Exploring Congaree National Park by kayak (and by foot)
Congaree National Park is one of the least visited national parks with only 250,000 visitors each year. Most people go in the spring to see the yearly firefly migrations but since we were there in mid-March we were too early for that. It did mean however that we had the park almost entirely to ourselves!
We started our adventure at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center which has, of course, a gift shop, but also a lot of information about the park and it’s biodiversity. You can also see the famed “Mosquito Meter” here. Being that parts of Congaree National Park are swampland, the mosquitoes here are no joke. If it’s up at 6 on the meter, you will be walking through CLOUDS of mosquitoes. Thankfully on the day we visited it was at a 1.
After Tim got his stamp for his passport book, we headed out to do the boardwalk loop trail, a relatively easy 2.3 mile hike that’ll take you out into some of the marshland to see the unique landscape that made Congaree worth of being a national park. We didn’t see too much wildlife but we did get to see a lot of squirrels, a few small lizards and then the main event: a cottonmouth snake.
Considered one of the most venomous snakes in the world, cottonmouths are not to be messed with. If you see one, do not get close to it. Utilize the zoom on your phone camera and stay well back. Bites are typically not fatal, if you can get anti-venom injected within 15 minutes of the bite. And if you’re halfway through the trail? It’s at least 15 minutes back to the visitor center to get it. So be smart and leave them alone!
The next morning we got up early and drove to South Cedar Creek canoe landing to do a kayak excursion with Carolina Outdoor Adventures. We paid $170 for 2 single person canoes and the excursion was around 3 hours long. You lazily float down the river and then paddle back up. We were in a group of about 12 people and we had 4 guides total so there was always someone nearby if you had a question about what you were seeing. The guides were very knowledgable and friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our time on the water. We got to see more snakes, a bunch of spiders, and some birds. Sadly we didn’t see any of the famed barred owls, but we did hear one hooting.
Congaree National Park is one of the least visited parks, and you can see why. It doesn’t have the “marquee” draw of parks like Yosemite or Rainier. It’s just trees and water. But there’s a reason it was made a park and if you’re in the area it’s definitely worth a visit. If you can only do one thing in Congaree National Park, we would definitely recommend doing the kayak excursion. It’s such a unique way to see a National Park and the best way to explore this one for sure.
If National Parks are your thing be sure to check out our other blog posts about Yosemite and Channel Islands National Parks.