Congaree Boardwalk (Congaree National Park, South Carolina)

 After spending the last four days in and around Charleston, South Carolina, I now have a long drive home back to Atlanta to look forward to, but that doesn't mean I can't stop to stretch my legs a bit. Congaree National Park, which I learned of recently, seemed to offer a good midway point to do just that.

I finding parking in the large parking lot and head out on the boardwalk trail. I've been adventuring for the past several days and I'm not looking for anything more than just a little stretch and this 'trail' seemed the perfect fit. It was built to protect the swamp areas of this national park and the old growth forest, made up largely of cypress trees, some of which are more than 500 years old.

My legs have been cramped in the jeep for the last couple of hours and they seem to just want to move now. I'm still just walking, but I'm moving along the elevated boardwalk at a really fast walk pace, passing many slower individuals and excusing myself as I do so. I'm not trying to set any records here, but my legs seem to have a mind of their own. Perhaps, it was all that time being cramped in the cockpit of a kayak over the last few days.

The park itself is very much what I've come to expect of South Carolina, black water swamp, though the trees here are notably larger than most of the ones I've seen in other swamps over the last few days. My understanding is that the purpose of the park is to protect this ancient giants. 

As I continue on at my breakneck pace, I stop at a small creek cross where the boardwalk meanders over, to take a picture of a venomous water moccasin sunning himself on a log below. The diamond shaped head is a dead give away.

After just a short time more, I find myself back at the visitors center having hiked 2.4 miles in what seemed like thirty minutes or so. It was a nice very abbreviated visit to this park. Perhaps, I'll return when I finally have another kayak to explore the included waterways.