Lost in Congaree

September 30th, 2010

I arrived at Congaree National Park, with no expectations. Congaree sits 20 miles East of Columbia, SC and about the middle of South Carolina. Few people have even heard of it. I only found it thanks to Google Earth.

Once I arrived, it was hard to understand why it lay so quietly. This beautiful national park boasted zero fees for admission, camping, and even canoe tours (though I unfortunately did not have time to try them out).

When a national park/monument gets enacted it has an option of charging fees. The federal government will fork over 'X' amount of dollars for the park, anything required beyond that is up to the park. The kind lady running the visitor center informed me that of the 170 odd national parks 100 are free, but many of their amenities (like parking) may be not. Congaree, however, charged for very little. They manage this by cutting down on the staff and luxuries. There are no showers, no electricity, water, or RV hookups. To get water I had to borrow a 'key' that turned on the spigot on one side of the visitor center. This makes Congaree a popular back country camping destination, and contained only 7 normal campsites.

The campsites turned out quite primitive. All seven of them were spread around a small pond, and only accessible by a long trail. These walk-in sites required you too carry your stuff up to 300 meters into the sites. A small sacrifice to camp free at such a beautiful place.

It being a weekday in the off-season in a park nobody knows about, meant I was 1 of the 2 visitors in the entire park.

For the only time on the entire trip, I was alone and secluded. I chose a campsite 2 down from the other guest. With the campsites spaced so far from each other, I couldn't even see my neighbor. That being said, I did have 200 meters to carry all my stuff, which luckily only took a few trips.

Surrounded by trees, birds, and quiet, it was quite amazing

________________________________________________

With my camp set up I went adventuring. Although I was in the deep forest, I still was in the lowlands, and therefore did not worry about bears. So I took with me everything for a long journey, planning to return late in the night.

Congaree national park is the largest tract of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent. It contains some of the tallest trees in the east, and some of the highest canopies in the entire world. What saved this piece of land was it's location in the floodplain. Growers and foresters alike found this swampy location very hard to profit off of, and by 1976 was finally turned into a National Park.

Old growth forests are the mecha of biodiversity in the science world. Taking hundreds of years to reach, these forests contain huge trees, large dead snags, and a rich diversity of plant and animal life. In the United States, few (and I mean few) tracts of old-growth forest even remain. Most were cut down for wood and never allowed the 200 years to grow back. This habitat being specifically an old-growth floodplain forest, one that regularly fills with water, is so rare I couldn't find another example of it online. I suspect somewhere in north central America such as Idaho, however.

With all that said, I am in love with this area, and expect pictures would do it more justice than words. So here's the results of my 5+mile hike around the boardwalk and river trail:

1. Containing some of the highest canopies in the world. These trees are counted as "champion trees". Which means they are the largest of their species in the nation








2.










3. You can see how flooded the area is. This moist understory features many fungi and mosses. It even boasts bio-luminescent fungi, though I never found any.





4. The beautiful boardwalk.










5. In most cases the boardwalk was necessary to protect the fragile moist ecosystem below it.









6. To cut cost, most of the boardwalk and bridges were made by local boyscout groups.









7.







8. The boardwalk did ended once the flooded ecosystem subsided, and the rest of the trail continued along the river.





9. I walked along the trail along the river, till I suddenly heard a loud chattering and splashing. I turned just in time to see a black mammal scurrying off into the other side of the river. And there on the other side of the river was a family of river otters, racing away from me. So I did the natural thing at this time, sat down, and waited. Eventually the otters returned, curious to see if I was still there. They swam up to this pool, then did the strangest thing. It started barking at me.
10. This guy, on the right side of the tree, would periodically poke his head from the side of the tree and bark at me. Then quickly hide again on the other side.





11. Till eventually I had two otters poking their heads from the side of the tree. Barking at me, then hiding behind the tree again. This went on for perhaps 5 minutes, before I gave up on taking better pictures and left them.




River Otters...easily the coolest thing I have seen yet.

12. And so I went back on to my walk







13. This just shows the diversity of the trees, where my camp was mainly pine, there now is a broad mixture of species, including bald cypress with moss hanging from them.




14. Night started winding down as I hit the lake. Make sure to check full size picture on this one.









15. I found this guy hopping across my path. Oak Toad







16. Notice how well he blends in with the surroundings.







17. I completed the circle, and I ran into a couple of bug collectors like these. Researchers placed them throughout the boardwalk while I was hiking. The collector work by attracting the bugs with the bright light, once there the bugs fall into the bucket and are unable to get out. This is thanks to the funnel like opening at the top of the bucket. I'm guessing it's was a study on the various species found in the park.



