Congaree

Congaree was our most recent NPS visit.  We're camping right outside of Columbia, but Congaree is on the other side of Columbia, so it was about a 35 minute drive or so.  We're not really quick on Saturday mornings, we like to have our pancakes and sausages.  Oh, and we had to clean the car from the deluge of rain the air conditioner poured on the kids the other day.  So we set off, and got there right around 11:30.  Fairly empty parking lot, though it did fill up while we were in the visitors' center.  We went on the boardwalk trail, along with pieces of other trails.  Congaree is a swam/bottomland hardwood forest.  Pretty cool.  

This is right outside the visitors' center.  I was much relieved to see the 'squito level below ruthless and war zone.  The Everglades had the level right around ruthless.  Not fun.  But this sign was quite truthful.  We met a couple bugs, but that's because a few of us are sheer magnets for the beasts.                  

The forest boasts some of the tallest trees east of the Mississippi.  Beautiful, tall trees standing in puddles.  Not that there was water everywhere we walked today, but the area does flood every year.  I liked the non-flat nature of this downed tree.                                      

This was the first of several snakes we saw at the park.  I'm not a fan of snakes, but it is kinda cool to see them slither around.  You know, slither AWAY from me.  FAR away.                                      

If you've never been to a swamp (Congaree, Everglades, similar places), get thee there quick.  The cypress trees that grow there are really amazing.  Their roots grow back UP out of the soil.  The growths are called knees, and they're not entirely certain why this occurs.  But the knees all look different, and they somewhat reminded me of the hoodoos in Goblin Valley.  I like the two entwined ones in this pic.                                  

Towards the end of our walk, we even got to spot some turtles in Weston Lake.  We didn't get to spot much wildlife, so it was cool to get to see the turtles.                      

I've been trying for a while to catch a butterfly with my camera.  Sesquicentennial Park has a TON of butterflies, but they are all well-versed in eluding cameras.  This was the only one I saw who landed and stayed somewhere long enough for me to get my camera out.  All in all, our day at Congaree was a bunch of fun and we got to see some really spectacular scenery.