Today we left the KOA and on our way to the Congaree National Park we stopped for breakfast at the Vicious Biscuit. Jerry opted for eggs over easy, ham, potatoes and a biscuit. I had a sweet potato waffle with bacon. This was the first time I ever had a sweet potato waffle and all I can say is why did it take me almost 69 years to have one? It was so good.
After breakfast we drove to the Congaree National Park, our 30th National Park. It is mostly swamp land and it was very interesting. There is a broad walk path that is elevated sometimes quite high to pass over the swamp land, and sometimes at ground level. It was very buggy even though we covered ourselves with OFF, even so I have a good number of new mosquito bites. It was pretty cool today at about 67* and the trees are all around you so very shaded, but it is so humid we were still pretty sweaty.
We saw trees over 100, 150 and 175 years old. We saw American Beech trees, bald cypress trees and loblolly pine trees. My favorite was the bald cypress. This tree puts up “knees” from the roots that help keep the tree stable when the forest floods and when high winds buffet the tall trees. I found them fascinating and some of the knees were covered with moss. These trees are often growing in water and their barks and wood is rot and water resistant. They were used by Native Americans to make canoes.
We saw many dead fallen trees that are now homes for animals, insects and fungi (why are mushrooms invited to all the forest parties? Because they are fun-gis! Hope Theo likes that one. You too Olivia!)
We saw areas where the water collects called guts. These spaces help when the nearby rivers flood to prevent the entire forest from flooding.
We saw dwarf palmetto’s the smallest and hardiest palms.
We learned that moonshiners used the forest to hide stills from the law. Before the end of slavery, run away slaves hid out in the forest because the area is so futile they could feed themselves, the trees kept them hidden and slave hunters were afraid to go into the swamp areas to find them.
There were many postings about the wild life you could see, fox squirrels (I did not know there was such a type of squirrel), deer, otters, various birds, insects, frogs, toads, salamanders and feral hogs (think Lost). Alas, all I saw or felt was the ordinary mosquito. We did hike for about 4.5 miles and 12,000 steps today.
Tonight, we are staying on the grounds of an old plantation house. The person who owns the property has put in some water and electric with sewer caps to dump the waste. He has put some trash cans around and set up a common area with a fire pit, some chairs and lights.
Tomorrow, we go to Sesquicentennial State Park until Saturday. The park looks very nice but the reservation warns there is no internet, we’ll see what Jerry’s magic antennas can bring in, he mostly always finds a signal.