Congaree National Park

We recently learned about Congaree National Park. I don't know how we missed this before. It is a beautiful national park with a great boardwalk and best of all - it's free! I am familiar with pine forests, but not with hardwood forests. 

One of the first things we're going to buy when David finally finishes school is a good camera. We like our little camera, but it's old and falling apart - and today the battery died. So most of these pictures were taken with my cheap little phone. They don't begin to show how beautiful this place is.

The brochure describes it as a place of "silence, quiet, serenity, peace, calm and beauty." We got the beauty, but the rest of it was pretty difficult with our little kids. We did stop every now and then to encourage them to be quiet and hear the birds and the wind through the trees.

My picture of the kids.

Baylie's picture of us.

Early settlers and Native Americans ground the beech nuts from beech trees like this to make flour for bread and meal cakes.

I'm actually amazed that Jalen never went over the boardwalk. It wasn't for lack of trying.

Even with my cruddy phone, you can see how amazing this place is. You can tell it is an old growth forest because the high, thick canopy keeps out sunlight and results in less vegetation on the forest floor, allowing you to see through the trees. I couldn't help but think of American history and the other people who may have peered around these trees.

One of the strangest things we saw were "knees" produced by the bald cypress trees. These strange formations jutted out of the ground throughout the forest.

 Here Baylie stands by a particularly large knee.

 View up a hollow tree.

I love quality family time.

 

The forest was very swampy. I thought of the Swamp Fox and realized how he must have maneuvered in and out of these places, leading his enemies into treacherous territory. I also thought of the "maroons," the slaves that would escape and hide out in the swamps where they could not be found. After walking through this forest, I could better understand how they could remain hidden.

We love nature!

 

 

We hate nature!

Nature's picture frame.

The mosquitoes were mild.

It was a great morning!