Congaree National Park

May 10, 2017

We left Savannah and headed for Congaree National Park. We drove across the Talmedge Memorial Bridge. Becky snapped a few photos from high above.

Congaree was designated a national monument in 1976 when logging threatened the largest stand of old-growth bottom land hardwood forest left in the United States. Previously, Congaree escaped the axe because it was so hard to log. The marsh, bogs, wetlands and river bottom made it difficult to extract the trees. Owned by Francis Beidler, a lumber titan, he ceased logging in the area in 1914. Then in the 1950s, new logging industry inventions made it possible to access the trees and conversationalist Harry Hampton began efforts to protect the forest.
In 2003, Congaree became a national park. Twenty-five trees in the park can boast of being the largest of their species. No other area in North America has the same concentration of champion trees. Both size and species. The loblolly pine stands 167 feet tall.

 The dog spotted this fellow. He was wrapped around a tree while hunting a skink (a type of lizard). He kept diving his head into the pines, burrowing after the skink and chasing him out of the needles. The skink shot across the sidewalk and into the parking lot. In a flash, the snake was after him and he slammed on the brakes when he saw Becky, me, the cat and the dog watching him work. He popped his head up about six inches and watched us. I tried to pull out the camera to get a pic of him, but he turned around and darted back to the safety of the trees. I got his backside.
I don't like snakes at all. The only good snake is a dead snake is my motto and they give me the willies, however watching this black snake work was a treat. I about got up and ran away when he shot out in front of me.

 Inside the visitors center.

 Congaree is accessible along this boardwalk that circles in a 2.2 mile trail. The first part of the walk was on an old section of the trail that had risen up in some places and tilted down in others making the walk slanted and bumpy.

 The new section of the walk is flat and smooth. They replaced the wooden support posts with concrete and steel bases keeping the wood posts above ground level. They did an excellent job of keeping the whole walk level.

 The boardwalk took us to Weston Lake, a bend in the river that due to flooding and changes in the river bed was left as a pond. It will eventually fill in with dirt as nature reclaims it. For now, it is home to turtles, fish, hawks and all manners of animals including the two legged kind that felt the need to carve or write their names in the brand new boardwalk boards.

 Iris drug me around part of the boardwalk as we waited for Becky and Patrick to get back. I motored on the truck while they ambled down the trail. I got the dog out and met them with cold water bottles to celebrate our nature walk.

We left Congaree and drove through South Carolina. We stopped for the night in a Walmart parking lot. We were able to put S. Carolina on our map of states we spent a  night in the trailer in. Not the way I wanted to do it, but we needed to head home for a funeral.