You can see the Boardwalk Trail in the map above. It joins up with the Weston Lake Trail. and then rejoins it on the far side of the loop. We'd also been told by the ranger to take a short spur off to Wise Lake. So...off we go.

The ranger had given us a self-guided tour pamphlet. The first item of interest we came to was this large American Beech tree, which can be identified by its smooth gray bark. This tree was likely over 100 years old.

Looking up, we saw this:

Beech trees were an important source of food in the floodplain for American Indians and early settlers. Beech nuts were collected and ground into flour for bread and meal cakes.

The beginning of the trail is elevated, and it would move closer to the ground level soon.

Along the way we saw the "knees" produced by the bald cypress trees. Their function is not entirely understood, but it is believed that they provide the tree with extra structural support during floods and high winds. They were so strange and in such large numbers they were a little spooky. Like a small army waiting to attack.

The trees in the park have managed to evade the ax and plow since large-scale logging started in the 1880's, obliterating up to 50 million acres of American forest within five decades. Ancient trees fell along coasts and major rivers. Here, logging was more trouble than it was worth, and so these giants have stood, mostly forgotten until the 1950's, when conservationist Harry Hampton recognized the value of the remaining old growth and worked to preserve it.

What is interesting about the park is that it is mostly flat (which makes hiking easy). Nevertheless, just a foot or two difference in elevation changes the forest type completely. We stood in one spot and looked left where we saw this switch cane dominating the forest floor.

Looking right were the knees of the cypress trees.

Looking straight ahead was this large bald cypress.

Bald cypress trees can live to be over 1,000 years old and their wood is rot and water resistant. The wood is often called "wood eternal" because it decays slowly and may remain in perfect condition after 100 years of use. Looking up, this is what we saw.

Historically, the Catawba and Congaree tribes used it for canoes, because it was easy to work with and durable. Bald cypress trees were logged in the late 1800's and used in roof shingles, docks, bridges, cabinetry and more, which is why so few old-growth bald cypress trees exist today.

Walking on, we eventually came to the place where the Boardwalk Trail went off to our left, but we wanted to continue on the Weston Lake Loop.

Also, here, we took the spur out to Wise Lake.

The Weston Lake Trail was easy enough to follow, but we were still grateful for the many trail markers along the way. Congaree is home to 22 species of snakes, most of them nonvenomous. We didn't see any, but the article I read talked of "hanging snakes" falling into canoes. Yikes.

It was mostly a dirt trail, but there were a few boardwalks and bridges long the way, some built by Troop 199 of the Boy Scouts of America. (We imagine this was some Eagle scout project.)

We began to see more low and wet areas.

The reflection of the blue sky and the tree trunks was beautiful. The trail followed along the path of Cedar Creek.

We could hear birds singing and woodpeckers pecking overhead. We saw just one woodpecker, which I believe was a pileated woodpecker. It was too far away to get a picture, but it caught my eye as it flew overhead. The sounds of birds and quiet of the forest made us reflective.

When we reached the spur to Wise Lake, we walked just a little farther.

Here's what it looked like.

The water is brown from the tannins leaching from rotting leaves.

We paused here to eat our Clif bars and then went back the way we came to rejoin the Weston Lake Trail.

For all they'd been reflective earlier, our shadow selves returned to their raucous and annoying selves farther down the trail.

There were a lot of fallen trees in the park, and while the tree itself may be dead, they are full of other life forms. Many species of insects, spiders, and fungi make their home in and on the dead wood.

Living trees also act as a foundation for other plants. We saw these vines growing on many of the trees.

We saw this tiny butterfly at one point. It was no larger than a quarter.

Also we saw a few blooming things...these little white guys were smaller than a dime.

These little purply-pink things were smaller than the head of a pin.

The reflections of tree trunks in the water were hauntingly beautiful.

In some places, boardwalks had incorporated the tree trunks into their structure.

Eventually, we came to another bend in the trail and continued along the Weston lake Trail.

There, we saw one of the largest bald cypress trees along our way.

Looking up, it looked like this.

Near my feet was this hole, obviously home to some animal. The hole was about the size of a volleyball.

Eventually, we came to a champion loblolly pine. These are the trees I most remember from living in North Carolina as a child.

They have a very distinctive bark with large reddish patches. This one also happens to have a little moss clinging to it.

Also, there were a few dwarf palmettos along the way. South Carolina is known as the Palmetto State, named after the state tree, the cabbage palmetto.

These shorter cousins are some of the hardiest palms due to their ability to withstand freezing temperatures. They thrive best in wet, sandy areas where a disturbance, like a hurricane, causes a gap in the canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor.

Near the end of our hike, we made another decision about which way to go.

The ranger had informed us about a lookout where I've marked with a blue arrow. From there, we backtracked through a section of the boardwalk trail we'd missed.

We ascended some stairs to reach the lookout.

And then walked a short distance to Weston Lake. It was once a bend in the Congaree River, but now is an oxbow lake. Over 2,000 years ago, the river gradually changed course and meandered south, leaving behind Weston Lake. The lake is slowly filling in with clay and organic debris. We'd hoped to see some turtles here, but we saw none.

From there we made our way back to our truck, walking a total distance of about six miles.

When we got back to the RV, I did some work on my Heart and Home stitchery, filling in my hoop. Originally, I'd planned only to do only the hearts in burgundy floss, but I decided the little flowers in the flower boxes would be cute done the same way. With that in mind, I'll add touches of burgundy to the other blocks as well.

Now I've moved my hoop, and I'm ready to start again.

Since we did both hikes in the national park yesterday, we're rewarding ourselves with a free day today. We have a few errands to run, but mostly it'll be a day to relax.