Today’s trip was Congaree National Park, just under two hours south of Charlotte in Columbia, South Carolina.

I’ve been to Congaree 3-4 times, but it’s been a couple of years since the last time. This one’s a bit tricky, and you’ll need to call the park a day or two ahead of time before you head there since the water from the Congaree River floods over 80% of the park 5-10 times a year . The park is over 22,000 acres, so that’s a pretty large amount of area to flood! The high boardwalk at the start of the trails is over 8ft from the forest floor in areas, and once every 3-5 years that floods over!

Make sure you check out the Wiki page on the park. It’s quite interesting. Of course, these pictures are nothing compared to what the park looks like later in the spring when the foliage is in green. Because the water rises and falls so often, the growth of moss combined with all of the reflections and other greenery is amazingly vibrant.

Oh! Here’s the crew. Ashley, Elizabeth, Tina, Lisa and Joy. This tree was actually downed across the path. I’m pretty sure that path had more hoof and paw marks on it than boot marks. Deer, boar, raccoons, and birds had obviously been hanging out on the path hours before we came along.

We chose to hike the River trail, which is 10+ mile loop to the furthest parts of the park, and to the actual Congaree River. It’s pretty cool that as you’re walking through the park you feel as though you’re walking by the river, but you’re really just walking by the many arteries and veins stemmed off of the river. The river is much larger than expected; probably 150+ feet from shore to shore where we were at. That’s Elizabeth below on the tree. Add your own caption.

So, being the explorer that I am, I headed off of the main trail—which stays about 100 feet from the river so that you don’t actually see the river unless you start blazing. I called over the troops and they headed my way. Oddly none of them asked about the large crash and ruckus that came from where I was, over the bank and just out of sight. Yeah, that was me climbing out on the downed tree (that Elizabeth is sitting on above), when the branch that I was holding onto snapped. Me and my 15-20lb pack fell with branch in hand about 7-8 feet to the ground. Sliced up my arm a bit, and I’ll probably find another bruise or two, but I think I played it off well.

Anyway. They all headed back to the main trail but I decided to head up the beach. Another interesting moment when I was out on my own with the momentary feeling that I was exploring uncharted areas. Love that feeling. But… drumroll… I was thrilled to be passed by a family of wild boar as I headed back towards the trail! There were two adult females, probably about 30lbs each, and 3-4 piglets. The adults were dark brown while the piglets were brindled. Unfortunately in my excitement (I had been trying to spot wildlife, and boars especially, all day), the first thing I thought was to yell up to the crew to see if they could catch a glimpse. By the time it occurred to me to grab my ancient digital camera from my pocket and try to snap a quick picture they had scampered off. Still, it was very cool!

Have I mentioned yet that the people in Congaree are really small. Wait, I mean the trees are really big. Seriously, the park is known for it’s wicked high canopies and the largest Loblolly Pine in the United States–over sixteen stories. The photo above is actually a Bald Cypress, which is a pretty amazing tree that has adapted to the flooding conditions very well. The roots actually form spires that come up out of the ground and reach up for light and air (below). Cool stuff.

All in all a great hike. Very flat, so we did 10+ miles in just about three hours with plenty of time thrown in there to stop and enjoy the scenery. Oh. And another reason to call before you head to the park is the mosquito situation. Because of the constant change in water level and the standing water, late spring and summer start to spawn wicked amounts of mosquitos. To the point that you won’t be able to do much unless you’re netted up, literally. No worries for the first few months of the year, which in my opinion will be the most beautiful, so plan your trip soon. And there are free ranger-guided canoe trips every weekend at 12:30. What a deal!

See you out there!