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| Congaree National Park Kayak, SC | |
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| | Congaree National Park Kayak, SC | | | |
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Congaree National Park Kayak, SC
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| Kayak | 4.52 Miles |
100 AEG |
| | Kayak | 4.52 Miles | 3 Hrs 1 Min | | 1.50 mph |
| 100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | I was in Savannah, Georgia presenting at a conference, and my wife and I decided to stay an extra day for some exploring. After figuring out that the best "hiking" in Georgia is about 5 hours away (where the Appalachian Trail starts), we settled on crossing the river and spending the day at one of the less-visited National Parks, Congaree. Turned out to be a great choice.
Congaree is a preserve of old growth flood plain forests--the vast majority of which have been sacrificed to logging and development over the decades. It used to be Congaree Swamp NP, but the term swamp is apparently not actually accurate (it's not always flooded, but is so several times a year), and I think "swamp" didn't do them any favors in terms of encouraging visitation.
There is no entrance fee for this park.
We booked a kayak tour on Cedar Creek, and agree with those who say that kayak is the best way to enjoy the park. Due to recent rains, the creek was about 8 feet above its usual level (right at "flood stage"), which made for great kayaking, allowing our group to explore by kayak several areas that are normally on land.
We enjoyed learning about the Cypress trees, whose roots grow up from the ground into "knees" that can protrude up to 10 feet above the soil. We saw up close several large water snakes. They had seen a water moccasin the day before, but no luck relocating him on our trip.
The kayak tours are operated by two mom-and-pop concessionaires--one in the morning (9:30 am) and one in the afternoon (1 pm)--$80 for about 3 hours on the creek. There is also a canoeing concessionaire. And you can kayak/canoe on your own as well, though you should have a gps route handy, as it would be easy to get lost.
Cool place; well worth a visit. I'll post a separate triplog about our post-kayak hike. |
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