Congaree National Park is fairly small with one main attraction – the swamp – so it is easy to spend a quick day in Congaree on the way to something else. I see why they didn’t name it Congaree Swamp National Park (its prior name was Congaree Swamp National Monument until 2003) as anything with “swamp” in the name brings a certain disdain. But, a little spit and a polish and a swamp transforms into…er, wait, it’s still a swamp…
It’s so swampy, in fact, that they have a Mosquito Meter! Any park with a Mosquito Meter needs its own warning sign, as those blasted bugs torment us seasonally in Minnesota where we are blessed (yes, blessed!) with cold winters that kill them off. Thankfully, the Mosquito Meter wasn’t in the “War Zone” and we were able to set off on our walk, but you’ll definitely want bug spray with when the mosquitoes are bad. We prefer natural bug sprays, but they do need to be applied more often. If you do happen to get bit, these little tools are amazing!
1 Quick Day in Congaree National Park
We went in early April, and the water level was fairly low so pictures of those beautiful flooded Cypress trees were hard to come by. I guess winning the photography game would have required us losing the mosquito game and that trade is ok by me! We left Charleston in the morning and planned to sleep at the Aloft Hotel in Columbia that evening and we were in town and settled in by dinnertime.
There are multiple ways to explore the park including hiking, kayaking, and canoeing. You can, in fact, leave Columbia, South Carolina and canoe 50 miles to the park on the Congaree River Blue Trail. For that, I’m told you need to plan to camp, and I can understand that as we’ve done some canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and a 15-mile day in a canoe is a workout! For the normal folks, you can canoe much shorter routes, but since we did not, I’ll leave that advice to others.
The Visitor Center is fine and had nice flush toilets and friendly Rangers. We picked up our Junior Ranger books, took in the park video (as we often do) and looked for dioramas. If you’ve read many of our posts, I love to find a good 3D landscape diorama! If it lights up, all the better!
We chose to spend our time in Congaree doing what I expect 90% of the visitors do — the boardwalk! At 2.4 miles, it is an easy walk and most of it is on a literal boardwalk. There are benches on the trail and it is both wheelchair and stroller accessible so don’t hesitate to take the stroll and admire the loop trail on your day in Congaree!
As you explore the boardwalk you will see why this park is protected and it really is about the trees rather than the swamp exclusively. The trees in the park are part of the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeast United States. For that, I’m glad it’s protected! These spaces are worth protecting and I’m grateful for those who kept this for our future generations to enjoy!
The park itself was quiet when we visited and it was very peaceful to stroll along the boardwalk and take in the sounds of nature. It was easy to visualize what it must look like when flooded and I’m sure it is a photographer’s dream. Also a photographer’s dream is to visit in mid-May to mid-June to see the synchronous fireflies in the evening. You need to plan carefully and be patient if you want that experience.
We saw so many trees – bald cypress, tupelo, loblolly pines, oaks, holly, and maples as far as the eye could see. What we didn’t see was much for wildlife but we hadn’t anticipated any so that was fine. The trail was easy, and if we had wanted, we could have continued on and extended our trip down to see Wise Lake and return back on the Sims Trail. While we were there, some of the boardwalk was under repair, so we did not get to see the entire boardwalk. It happens, and the park is good about noting it on their webpage if it impacts your ability to get around.
If a person wanted a harder hike or had more time, the Bluff Trail (1.7 miles), Sims trail (3 miles), Weston Lake Loop (4.4 miles) or Oakridge Trail #4 (6.6 miles) all extend off the Boardwalk Trail or leave from the Visitor Center. Another option is the Bates Ferry Trail (2 miles) whose destination is the Congaree River but that is about 15 miles by car from the Visitor Center.
Congaree was a fun stop on our Spring Break trip through Georgia and South Carolina which included Ocmulgee National Monument (NM), Andersonville National Historic Site (NHS), Jimmy Carter NHS, Cumberland Island National Seashore (a gem!), Fort Frederica NM, Fort Pulaski NM, Fort Sumter NM, Charles Pinckney NHS, and of course the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and Georgia Aquarium. It was a perfect 10-day adventure! Congaree is also close to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and could be a fun stop if you are hoping to combine mountains and beaches into a single trip.
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Just did it one day trip ( May 28th 2021) to this park and it was wonderful. Is technically not a swamp at all and there is no swamp water it is 36,000 acres large and in the near future a 4000 acre swamp area is being donated to the official Park boundaries. Swamp water never drains. This natl park has rivers and lakes that converge in an area and they have a flooded Creek zone with many beautiful cypress trees, longleaf pines and tupelo trees. The lakes, river and Creeks are all open free to the public for kayaking and fishing. You must have not taken the best route for a day trip which is kayaking where you get down with the nature. We saw owls, an active Beaver Lodge, many water snakes, pond turtles, catfish were jumping and alligator gar fish. On the boardwalk path they were skinks and woodpeckers, and a view of one of the lakes where we observed alligators and herons.
Donna,
Thank you for the comment! You are correct – Congaree’s water is not technically a swamp, but is commonly referred to as one including under its’ previous name until 2003 and the organization that raises funds to protect it to this day is called the Friends of Congaree Swamp. The Congaree River provides the water and seasonality impacts the flow through the park. As we noted, we visited during a dry season and hiked the park Boardwalk Loop, which is the most common trail for a visitor to see. It is fair to say that the water level dictates a lot of the wildlife and views of this Park. Congaree is a unique park that is beautiful and worthy of protecting!