* Conagree National Park * Hopkins, SC * 06.08.2022 *
Congaree so far wins the award for fewest people… most bugs. Oh, horse flies… how do I despise you? Let me count the welts. We finally resorted to walking barefoot so we could use our flip flops as swatters. But enough about the bugs. Conagree like the unique ecosystem it protects, is an ancient alluvial floodplain so deep and dense that it provided safe shelter for slaves from nearby plantations as they made their first steps toward freedom. At 26,000 acres, this is South Carolina’s only National Park and is the largest intact tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the U.S. The park contains some of the tallest trees in Eastern North America with one of the highest canopies in the world. It is a little visited park, so I hope you enjoy the peek inside this lush bug infested hardwood swamp haven sans the bites and welts. First park we have been to that had its’ own mosquito meter.