As I walked in the growing darkness, with my headlamp on, I began hearing my favorite denizen of the night. The Barred Owls. These owls generally are deep forest owls, not seen much in neighborhoods. They're best distinguished by their ridiculously cool call. Click on the link and listen to it. It's unmistakable and quite creepy in the dark. I counted as many as 5 owls calling to each other around me, as I walked along the boardwalk. It really is an amazing thing to experience. I even sat under a tree with one calling in it, but I couldn't find him. I took some recordings, and I'll try to get that up as soon as I can.

With my journey wrapping up and night clearly set in, I traveled back home. I felt confident traveling at night due to the reflective trail markers stapled on the trees. My spirits high, and confident in my location, I began gathering firewood for my camp. This was about the time the reflective tape disappeared, to be replaced by dark blue paint on the trees. Withing 5 minutes I looked around and realized, I was lost. I back tracked many meters, just to find out everything looked the exact same.

I Matt Boone, admit I suffer from over confidence, and occasional lapse in paying attention.

But before my Mother comes in yelling at me, I will admit I never was infact lost. I had a gps, map, and a light to my west. I merely was sorta-lost. So ego thoroughly shot down, I took off towards the light.

I made it to the parks field houses and took the road the rest of the way back. The night contained another first, as it was the first night it rained on me. Because of this, the rest of the night was fairly uneventful, and with morning I regretfully left Congaree.

Next stop Greenville

Stalling in Georgia

September 29^th, 2010

I left Big Lagoon SP unsure of where to go next. I was coming nearer to the Atlantic ocean and wasn't sure when I wanted to head north. About 3 hours into the drive east on I-10, dark clouds started rolling in, and I soon ran into rain. It was with that, I made a calculated gamble to head north to Georgia, hoping to bypass the storm, and hoping Georgia wasn't like Alabama.

The gamble failed. The storm ended up following me all the way into the middle of Georgia and decided to sit there for the rest of the night. The plus side is it forced me to drive through Georgia, allowing me to realize how much I loved it. Old Victorian houses next to relics from the early 20^th century, huge oak trees with moss hanging down, pine forests, and the general southern feel turned Georgia into one of the unlikely places I'd like to live at. I just kept imagining spending fall in the backwoods of Georgia, watching the seasons change, joining in the harvest festivals, and enjoying the nice weather. That's the weather I imagined it had, not the weather that day. Because that day it was raining, a lot.

It stayed bad all the way to Douglas, Georgia where I planned on camping. As I didn't feel like setting up my tent in the rain I decided to grab a motel instead.

I definitely decided that quicker than I should have. It's not that I had been camping that long at this point, it's just I was feeling a little lonely and out place. The warm bed, tv, internet, and shower made me feel more comfortable and somehow set my mind in the right place for the rest of the journey. While I always am going to be nervous and anxious, I made sure the rest of the way not to let the homelessness and uncertainty take over my emotions.

The motel was more expensive then I planned on spending, but countered it by still eating the food I bought for myself. This includes using a nifty trick I learned from my good friend David Chang: Making ramen with the Coffeemaker, a seemingly obvious, but genius idea.

Unfortunately, this night was fairly uneventful, and I left the next day after sleeping in rather late.

The day was not without a bird sighting, however! I found a flock of Canada Geese at the local Douglas, GA airport. They were likely stopping for a bite to eat before continuing on their Fall Migration.

A note

I realize the formatting is messed up. But I don't have the time to fix it, and would much rather get posts up in a timely manner than to fix them. Once I get back I will fix everything I promise. As it is I can only do this on the small times I receive wireless internet. So please excuse me

The watching eyes beneath me

September 28^{th, 2010}

With the swamp slightly underwhelming and warning banjos going off in my head, I decided to skip Mississippi, Alabama, and end up in Florida instead. So I began my 4 state 8 hour journey early the next morning.

I never realized how long Louisiana actually was until I found out 6 hours or more of this days journey is Louisiana. Only an hour or so of that are to get you through Mississippi and Alabama.

Louisiana is always a fascinating state both good and bad. While it does seem quite backwoods, it's culture is fascinating and distinct. Case in point, while driving in no mans land between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge I heard a political ad completely in Cajun. Not a cheap gimmick, but a full blown 30 seconds of political rambling in Cajun. Adam later would tell me he believes they are the nations most unknown repressed peoples. I don't know if I believe that much, but it definitely is more than just a stereotype that movies grab on to.

By the way, when I called it a no mans land between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, I meant it. Somewhere in the middle there exists a 20 mile swamp, so uninhabitable that Louisiana just put a bridge over it with only 2 exits on or off of it.

