So, the day after Christmas dawned sunny and warm (low 50s) so I decided to take the GF out for a visit to South Carolina’s only National Park.  Congaree National Park is only about 30 minutes from Columbia, so let’s go!

What they call “old growth bottomland hardwood forest” is actually swampland.  Now, when the trees are in their summertime glory they form a beautiful natural canopy over the forest floor.  And a perfect breeding ground for pesky mosquitoes.  The wintertime advantage is as shown above.

There are numerous hiking trails throughout the park but we opted for the very easy 2.5 mile boardwalk loop.

According to the park brochure, the lush trees growing in this floodplain forest are some of the tallest in the hardwoods in the world.

Of course, they didn’t look to “lush” on December 26.  But they were tall.  Now, I have seen the Sequoias in the Sierra Nevada, so when you are talking big, everything is relative.  I recall that when I first moved to the South I sent a friend a postcard of the Smoky Mountains.  She wrote back and said “you call those mountains?  Folks sure do exaggerate back there!”

Bottomland.

Jee Yeun enjoys the view at Watson Lake.

Two and a half miles was about all I had in me on this fine winter’s day.

And so ends this tale.