South Carolina

Our trip originated as meeting friends in Charleston for a long weekend, so on the way there, we stopped at Congaree National Park. It is located in the center of the state, and preserves “the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the US”. On our first afternoon there, we walked along the elevated boardwalk getting acquainted with the terrain.

Bald Cypress trees have “knees” that jut up from the ground, but scientists aren’t totally sure why. The prevailing theory is that they provide stability to the tree.

One of the signboards we read said the mud layer throughout the area is 8 feet thick!

These are Dwarf Palmettos (and you can hopefully see the brown mud line marking high water) -

For our full day in the park (and my 60th birthday!), we rented a canoe in Columbia, SC. We tied it down firmly on the Fit…

…and drove 20 minutes to the put in on Cedar Creek -

First, we paddled upstream for about 45 minutes…

…finding gorgeous reflection pictures…

…around every bend -

After managing a comical “near portage” of backing up, maneuvering forward around and between tree trunks and cypress knees, we reached a nearly complete blockage of the creek by a fallen tree, so turned around, to check out what downstream was like. This was our original put in point:

…and downstream we found - surprise! More water and trees!

Oddly enough, there was hardly any bird song, but we did find a couple of buddies hanging out:

Yes, there are two snakes sharing that branch. We only found out later, after I google searched and compared images, that these were harmless Brown Watersnakes, and not cottonmouths.

More reflections -

…and cypress knees -

Floating downstream amid the beauty, and peace and quiet was a great birthday present!

Shifting gears, we met up with our friends in Charleston, and one of our excursions was to visit Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. The House tours were essentially booked up, so we strolled the gardens for several hours, definitely enjoying ourselves. There were some azaleas still blooming -

…and the Spanish moss dripping…

Another buddy approached us as we walked around a pond -

…but we ignored him.

This is an Anhinga, and he was obviously quite proud of the figure he cut:

Live oaks have interesting twists to their branches…

…and even azaleas get Spanish moss -

OK…next stop, the Great Smoky Mountains.