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Congaree National Park on the National Parks Service website - NPS.gov


Congaree National Park - Wikipedia


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Picture of typical scenery in Congaree National Park

Congaree National Park


South Carolina's Congaree National Park protects the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States. They help to make up the tallest deciduous forest in the United States.


South Carolina

2015

About The Park


The park is located in central South Carolina just 20 miles east of Columbia, the state capital. Congaree is not a hard park to get to but, relatively speaking, not a lot of people do. In 2017 it ranked 50 out of 59 in terms of visitors which puts it near the bottom of the pack with 159,000 visitors. When one considers its eastern location, and the fact that the four other national parks located along the eastern seaboard of the United States all get over 1 million visitors, one has to conclude that it’s not the most attractive national park.


It seems to be a place that not even the locals are too excited about.


The area’s hardwood was attractive to logging starting in the 1880s and most of the forests were decimated. The area where the park sits was largely left alone due to the difficulty of logging here. In the 1970s when technology made it more feasible to log here there was already a movement to preserve the area. The movement succeeded in 1976 with the creation of Congaree Swamp National Monument.


It was designated a wilderness area in 1988, and was designated a national park in 2003, mainly as an act of conservation to preserve the United States’ largest expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest. It contains some of the tallest trees in the eastern United States. Located in a floodplain, its humid, dampish nature in summer, comwasn’t oppressive and with the help of some insect repellent we explored the park in the area of the visitor center.


The Harry Hampton Visitor Center had the usual informative exhibits which gave more context to the park.


We spent a day hiking around the park and, for us, that was sufficient. Most of the park is wilderness and little visited and the visitor center and surrounding trails are in the western end of the park nearest to Columbia.


Wildlife

Animals that reside in the park include bobcats, deer, coyotes, turkeys, raccoon, opossum, otters and armadillos. Typical of the region there are the usual collection of reptiles, amphibians, snakes and turtles. The park is also an important birding area.


Lodging

There is no lodging in the park. There is an abundance of lodging options in Columbia, South Carolina which is only 11 miles away.


Hiking

All of Congaree’s trails, being lowland, are basically level with no elevation change.

Boardwalk Loop

This 2.4 mile loop is most popular due to its slight elevation from the sometimes muddy spots along the trail. It is a self-guided nature trail with a brochure that you can pick up at the visitor center. It is easy, wheelchair accessible, and dry.

Weston Lake Loop Trail

This is a 4.4 mile loop that leads to Weston Lake and Cedar Creek where there are said to be river otters. We took this trail and didn’t see any otters but we did see lots of snapping turtles from off a dock jutting out into the water. Overall the trail was dry, the muddy sections avoidable or with some piece of boardwalk over the mud, and gave us a good measure of what the park has to offer.


Other Points of Interest

We found, in our exploration of Columbia, SC, that the Congaree River was the local ‘beach’. There were lots of young people, some with kayaks, but most with inner tubes beating the heat floating on the slow-moving river. The park is about 10 or 15 miles east and the tubers weren’t going that far. Most just seemed to be able to hang out in groups out on the water.


Congaree National Park Photo Gallery

Other National Parks Within a Day’s Drive

Great Smoky Mountains National Park America’s most visited National Park is 270 miles to the northwest and about a 5 hour drive.


New River Gorge National Park Where you can see a steep gorge and a graceful steel arch bridge that rises 876 feet above the river. It is 345 miles to the north and about a 5.5 hour drive.


Shenandoah National Park with its famous Skyline Drive is 425 miles north and about a 7 hour drive.
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