“USA 🇺🇸 Georgia to South Carolina ~Congaree National Park and More!”
Congaree National Park ⬇️
We came away from this National Park visit, quite impressed. I didn’t know what to expect, because it would appear this Park is mostly swamp land. But it is so much more than that, and we are very fortunate that environmentalists from days-gone-by were so active at one time and made a lot of noise to get this precious and priceless land preserved, from it being logged off, too. Had there been no activists for this land, the only swath of land left, of an area with hardwood trees; which used to be abundant all over our country, would have disappeared, completely, in America.
Something else that is quite special about Congagee is the fact it changes, drastically, with each season; like all places do, but in this case, the entire Park becomes a giant flood plane and turns into a lake, the entire size of the National Park, for part of the year.
There are many wooden platforms that have been built to allow foot traffic throughout the Park, due to the swampy nature, but during the rainy season, all, or the majority of these wooden walkways disappear into the swampy waters, only to show up again, after the rainy season passes.
Finally, Daryl and I got to see a “Fox Squirrel” for the first time in the wild. What is a Fox Squirrel? I’m glad you asked. They are a beautiful shiny black Squirrel with some white on its face and the tip of its tail. To be honest, before we came to Congagee, we never knew this type of Squirrel even existed. It was a chance sighting to begin with, so we feel very lucky to have gotten to see this beauty. It was pretty good size and just so cute.
We did see Black Squirrels in Borneo, Malaysia, but they were entirely black. The Fox Squirrel has the sweetest face, with its white markings.
The story of South Carolina’s only National Park, goes way back; from the initial attempts to harvest the forest’s massive virgin cypresses in the 1890s, through the grass-roots struggles of the 1970s to preserve it, to finally, its classification as a National Park in 2003.
Congaree has some of the tallest trees in the eastern United States, and is part of the country’s largest contiguous tract of old growth, bottomland hardwood forest, and is home to champion trees, primeval forest landscapes, and diverse plant and animal life. Known for its giant hardwoods and towering pines, Congaree’s floodplain forest includes one of the highest canopies in the world.
The Park provides a sanctuary for plants and animals, a research site for scientists, and a tranquil wilderness setting for walking and relaxing in.
Its gorgeous natural features attract many visitors, but the landscape of Congaree has a rich cultural heritage as well. Americans from all walks of history have called Congaree home, from prehistoric natives to Revolutionary War patriots, to escaped slaves.
For thousands of years, Native Americans lived in Congaree, finding life in the many natural resources that the floodplain provided. African American slaves used the floodplain as a refuge and a place to find liberty. After emancipation, they fished Cedar Creek, hunted along its banks, and baptized children in its waters.
Today, Congaree is still a great place for fishing, as well as hiking, camping, and boating.
There are some very specific Speed Limits inside the Park, on your way to the Visitors Center. We kind of got a kick out of them.🤣 Posted speeds at 5-10-15-20 is what we are used to seeing. Part of the slow speed is to protect the Fox Squirrel in their natural habitat, with the road that goes through it, but again, 10-15 is just more normal, but perhaps not as effective? There had to be science behind it, right?
⬆️ Fox Squirrel
I didn’t get very many photos of this cute little guy, because I was driving, and it was on my side of the road. It was very cold out, there, so we did not have the top down on Jonah, nor were her windows rolled down, as we tootled along. I was unable to react quickly with pictures like I’ve been used to in warmer weather.
Do you know, we’ve been following summer for all these years, except after the worldwide lockdown in 2020. We ended up staying in Armenia (we had a fun white Christmas) for the following winter, because with the “flu” season, countries began closing borders in a panic. to the places we wanted to go. So here we are, experiencing winter weather for only the second time in seven years.
Anywho….At this National Park, there are no scenic drives, or scenic loops, because there are very few roads through the Park.
One can parks in the parking lot, near the Visitors Center, and walk through the building, and right out the back, to begin walking on the raised boardwalks that go every different way. Or, there are other points of entry in this park, as there is no fee to visit. It’s free for all who come. One other point of entry is a walkway/trail that takes a person to the canoe access point. It was far too nippy for us to do that, today, and I’m not sure there is much water at this point, yet, but in the spring, after all the rain, I bet it would be fun.
⬆️ This is a real tree, or it was a real tree, now preserved, and it came in four pieces to this National Park, from somewhere in California. It’s on display and defiantly pretty interesting.
The big guy and I sat through a very informative video, too. The aerial footage shown over this entire Park is really something else. I will find a picture on the internet and share. Its just breathtakingly beautiful!
Congaree is also home to Bobcats, Wild Pigs, Foxes, Opossums, Deer, and River Otters! There are also American Alligators.
