Bougiegrnk's Travels: Marathon adventure

We weren’t exactly close, since we had only 2 National Parks in the lower 48 that had not visited, we decided to make a multi-day trip to Georgia and South Carolina to visit Congaree National Park. It required us to drive Colectiva II to a state park in Georgia, and then a pet friendly hotel in Orangeburg South Carolina to make it work. It was a 3-hour drive to get there, but it turned out to be worth the effort.

Allegedly in the late 1700’s, the entire coastal ranges from Virginia to Texas were hardwood forests. Because of logging in the early 1800’s to build homes and whatever, nearly all hardwood forests were gone before the Civil War. In the Congaree River drainage area, the forests were owned by the Chicago based Santee River Cypress Logging Company. Because of the nature of the terrain – water levels in the basin very by as much as 10 feet – it was very difficult to log effectively. The owners, Francis Beidler and Benjamin Ferguson, stopped logging the area in 1910 hoping it would be more valuable after other forests were depleted.

Logging resumed in the 1960’s, and a local named Harry Hampton began to advocate to preserve the last remaining hardwood forest in the East. This forest is dominated by Loblolly Pine, which grow very tall and only carry their branches and needles at the very top. I didn’t think that trees could thrive in standing water. But most of this forest lies in standing water for much of the year – at a minimum in the winter when water from snows fill the basin.

In the areas of the forest where Cypress grow, the trees show an interesting phenomenon that scientists don’t have a definite answer of the “why?” The roots of the Cypress surrounding the tree grow up and break the surface of the soil, creating knee high stubs. Scientists think that maybe these stubs may provide the tree with some additional stability in the muddy swamp. But they don’t know for sure. They were very eerie looking – almost alive.

Since the weather was cold and rainy, we settled for hiking through the center of the forest on their elevated boardwalk, and ended up leaving a day earlier than planned. We got an unexpected surprise! When we told the we told the folk at the Country Inn we were checking out in the morning, without even asking, they gave us an immediate credit for the 2^nd night. When we got back to Laura S Walker State Park, they did the same. We’re used to folks saying “Sorry, you needed to have given us more notice to get a refund – how refreshing! Check out this Pileated Woodpecker we spotted in Congaree – a lifer for us!

Because we knew it would be too cold for a campfire if we got back early, we took the opportunity to head to Charleston to try to find a Whispering Giant, even though it took us 2 hours out of the way. Landing Brave was Peter Wolf Toth’s 23^rd Whispering Giant. We had alleged coordinates, but when we arrived, they took us to a parking lot for Charles Town Landing State Park, and were pointing some 500 feet into a dense wooded area, where there were not paths or even openings. We made the decision to venture into the State Park and asked the docent if the statue was there. She said yes, and pointed it out to us on the Park map.

So, we ponied up the entrance fee, and walked over to where she had pointed. Sadly, we found a metal statue of Cassique, a Kiawah Chief. Disappointed, we headed back toward the parking lot, but I looked at the Park Map and saw that there was part of the park adjacent to the parking lot in the general direction that Brenda had suggested. So, we just decided to take a look near the African American cemetery, and BINGO! There was Landing Brave. If we can find one more Whispering Giant, we will have seen a full half of the sculptures that still exist!