So uninhabitable they didn't let me exit to take pictures of it. Lame

Quick note on Louisiana, while I left it fairly quickly I do want to spend more time there. Maybe with friends or someone close to me.

By the time I landed in Mississippi, I was quite ready to get out of the car, and decided to stop at Mississippi Sandhill National Wildlife Refuge. This was the refuge Adam previously worked at, and as he loves Mississippi because of that job, I thought it would turn out to be a good experience. Instead I kept wondering if I was missing the rest of the refuge. The main visitors center was free, but the refuge itself only contained a ¾ mile trail, and an overly excited volunteer trying way to hard get me to watch the video of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.

These cranes are ESA listed and sub-species of the unlisted Sandhill Crane. Mississippi's have slight morphological differences from their father species and never migrate. This warrants them special treatment from the federal government. It's rarity is such that this refuge maintains the population mainly by rearing the young and keeping a close eye on the population.

The habitat is Pine Savanna, a common site in protected areas of the gulf coast. Like most savannas, including our very own in central Texas, Pine Savannas are fire controlled, and require it for the health of the habitat.

Here are the few photos I took while walking the trail.

These pitcher plants are native to the region. The poor soil leaves them seeking another outlet for many of the nutrients they require. They solve this by trapping insects in their funnel like extension. Once at the bottom they secretes enzymes to break down and absorb the bug.

The pine savanna. This habitat runs mostly along the gulf coast through the panhandle of Florida. Fire runs through it regularly, keeping the non-fire resistant trees from overtaking the pines.

After excruciating amount of hours in the car, I finally arrived in Florida. I exited quickly into the Florida Vistors center to check out my camping options for the night. I know Florida as a retirement community is a cliché joke, and should be left to terrible comedians, but is it sad the visitors center felt like it catered to old people passing through? The center contained an over abundance of the same 20 brouchers, spread confusingly throughout the huge center. In the middle of the center was 4 or 5 couches done in a tacky bright blue and flowery pattern. The lady at the counter was serving orange juice and cranberry juice for everybody. Now I get that Florida is a sub-tropical area that prides itself on orange's and apparently cranberries, but really? Old people resting on badly patterned couches, while drinking orange and cranberry juice? Maybe that's not the visitor centers fault but actually why Florida is a favorite of seniors.

The visitor center desk lady was very kind and pointed me to a good park only 20 minutes away: Big Lagoon State Park. Let me tell you, Big Lagoon definitely delivered. The campsites were private, and it sat right on a marsh between the mainland and barrier island. Not only that, it had nice hot showers and a real water spigot at my site. What luxuries.

I set up my camp as quickly as I could and went for a hike around the park. The only trails they had were two trails heading to the water, but the habitat offered was well worth it. Being the mainland and not the barrier island, there was no beach at the park, instead flooded marshes with beautiful inlets and shallow sandy coves. The park clearly new what beautiful scenery they owned, and set up benches, pavilions, and even observation towers all over the tiny park.

Here are many of the photos I took along the way.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

_________________________________

I arrived so late, and enjoyed it so much, that by the time I started home it was night time. With my headlight on, I started back in the dark. When suddenly. I heard the beautiful sound of owls in the distance. I followed towards them, and luckily ran into them on either sides of the road. There sitting on two snags, out in the open, silhouetted against the just setted sun, were two Great-horned Owls. Great-horned Owls are staples of many neighborhoods around the nation including Central Texas, heard. These are giant birds that contain a heart wrenching stare and gorgeous face. To see one is like seeing the most beautiful part of the night. While I don't have pictures for you, I did manage to get a nice recording of them. In this clip you'll hear them respond to each other. While it is a territorial call, these two are a pair and regularly play off of each other. It's very anthropocentric of me, but I think it's kind of romantic and cute. (this will be up when I figure out how to do it)

Florida had one more surprise for me. After dinner I went off to the bathhouse to brush my teeth before bed. As I sat there brushing my teeth,

I looked down, and saw two eyes starring back at me through the overflow hole in the sink. And with that ladies and gentleman, I give you the cute picture of the day:

.

.

The birds in the area were a little scarce. There were a few egrets, mainly Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. The most exciting for me was getting a good look at a Brown Thrasher. Which was a life bird for me.

