Congaree National Park is centered on a cypress swamp in central South Carolina, with mind-bogglingly tall trees and amazing variations in water content. The park is rich with history, as the relatively inaccessible swamp biome with dense tree cover served as a suitable refuge for escaped slaves, who once established a secret colony here. The biome here really is unique; I can't think of another national park that has anything like this.  The cypress trees that tower out of the water (or dirt, if it's very dry) are taller than almost any other cypress trees in the world.  In springtime and during other wetter periods, the park will flood to the point at which the boardwalk becomes impassable by foot; a canoe or kayak would best suit visitors in those cases.  However, when we went, the swamp was very much on the dry side.

During our visit to Congaree in June 2024, we did a short hike on the Bates Ferry Trail before exploring the main boardwalk with views of giant cypress trees towering out of the shady swamp.

Part 1: Bates Ferry

The Bates Ferry Trail leads to the site of a dock at one end of an important ferry crossing over the Congaree River. People apparently like to hike down to the river and take a boat across to a beach on the south side, where they like to camp.  This hike was cut short because of the horrendous number of bugs flying all around us.  You can't see it in pictures, but this trail was a veritable cloud of biting flies that we walked through in the miserable heat and humidity.  The goal of our short hike was to reach...a river.  This was probably our worst hiking experience in any national park (don't worry, Congaree gets better after this).

We rushed back to the car to get out of all the bugs. The bug spray we applied didn't really help us.

Part 2: The Boardwalk Loop Trail

The Boardwalk Loop is the most famous feature of the park, and it's the most visited. When people think of Congaree National Park, they think of the scenes visible from the cypress swamp in this area.

After you set out on the boardwalk, it isn't long before you see the cypress swamp scenes that Congaree National Park is known for having. You can see by this photo below that we went during a very dry time. The recent presence of much higher water is evidenced by the darker brown colors at the bases of these trees.

Congaree is home to an abundance of blue-tailed skinks, and we got a close-up look at one of these lizards on a tree trunk:

The extremely abundant tree bases resembles a graveyard of smaller trees which once got boxed out of their space to grow.  The thick "floor canopy" of tree trunk nubbins is a unique feature of the cypress swamp.  The scene below shows the Congaree River in the background; the southern leg of the circuitous boardwalk follows along the north bank of the river.

Congaree National Park is known for its mosquito meter, found at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center (the site of the trailhead to the boardwalk). When we visited, the mosquito level was "3" for "moderate". The bugs weren't too harsh on us at this trail. I shudder to think what levels 5 and 6 are like.  Below and to the right is a photo of some turtles we saw in the Congaree River, from a pier looking out at the river in the southeastern corner of the boardwalk loop.

In the northeastern corner of the boardwalk loop, we found this snail and this fern-laden spot:

Count: Congaree was the 22nd national park we visited.
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