We started out from Smoky Mountains by going through Townsend on a crazy, narrow, back state road to Pigeon Forge. That place is a city-wide amusement park! The drive here was very green again, but there was a crazy amount of construction on the roads as we crossed into North Carolina and then finally into Columbia, South Carolina. I’m happy Dave likes to do the driving. And crazy drivers abound here also, cutting us off as we come to stopped traffic or the trucker that cut over way too soon. Not just a Cali thing! But we made it safely. I didn’t think it could get more green but there are more spruces and different conifers so there are some blue- green trees now! We are staying in a large private campground in West Columbia, SC, called Big Rig Friendly RV resort. Lots of large, flat spaces with full hookups, and the feeling that this will soon be a resort. But not now. That is fine by us. Good clean showers!!
Congaree is a swamp in the utmost sense. It has the largest, tallest deciduous forest in North America. This forest used to stretch from Virginia to Texas but now is found only in this part of South Carolina. The Bald Cypress trees are over 150’ high and there are these big Loblolly Pines throughout the swamp area. They boast the “State champion” Loblolly Pine in the park. Bald Cypress wood lasts longer than 100 years after being cut down- it simply does not rot so it was prime wood for building homes and bridges. The nice thing about hiking in this area is that even though it is pretty humid, it is very shady too!
The Congaree River is wide and shallow but does overrun its banks about 10 times each winter and spring. The entire area is very flat and the primary “trail” at the Visitor’s Center is a boardwalk. The mud at places is 8 feet deep!! We did hike a couple trails that came off the boardwalk- the Weston Lake trail was pretty good. They called it a moderate hike but that was an easy “moderate” hike for sure. A little mud and one downed tree to step over! Weston Lake is one of many oxbow lakes in this region due to all the overflows each year. It causes the areas to get “cut off” from the river so it becomes a lake. Weston is one of the deeper oxbow lakes.
We also had dinner twice in Columbia- first night at the Palmetto Pig (all you can eat fried chicken and shredded pork plus sides) which is on the edge of the South Carolina University (SCU). They had a baseball game against Arkansas and so many people were all over the place walking to the game. The fried chicken and the Mac n cheese were amazing. The second night we went to the Piggy Park BBQ since we didn’t really get SC BBQ the night before. This was absolutely amazing except……$11 service charge? That we finally figured out was for the tip we wanted to give and a $3 credit card charge. Plus another extra charge for extra prices. And the $2 upgrade to have any meat except sausage. Etc. just annoying as can be. But tasty. And as we went to the restaurant we had to pass by the Old Columbia Speedway just as the gates were opening. Busy place this Capitol city!
Our last day here, we went on a hike to Bate’s Ferry, or tried to. A tree was down in the pathway. And it was pretty muddy from the giant rain early this morning. And it was barely a pathway. We did end up feeding a few mosquitoes I think. So we went back to the boardwalk and added the firefly hike- during the day so no luck. We barely made it back to the car before yet another massive downpour! It knows how to rain around here. The nice thing is that this storm has brought the temperatures back down- it has been 15-20degrees higher than normal both here and the Great Smoky Mountains.
Another interesting thing about this park is the history associated with slavery. There are black American “communities “ here that started after emancipation. Actually started with escaped slaves hiding out deep in the swamps. And then when the slaves were freed, they were given land all around where this park is situated because, like the reservations, no one really wanted the swampland. Thing is, once the trees are logged, you have extremely fertile soil. So they logged, and built levees, and have made successful multi household farms here. There are some huge churches and stores in these little communities that could be fun to explore. Good for you!
Congaree NP ended up being much more fun than we expected. Pretty cool overall and lots of truly easy, flat hikes. As usual, click the button to see the MUCH better pictures from Dave’s real camera vs. my cell phone.