Congaree National Forest - Go and Explore!

“To my surprise, I felt a certain springy keenness. I was ready to hike. I had waited months for this day, after all, even if it had been mostly with foreboding. I wanted to see what was out there. All over America today people would be dragging themselves to work, stuck in traffic jams, wreathed in exhaust smoke. I was going for a walk in the woods. I was more than ready for this.”

― Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail 

An Unforgiving Wilderness

I went for a walk in a swamp in the largest old-growth floodplain forest remaining in the United States.  I had some of the same feelings that Bill Bryson did when he took on the Appalachian trail, but this was different.  I had only planned a morning hike before I pushed on to Georgia from South Carolina.  Nevertheless, it was thrilling to walk in the 10,000 year old footsteps of the Catawaba tribes in a place that had remained mostly undisturbed because it was so inaccessible, except on foot.

The mud is 8 feet deep in places, so staying to the trail is important.  Luckily for me, the National Park Service constructed easy-peasy boardwalks for the public to hike on.  Unluckily, it had rained in torrential fashion for the last week or so, and I got a few thousand yards down the boardwalk, and it became flooded and impassable.  Even with my hikers on, I only made it a little further tiptoeing along the high side of the boardwalk before I started getting my socks wet.

I found myself humming “We’re on a Road to Nowhere” by the Talking Heads.  I turned back to find the next trail. 

An Impenetrable Forest

Congaree NP is massive – 26,286 acres.  That’s why moonshiners in the 1920s (when Route 1 was organized) used the swamp to set up their stills.  In the 1800s, runaway slaves established small communities along the Congaree called “maroon settlements”.  If you try to hide there, nobody is going to find you, and few want to try.  Why???

Why People Stay Away:   

• Alligators.  Keep your distance, keep your hands in the boat, mind your kids and everything should be okay.    
• Mosquitos.  It is a swamp, which is pretty much mosquito heaven.  I was there in mid-March when the Park Service’s Skeeter Meter was only at 2 – “Moderate” and not at 5 – “Ruthless” or at 6 – “War Zone”.  I can only imagine the horror of late August.
• Burning.  The Park Service set intentional fires while I was there to ward off larger catastrophic fires and to support loblolly pines, which are able to survive minor scorching.  The woods smelled of smoke, but it didn’t prevent me from my moderate exercise.
• The aforementioned mud.  It is hard to get around in places like the one they call “Boggy Gut”.  Stay to the trails!
• Venomous snakes, including cottonmouth, rattlesnake, and copperhead.  Please watch your step.
• Pollen.  Allergy sufferers, beware.  The average tree height in the Forest is at least 100 feet.  When the pines let loose their pollen in March, there is no place to hide.  During the 3+ hours parked in the lot, pollen coated my car.  It felt like watching snow blow off of my ride as I drove back out to the highway.
• Feral hogs.  These destructive invaders are culled from time to time in the Forest, but like the moonshiners, they know where to hide, so they won’t all get caught.
• Getting lost or injured.  This is something to be avoided.  It can take hours to reach people who are in trouble, and cell service is unreliable in some parts of the forest.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew, like Bill Bryson!  Be prepared.  Check out the forecast.  Be sure to bring a map, water and a snack, even on a moderate hike.
• Poison ivy. If you don’t know what it looks like, go with someone who does.

Many Good Reasons Why People Want to Visit and Keep Coming Back:

• The Visitor’s Center is first rate.  Helpful, friendly Park staff answer questions and give advice all day.  The merch is pretty good, too for a government enterprise.  Signage is great, maps are clear, and it is easy to find your way around on the marked hiking trails.
• Birding is amazing.  The pileated woodpecker is the avian spokesmodel for the Forest, but there are scores of other seasonal and migrating birds to see in the canopy.  Gobs of people traverse the boardwalk with imposing camera lenses and gigantic binoculars.  There’s a reason they are there, so equipped.
• Get your 10K steps.  This unique place is worth a Route 1 detour for a couple hours of walking in fresh air.
• Canoeing and kayaking is a great way to explore the forest.  And you needn’t worry about a flood messing up your hike!
• Primitive camping is an option for those hiking or canoeing into the forest.  The variety of reptiles and insects could make life interesting  You could add to your camping story lore that rivals Bryson’s.  The possibility for complete solitude abounds in this wilderness, so dare to be great.
• Handicap accessibility is very well thought out.  Once you’re out on the boardwalk, there are an amazing number of things to see, including interpretive signage.
• Amphibians and reptiles are everywhere!  18 kinds of frogs, 9 kinds of salamanders, 21 kinds of snakes, skinks, turtles… you get the idea.  They’ve got water, mud and plenty of of insects to eat.
• Visiting the Congaree National Forest is Free.  

Synchronous Firefly Spectacle

And the greatest joy of all…. the thing that brings people to Congaree in droves??? Fireflys.  Not just any lightning beetle, no the Congaree ones flash synchronously – all at the same time.  Have you ever seen that?  I haven’t either.  I was too early in the year to catch a show, but if you go in May or June and walk out on the Firefly Trail, you could witness the magic.  It has become so popular that there’s a lottery to get into the park during summer evenings.

Champions of Nature

In case you couldn’t tell by now, I am a great champion of nature and exploring the outdoors.  I wish more people spent time there in the US.  I love our National Parks. 

This park wouldn’t have been possible without the passion of Harry Hampton, a journalist for “The State”, a Columbia based newspaper.  Hampton lived his entire live within a few miles of the Congaree River.  He was an avid naturalist, who began advocating for the preservation of the Congaree forest in the 1950s.  It wasn’t until 1976 that the NPS finally made the forest a National Monument, and then elevated the tract to a National Forest 27 years later.  The Visitors Center is named in Harry Hampton’s honor.