The real swamp rats have masks

September 27th, 2010

So slightly anxious and nervous, I left Bay City to drive up the Gulf Coast. I drove on without a single plan on where I was going. I knew where my end point was (Greenville, North Carolina) but I had no idea what I was going to do between. With it being my first real night on this trip, and the first night camping since I was a kid, I decided to stop early in western Louisiana. Thanks to my Iphone, I decided on Sam Houston Jones State park near Lake Charles, LA

The website for the park included many upsides such as long hiking trails and fantastic birding. The reality left me a little wanting. The whole place felt more like a local park and RV park. While the tent area was fairly empty, the park itself was filled with screaming kids and parents. The whole place felt like Lake Charles amusement park, with attractions including, playground, petting zoo, and convenient boardwalk for your children to ride their scooters on. This was not exactly the environment I imagined when I dreamed about this trip.


Slightly jaded, I unpacked my car and attempted to set up my camp for the first time. This was made harder by the fact I had only put up this tent once before and it clearly takes a little finesse. It took a couple tries and a little cussing, but I finally got up my tent, and got it looking half respectable. With that I decided to check out the rest of the park. The part hopefully away from all the people.

Even with the trail I took being 3 miles, I still managed to find grandmas, couples, and women walking the trails like a local park. While I realize people will be on trails in state parks, my evidence that this is different resides in the fact most of these folks were power walking, and didn't spend the night.

While the swamps are dramatic and stunningly contrast from most forests I was used to, the swamp still left me a little underwhelmed. While it was good to stretch my legs, by the end of the hike I was ready to get back to camp. I will admit it might just have been the lack of wildlife I found

Here were a few photos from the walk:










This is a good picture of the Louisiana swamp and bayou. What's filling up most of this picture including the middle is swamps filled with small pla













More swamp

















I wouldn't call this a swamp, but more of a bayou. The water is very dark, like most of the swampy habitats in the south. The leaves and other plant material sit on the bottom of the river, collecting. What happens is the pigments in the stale water stain the water a deep brown, coloring it.




Now's a good time to explain one questionable issue about the park and why I said it was a petting zoo.They feed their animals. This is a concept I know is frowned upon in most of the biological world. When animals become dependent on humans, they change their innate behaviors and can either turn dangerous or obnoxious.

What happens at this park is that it turns into a petting zoo with families coming out from the nearby areas to feed the animals. The park does their part by leaving out tins of food on the ground. While this leads to a collection of cute deer your child will enjoy feeding, it also leads to more dangerous animals like raccoons.

Now don't get me wrong. Raccoons are some of my favorite animals, and some of the cutest. I just don't want a wild animal near me, especially when he's hungry. Which is exactly what happened.

This is your cute picture for the day. As I knelt down to take a picture of the family of raccoons feasting on the state parks offer to the gods, this little guy snuck up on me. By the time I lifted my head up from the camera, I had a raccoon a foot away from me. I wish I would have named him, and part of me wishes I would have pet him, but that would have been a bad idea.

Within a minute of taking pictures, I started attracting attention. There were 15 people enjoying the animals, but only 1 (me) paying any attention to the raccoons. Whether it was the neglect or the greed inherent in raccoons, I soon came face to face with the zombie horde of raccoons. And quickly became the most popular person around. As the onslaught of cute began its way towards me, they started getting meaner and meaner. Eventually fights started breaking out for who would get to meet me, and arguments ensued.

I'll admit it's good to feel loved. And I'll admit its good to be the mayor of Raccoonville, but I wasn't feeling it was time to get my rabies shot, and quickly got up to leave the scene.
.













Zoom in to see the saddest raccoon


Later on my trip to the bathroom, I was given a little knowledge on the situation:

And this sign was explained further, by the 10 raccoons ransacking my neighbors campsite. Food, item, and camping items were spread throughout their campsite.

I even managed to find one checking out my campsite, who I quickly chased up a tree and harassed him with photos. That'll teach him. And yes that's my head lamp adding light to the scene.


To celebrate my victory, I cooked my first dinner on my sweet propane grill. The design of this grill is so genius and so cheap, that I marveled at my ability to find it. Who needs fancy burners and a container, when all you really need is a propane tank and a piezoelectric switch? Genius I say, Genius.

With night falling and the campground quieting down, I decided to talk a walk on the nearby boardwalk that lay over the surrounding swamp. The kids were gone to bed or back to Lake Charles, and the night was much more peaceful. The cool air, bright stars, and singing crickets helped ease some of my first day anxieties. I slept more peaceful than I anticipated.

The morning turned out to be a good one too, with the air filled with birds. Prothonotary Warblers, Pileated woodpeckers, and even a Louisiana Waterthrush were a few of the birds that joined me for breakfast. I though twice about leaving, but decided it was time to get back on the road. So by 10am I had my stuff packed away and started my next long drive.