Chasing the Swamp Fox

We made it to Congaree Swamp National Park, one of the newer parks in the system.  Congaree NP is a swamp along the Congaree River here in South Carolina.   Early attempts to log it failed because the cypress trees were too big.  They couldn't be drug or floated out of the swamp.  So they were never harvested, giving us today a beautiful stand of "old growth" trees that are magnificent.

Yesterday we drove 250 miles from Wilson to here, almost a travel record for us.  To think that some years ago, we could easily do 500 miles and one time we did 700 miles a day.  But no more.   Yesterday, we even stopped at a rest stop and I sacked out on the floor for a few minutes.

I also learned yesterday that times have changed.   We historically have been big users of the Flying J services.  Well, we're going to change.   We stopped and fueled up at the Flying J okay.  Then as pulled out, I noticed that two adjacent stations had cheaper prices.  That is a bummer.   Then we tooled on down the road about 50 miles and stopped at a Walmart for kitchen supplies and the diesel pieces were exactly fifteen cents cheaper then what we paid.  It was my own fault, as I knew the route we were taking and my Delorme Mapping program shows all of the Walmart stores and if they have diesel service.  It was like pitching a five dollar bill into the trash can!

We are planning to stay here a day or two or three.  Perhaps even longer.   They are having a Historical Re-enactment of the old days here on Friday and Saturday and we'd like to see it.   So we may stick around.   If you remember your Revolutionary history, this was the area where one of the Patriots  (The Swamp Fox)  harassed the British and then hid in the swamps.

The camping facilities here are different from most parks.   We are parked in the overflow visitor parking lot, about the size of small basketball court.  Outside of the parking lot are grassed sites for tents.  But RVs park in the parking lot.  They are spreading 6 inches of new gravel on the lot now, so we have to move to the regular lot shortly after 8 AM.   After we move (and when it warms up some) Sandy and I are taking a mile or two mile hike (on their path) into the swamp .

Unlike many parks we have visited where you have miles and miles of scenic vistas, here you have lots of trees.   The road is like a trench.

Gene