I love visiting national parks and hope to one day make it to all 63. I’ll often read about certain national parks and make plans for when I eventually visit them. And I recently came across a terrible review for South Carolina’s only national park, Congaree. In fact, the review was so bad that it has led many reporters to name it “America’s worst national park.” I believe this review was originally meant as a joke, considering I don’t think the author had ever actually visited the park prior to writing it. But I’ll include it below since it has gotten so much publicity:
A small park with a boardwalk through a swamp (they prefer the polite term “floodplain”) so you can stare at some trees. The main function of the boardwalk seems to be to better present visitors to the swarms of mosquitos. Step off the boardwalk and into the realm of the four varieties of venomous snake that inhabit the park, including the “ubiquitous” cottonmouth. Run from the snakes and find yourself in glades of poison ivy or stumbling into wasps’ nests or webs of biting spiders that are “highly painful but not lethal.” As a bonus, the trails are poorly marked (when they’re not completely washed out), so as you run screaming in circles waving your hands to fend off mosquitos, you’re likely as not to impale yourself on a jagged Cyprus [typo] stump.
Bill Fink
Ever since reading that review, I have had Congaree National Park on my radar because I want to see for myself if it’s actually as bad as some claim it is. I planned to visit back in March, but severe weather forced me to change plans and check out Ocmulgee Mounds instead. I have now moved to the Atlanta area and am located about 3 hours from Congaree, so I decided that I would come visit on the first opportunity I had. This weekend my schedule had finally freed up enough for me to make the drive over, and I’ll detail my experience there.
One thing I’ve found as I’ve told others about my desire to visit Congaree is that most people have never even heard of it. So what is it?
Congaree National Park is one of the smallest national parks in the US, located in the center of South Carolina with the Congaree River running through the center. It protects the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States. Many of the trees here are the tallest of their kind, and it is home to an abundance of unique species, including many types of birds, river otters, wild boars, deer, and, yes- spiders, snakes, and mosquitoes. Many people confuse it for a swamp, but it’s actually a bottomland forest, which is slightly different. A swamp is always underwater while a bottomland is an area beside a river that regularly floods. The ground in Congaree is often underwater but not always. And this allows for some unique types of plants to thrive here, including loblolly pine, sweetgum, cherrybark oak, elm, persimmon, and cypress. Its many trees create one of the highest temperate deciduous forest canopies remaining in the world, and many of these trees are considered “champion trees” because they have won tree competitions (which apparently exist).
One thing it’s also known for is its synchronous fireflies, which show up for about 10 days in May or June: an event which is historically responsible for bringing in people from around the globe to witness it. (And that just so happens to be this weekend). Before 2020, thousands of visitors would flood the park this time of year to see this natural phenomenon, but since 2020 the park has introduced a lottery system. Of the thousands that apply, only 120 vehicles are allowed inside the park each night during this event. I tried to apply back in the beginning of April, but they had closed the lottery early this year, so I never had a chance. As a result, the park was closing at 4:00, so my time was limited. (I may enter the lottery next year to see if I get selected for it).
As I arrived in the park, I first visited the visitor center, which is the start of the Boardwalk Loop Trail. Here they have a “Mosquito Meter” which measures the mosquito intensity on any given day. Congaree is known for its aggressive mosquitos, but because of the fireflies in the area currently, they are not allowing visitors to bring bug spray into the park. So I was very thankful to see the meter on 2, which is considered mild. I started walking the 2.5-mile Boardwalk Loop Trail, and at first I wasn’t too impressed. It’s a boardwalk-through-a-forest trail. I’ve been on many of these over the years, though I will admit that this is probably my favorite of those. The scenery was beautiful. Obviously there are many trees, and the tall canopy was cool to see. What I really enjoyed about this trail is when I stopped to just listen to my surroundings. All I could hear were the many birds chirping and the sound of wind blowing through the trees. It was so peaceful!
