Santee State Park/ Congaree National Park

 September 25,2020

Drove to Santee State Park, set up then grilled up some bratwurst for lunch.

We had a large pull thru site under some loblolly pines.

We drove out of the campground area to the visitor's center and shot this on the fishing pier at Lake Marion.

Remember that dry, sandy campsite we left.  Well it started to rain and then a downpour.

The site is sand, but it rained hard, how deep was it?

Ankle deep when I stepped out on the matt.  It took  about 2 hours for the ground to absorb all the water.

September 26, 2020

Time to go to Congaree National Park and do some hiking and learn about the floodplain that helps contain floodwaters that cover much of the park each year.  Come join us on the Boardwalk Trail.

Tupelo trees dominate the landscape.  The moss line on these trees is an indicator of the water level from previous floods.

In the upper left is the majestic Bald Cypress.  

It produces "knees" that rise up from the roots and can be seen throughout the forest floor.

Older "knees" get moss covered and pointy.  The looked like gnomes.

In an open sunny area, caused by a disturbance like a hurricane, the dwarf Palmetto bloomed.

We also hiked the Bluff Trail and then stopped at some picnic tables to have our packed lunch.  Lastly we drove off around the outside of the park to the Bates Ferry Trail.

Others have used the trail, but not many, it was overgrown in parts, even had a fallen tree that we climbed thru to continue on the trail.  

Come join us on the trail.

You can see we were all smiles at the river.

September 27, 2020

Sunday, time to go to church.  St. Ann's was just down the road, a small welcoming church that asked that all visitors stand, and yes it was only Jim and I. 

 The sun is breaking through the clouds on this partly cloudy day and Lake Marion is calm, time to go kayaking!

Did I mention that there are Cypress trees growing in the middle of Lake Marion?  Our first destination was out to paddle among the trees in the middle of the lake.  (Lake Marion is the largest lake in South Carolina, centrally located and with territory within five counties. The lake is referred to as South Carolina's inland sea. It has a 315-mile shoreline and covers nearly 110,000 acres of rolling farmlands, former marshes, and river valley landscape.)  Conditions vary from shallow swamps and blackwater ponds to vast open water with a multitude of underwater structures. The area was not completely cleared when Lake Marion was created. As a result, there are thousands of stumps, standing dead tree trunks and live cypress trees.

It was kind of wild, we also were passing tree stumps under the water and watching dead cypress trees swaying with the motion of the water.

We paddled back toward the shore to the park's 10 cabins out on docks over the water.

These cabins looked pretty cool.  A woman was outside one of them and I asked if she liked her stay here.  She said she loves it, in fact it was her third time renting one.  

After our paddle we came back to the campsite to watch the Bears.  (and yes I disagree with that call, that was a touchdown for the Bears.)

BEARS WIN! 3 - 0