Traveling with the Munschs: Congaree National Park

After the sand of North Carolina, we were heading to the swamp in South Carolina. But I guess it's not really a swamp, just swamp like. This stop was Congree National Park. We had a campsite about 40 minutes out of the park at Poinsett State Park. Pretty easy and uneventful drive but one of the longer ones at about 7-8 hours. This would be a short stop only here for one full day.

The main attraction at this stop was a canoe tour we had planned; it's said that it's the best way to experience the park. I took my phone with on the canoe trip so actually have some pictures of us on the water this time.

After our three-hour canoe tour we headed to the visitor center to check it out and to walk the boardwalk they have there. Even though it was hot and we were tired from paddling we only had the one day here so had to press on. As we started the boardwalk Marcus started feeling ill, we think he might have had a little heat exhaustion by the look of him. We gave him the keys to the car and told him to drink some Gatorade and we'd do the boardwalk and meet him at the car. A few minutes later I worried a little bit, I hope he's smart enough to start the car and sit in the air conditioning and not the hot car. We were sure he's smart enough for that so we carried on, it took a little longer than expected and about 45 minutes later we were done.

I had promised Lucas we'd drive into Columbia and get Qdoba if they had one. He spent most of the walk trying to decide what he was going it eat. We got back to the car and it was running and Marcus was on his phone feeling better. Everyone was starving so we headed towards Columbia and Lucas found a Qdoba and set our course. As we got close to the turn off the car started acting funny. When I hit the breaks the radio would go off and like restart. It was strange. Then some lights for antilock brakes and stuff started flashing on the dash. I'm like what the heck, leave it to GM's great electrical systems. Maybe we have a short somewhere. Now we're taking the turn off the exit and right in front of us is the military base gate. I go Lucas are you sure this is the way I don't think we can go in there. Then the car goes into full freak out. The locks start going up and down like the car is possessed. Christine style stuff here and start sputtering lights flashing on the dash and I'm heading into a military base I'm not sure I can go into. I see a turn around right before the gate and sputter through that and start going away from the base. Luckily there was a gas station right there so I pull up to the pump and turn it off. Holy hell what just happened. We figured it was some sort of battery issue. I checked the battery connections they looked good, so I filled up and we went to leave and the car wouldn't turn over, nothing when turning the key. Ok the battery was dead. Interesting it's a new battery maybe the alternator is out (that would be really great we're supposed to leave tomorrow). I have a portable jump station so I hook that up but it's a strange one that's slow and usually takes 15-20 minute until it charges the batter enough to turn over. So we wait with doors open in the gas station in the sweltering South Carolina sun. After the wait it starts, battery level looks good already so not sure what happened there we think maybe idling for 45 minutes with the air on caused it to drain to low but anyway we were running again. Lucas thought we could go into the base but I didn't want to mess with it. That was the only Qdoba within like 3 hours so we went and slummed it at the Chipotle which there were plenty of in this part of the country. We haven't had any issues after that but it still makes me nervous and just something else to worry about. I've never really paid much attention to the batter gauge in the car now I'm watching it constantly.

So that was our stop in South Carolina here are some pictures.

Becky in front of the lake that looked like a stereotypical movie pond at Poinsett State Park

Campsite at Poinsett State Park

Hanging out at the campsite, Marcus and Lucas getting on each other's nerves.
It was Father's Day, so I made the kids play frisbee with me.

There was a large open field right off our campsite.
So much room for activities.

Samus tending the fire as it got dark

Our main event for this stop was a canoe tour.
Here we are getting ready to put it.

Lucas and I shared a boat.

Becky and Marcus had some issues, Becky tried steering first then they switched and Marcus gave it a try. Either way, lets just say they covered a lot of water and got their moneys worth out of that canoe. Becky swears it was defective and couldn't track straight.

They had to bring a bigger boat for me. Well the guide didn't explicitly say it was for me, but mentioned to the group that the one canoe was bigger for heavier individuals and left it at that. I lowered my head and walked over to that canoe.

Samus rode with our guide.

It was the Munsch family and another group of two on the tour.

Water level was down we had to avoid quite a few logs and trees in the water. About 3 feet of water on average but there's a thick layer of mud. Sam found that out the hard way stepping off to the wrong place getting the canoes out of the water in mud up to his knee.

It was a out and back trip we stopped at the halfway point and got out for a rest.

Landscape when the water is higher it floods and then they can canoe through the tree's a little bit. That would have been cool but I'd think you could get lost and or stuck in the trees pretty easy that way. I thought Congree area was a swamp but it's not technically a swamp, just a forest that floods often.

The trip was pretty easy and enjoyable. I was worried at first about a out and back trip but water flow was minimal so didn't really notice it at all going against the current. We saw a lot of snakes resting on logs as we went past. They didn't worry us much spiders were a bigger fear, even though we didn't really see many but at times would have to scrape under tree branches or against logs and there would be a web or you just knew they were waiting to pounce. Imagination is often worse than reality.

We only had one day here so after our canoe tour we went to the visitors center and wanted to walk the board walk there to see more of the National Park.

Trees and their knees. The little stumps sticking out of the ground on the lower left are called knees and are from the trees roots. They think the knees help stabilize them in the soft ground.