The loop takes you to Weston Lake before turning back toward the visitor center. There are multiple trails branching off from the boardwalk, but due to the limited time I did not hike any of these. I finished the Boardwalk Loop Trail and still had a couple hours left before the park closed. Though I enjoyed this trail, I wasn’t overly impressed. I had read online that the park is best viewed from the water, so before entering the park, I stopped by River Runner Outdoor Center in Columbia to rent a kayak for the day. If I want to give this park its best shot, I need to try everything. So I drove down to the Bannister Bridge Canoe Launch and dragged my kayak along a trail to the water. The water level was a little low, but I had payed for a kayak rental, so I had to give it a try. I set the kayak down in the water and had to step down into it. I got seated but couldn’t get it steady. Next thing I knew, the kayak completely flipped upside-down with me in it! I had everything with me- phone, wallet, keys, and a backpack full of stuff, including chargers and battery packs. It was all SOAKED.
As I stood up, I sank almost to my knees in thick mud. I then had to try to pull myself up out of the water and flip the kayak back over. But because of the low water levels, in order to get the kayak out, I would have to pull it up over a dropoff that was a couple feet high. With a kayak full of water, it was just impossible for me to get it out. And there was no one around. I tried pulling it out of the water for about 30 minutes before I started to consider giving up. I started considering how much it might cost to replace the kayak if I returned to the rental company without it. Before giving up completely, I wanted to try one last thing, so I decided to walk the trail back to my truck to grab a ratchet strap to see if I could somehow use it to maneuver the kayak out of the creek. When I reached the parking lot there was a father and daughter that had briefly stopped by and were about to leave. Knowing this might be my only chance at getting the kayak out, I asked them for help, and they very kindly agreed. Between the three of us we were able to pull it out. And they were very cool about it and told me of their own kayak-flipping adventures. I told them I was done trying to kayak for the day, but they informed me of a much better ramp on the other side of the park.
I decided to give it one last try and drove down to this other ramp, known simply as “Cedar Creek Canoe Access.” This was a much better option for launching a kayak. I did have to walk through thick mud that swallowed my foot with each step in order to reach the water, but my shoes had been destroyed already at this point, so it wasn’t a big deal to me. Once I finally got on the kayak and started paddling around, I was blown away by how beautiful it was! I’m so glad I didn’t give up after one bad experience because this made the entire trip worth it! The views were incredible. I paddled along this creek with champion trees towering above me on either side. I would watch as eagles fly from one tree to another on the opposite side of the creek, and the sound of their wings’ flapping was very intense. At some points the water was so clear that it looked as if it were a perfect mirror of the trees above. I’m convinced that if you haven’t experienced Congaree from the water, you just haven’t experienced it the right way. You can see the park from the boardwalk, but until you’ve actually immersed yourself in the middle of it, it’s hard to appreciate how beautiful it really is.
I kept going for a while because the views were amazing around every bend. I would occasionally bump up against stumps here and there but nothing too bad. It was somewhat difficult to take pictures because the kayak would move the second I positioned myself for a picture, but the ones I did get were great. It started to get closer to 4:00 so I decided I needed to turn around. At this point, I almost ran into another log and had to stop myself fast when I noticed it wasn’t just a log I was about to run into. There was a massive copperhead snake lying on top of it! And it was watching me closely from the corner of its eye. I saw it tense up like it was getting ready to strike if I got any closer. That’s when I started to think about how this was the same creek I flipped my kayak in earlier.
I headed back to the ramp and dragged the kayak to my truck. Overall my time at Congaree had very high highs, very low lows, and very average experiences. I was filthy from the unplanned swim, but fortunately I had brought a change of clothes and was able to put on something dry and less muddy. Looking back at the bad reviews Congaree has gotten, it only makes sense to me that the reviewers either never visited the park or didn’t visit it properly. I don’t agree with calling it the worst national park at all. I really enjoyed my time here (minus the kayak flip) and would highly recommend visiting it if you have access to a kayak or canoe when you come. To be fair, the mosquito meter was only at a 2 when I came, so I might have a different opinion if it was a “war zone” day. I do think the bad review is kinda funny, but it’s just not accurate at all. If you’re ever in the Columbia area, come check out Congaree, and let me know how your experience goes. Thanks for reading!
Tyler's Travels 