30 April– 1 May 2016

Slept in a bit this morning, all the way to 8 AM after our late night
conversation. We shared our pastries with D and chatted away the
morning. We do not get an early start to Congaree National Park. Of
course we decide that our priority for the day should be finding a
brew pub in Columbia for an early dinner before entering the park. We
settle on one called Hunter-Gatherer and find our way there for a
delicious meal and excellent beer. We arrive at Congaree with just
enough daylight left to set up our tent…and debate hanging the
tarp as the weather is warm and sunny. We decide the tarp hang is
wise in view of the high humidity. Good choice!!  We have
intermittent showers during the night and a good rain when we finally
emerge from the tent for our breakfast.

We enjoy the last of our Wild Flour pastries for breakfast, along with a few
pounds of fresh South Carolina strawberries we had acquired the day
before on our way to Congaree. They are large, deep red, sweet and
juicy.

As we are cleaning up the dishes, O walks back in the woods to toss the
dish water. He spies a large turtle about 10 meters from our tent and
calls me over to have a look. Photos are taken and I return to the
rinse water. Dishes are dried and tucked back into their proper boxes
and bags, and I walk the same path to toss the rinse water. The turtle
has apparently disappeared, but under a holly bush, just off the
trail is a mound of wriggling pine needles with a turtle tail
protruding from one side. As I watch, the lump of pine needles
adjusts itself further and the turtle tail disappears under the edge
of the pile.

We proceed to the Congaree visitor center after breakfast. There we spy a little
green tree frog with suction cup feet climbing the wooden wall, and
many red-headed salamanders, one with only a stump of a tail,
scurrying around. We explore the visitor center, refill our water
bottles, and wander along the boardwalk through the woods of cypress,
tupelo, loblolly pine, sweet gum and oak. We note the churned mud
near the walkway where feral pigs root for food. We learn later that
there are up to 4000 feral pigs in the park, an unwanted invasive
species. We have Hernando DeSoto, an early Spanish explorer to thank
for their presence. We eventually leave the boardwalk and find the
Weston Lake Loop Trail. The air is heavy with moisture and the skies
open with a thunderstorm as we reach Wise Lake. The trail winds along
Cedar Creek and then turns up towards Weston Lake where we meet the
boardwalk again. At Weston Lake I spy a northern parula, a new bird
for me.

Back at the visitor center we cool off, dry out and watch a film about
Congaree. The park is here because this terrain was too challenging
for logging. The lumber baron who owned this tract was saving the
trees for when the price of bottomland lumber was high enough to
justify the risk and expense of clear-cutting the land. Thank
goodness there were local people who fought to preserve it. Congaree became a national monument in the 1970’s and a national park in the
early 2000’s. Because it was never logged there are many “champion”
trees here, the largest recorded of their species. I’ve never seen
such large loblolly pines. (Incidentally we learn that loblolly means
mud puddle, because that’s where these trees prefer to grow!)

We return to camp, cook our dinner and listen to the calls of birds,
frogs and insects. A bright red summer tanager stops by – another
new bird for us.