One of the best things about visiting the Park is that you can do so on foot or on the water. It’s a wonderful park to hike through and canoe or kayak through, with 25 miles of hiking trails, and 2.4 miles of boardwalk.
Congaree National Park, with more than 26,000 acres of near-virgin forest, is a portal to the past, to a time when millions of acres of old-growth bottomland hardwood forests towered along the banks of southeastern rivers.
We had a very enjoyable walk through the Park, on a cool day with lots of sunshine and no rain. It was so quiet. We only saw about five other people, visiting. We saw evidenced of Wild Boar, where the ground was dug up by them. Also, there were wet foot prints of what looked like a Racoon.
This National Park is not highly visited by travelers, but it looked to me like a great place for locals to come and get exercise. The trails go on and on, mostly on the boardwalk, but also on the natural ground, where it is not underwater or marshy. But even for the locals, it’s a very out-of-the-way location. While there are fuel stations all around, the closest RV Park I could find, put us a half hour away from Congagee. There are no grocery stores, restaurants, and the like, until one gets all the way to Columbia, which is an additional 20 minutes away. It’s all good, but it is one of the reasons we did not come to the park the last time we came to South Carolina; to visit Charleston, back when we still had “Tiny the Trailer.” It just takes a bit of effort to get to this National Park, which we made sure to do this time, as it’s not conveniently close to anything else. But it is absolutely worth the extra mile or 200, to get to. We really enjoyed Congaree a lot, and think it would be fun to see in the spring, too, and go canoeing.
BTW, Congaree makes my 40th National Park visit. There are 63 official National Parks in the NPS system. When we start up Rving again, next year, after our break, I’ve already got reservations for us being near 12 more National Parks we haven’t been to yet. After we get back to California, we will take another road trip, just for National Park visits, and hit up four more National Parks there. After that, what’s left are in Alaska, (can only fly in) Hawaii, ( this will be fun) and randomly around the lower 48 like: Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, and Indiana, but I will figure those trips out, too.
Big Rig Friendly RV Resort ⬇️
The resort part is a bit of a stretch, but it looks like they are still working the place. It is nice and the people were friendly, here, too. The lot space was the longest we have ever been in. We require over 60 feet, to have room to park the VW, but I’m guessing the one we are in is over 80 feet long. Big Rig Friendly for sure, and we were grateful we could find this place to stop, ever so briefly, to take in Congaree.
There are plans for a pool to be put in, here, so that might make it more resort like, in the future.
After we got back from visiting Congaree, I was so itchy to just get on the road and head for North Carolina! Why wait till the morning to leave? This MeMa was really getting excited and poor Grandpapa was having to put up with me. 🤣 If we had warmer weather, and longer daylight hours, we WOULD have gotten on the road, but boondocking half way, before dark wouldn’t have gotten us very far, and then we would have had to run our generator all night to keep us warm, and keep the water tank from freezing. Yes, I had to agree. It was best to remain with our full-hookups, overnight, but we definitely left early in the morning. After we got back from the Park visit, we pulled around the back of The Whale and got Jonah all hooked up and ready to go.
We were about a six-hour drive, including one fuel stop, away from our final destination in North Carolina, and we had a birthday party to get to, for our sweet Grandson, Luke; who will be 10! The very fun part is, while the grandkiddos all knew we were coming, and were expecting us, they think we were coming a day later than when we were actually arriving. We surprised them, by coming in a day earlier than they thought, so that was so fun!
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Just for fun, I am adding my blog for when we visited South Carolina the last time. Charleston is another old Historic town we visited, and by now, we literally have seen to so many of these cool, Historic places, up and down the Eastern Seaboard, by only a few year later, and we are feeling quite accomplished and giving ourselves a pat on the back for all our effort.
Of course it helps that we just love to travel and explore, too. It takes a lot of motivation to do what we have been doing for seven years, now. (two years RVing.. the rest traveling the world).
We will be taking the next four months (or more) and NOT driving The Whale anywhere. We need the break from the road in the worst way, to rest up, do some different things, and most importantly, spend time with family. We miss our grandchildren all the time, and they are growing up so fast!
Even if we weren’t traveling all the time, our home base is on the West Coast, while our grands are on the East Coast. It’s always been this way, and its our reality, so we are all used to it, because we have never lived in the same town, or even the same state, and almost always, at least, 3000 miles apart. Then there was that time, that the Richardsons got assigned to a duty station in Okinawa for four years, before Joey (SIL) retired from the Marine Corps. We were only too happy to fly, to meet our youngest grandchild, who was born there! So, when we get to see each other, we make the best of it, and create amazing memories, every time. Quality over Quantity works, too.
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About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More