Congaree National Park

Waves, Swamps, & Bayous: Southeastern Waters - Part 2

Sunday, 11 November 2018

Congaree National Park is a small national park near Columbia, South Carolina, that is noted for its stands of virgin timber. It has a large number of “champion” trees (the largest of their species in the state/US/world). Many of the trees are 120 to 130 ft (40 m) tall. While not as impressive as the redwoods and sequoias of the west coast, these are some of the tallest trees in the eastern US.

Most of the park is swamp along the Congaree River.

Cypress knees sometimes look like an army of forest gnomes.

The crown canopy of the champion loblolly pine.

These loblolly pines near the loblolly champion are over 190 ft (58 m) tall.

Lon is standing next to this large oak to give some idea of its size.

Looking up into the canopy of the big oak.

Wise Lake

More swamp

A nice collection of mushrooms growing under the bark of a dying beech tree.

At Congaree the “mosquito meter” was at the low end. When we were on Ocracoke, I would have rated it somewhere between “Ruthless” and “War Zone”.