Congaree National Park

Loblolly Pine Tree

National Park #26.

Congaree is one of the lesser known and least visited of the national parks.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. According to the National Parks website, Congaree is the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States. 

Let us translate. The park sits almost entirely in the floodplain of the Congaree river which overflows its banks, on average, 10 times per year.  This pattern results in an amazing diversity of plants and a huge collection of really tall trees, including over two dozen “champion” trees, meaning the tallest of their species.  These include a Loblolly pine (170’), a Sweetgum (157’), a Cherrybark oak (154’), an American elm (135’), a Swamp Chestnut oak (133’), an Overcup oak (131’), a Common persimmon (127’), and a Laurel oak (125’).  In short, you would be hard pressed to find a forest like this anywhere else in the country. 

This is a park that you can easily do in a day. It can be seen by either hiking some of the many trails, or paddling down the Congaree River. We choose hiking since we had Mack and we didn’t feel like getting wet! ;-)