I was one of the first inside the Visitor's Center when they opened the doors, but when I talked to Corinne to reserve a site, she said I needed to pitch the tent somewhere to claim a site. This hadn't been an issue the last time I was there because there was only one other camper. As we headed back to the campground I was a little concerned. There are only 8 sites at Congaree, and I had seen a lot of tents when we drove by on our way in. Fortunately, the three sites hidden away on the far end of the campground were all unoccupied, and this is where we had wanted to be anyway. I got busy setting up camp. Before unloading everything out of the car, I decided to move it closer to the site. The law enforcement ranger, Joe (whom I had not met at the time) was standing by his truck, parked next to me. I'm always careful not to rev the engine when people are standing by my car---simple courtesy. I was a little too careful and stalled out. I got her going again and pulled out, revving my engine and leaving Joe giggling. Always embarrassing, especially as a chick since I have to overcome the stereotype that women are bad drivers! But I didn't give it much thought and carried on with getting camp set up.
A short time later, Joe walked up to the campsite, "There's my stick shift driver!" he said. Figures. We got the campsite registration taken care of with him.
Joey and I roamed through the nearby woods for an hour or so before returning to camp to meet Morgan and Cody. Dan was not far off, so we lounged about and waited for him.
We heard word that John was coming out to spend part of the day with us, so we waited for him as well. In the mean time we goofed off, drank a few beers, and made an atlatl for recreational purposes. It turned out fairly decent.
So, John arrived and we decided to go for a hike. Since we had Cody with us we had to avoid the boardwalk. CONG is one of only 13 or 14 national parks that allow dogs, but they are not allowed on the boardwalk, and we were careful to respect this.
Not far out from the Visitor's Center, I think Joey realized the drawbacks associated with starting in on the beer at 8am.
Being a botanist, and suffering from impaired judgement, Joey got creative with a clump of Spanish Moss.
I think it turned out to be a pretty decent hat!
Our hike led us to Wise Lake, where I had been the previous morning. We arrived as a family that had been fishing (unsuccessfully) was leaving. We had the small lake to ourselves, and it wasn't long before Joey found a challenge that he wouldn't back down from.
But, trying to climb that tree was hard work, and he soon got tired.
He tried and tried and tried, but could not make it the last couple of feet. So, he enlisted the help of a volunteer.
After making no progress, they called in another.
But, eventually, Joey had to admit defeat.
John took a very brief attempt.
And Dan, being the very contemplative, observant person that he is, visualized the outcome of his theoretical attempt.
I was impressed that we had not ended up with someone in the water, but Morgan and I got a kick out of the free entertainment.
We headed back to camp, much to the chagrin of Joey who had expended all of his energy trying to climb the tree and was already distressed about being separated from the beer cooler for so long. He perked up a bit when we came across a huge sweet gumtree. He called upon Morgan, and eventually needed Dan, to measure its circumference, which they estimated at about 13 ft.
You see more pictured like the one above coming out of Congaree than anything else. The reason for this is that Congaree is home to 29 State and National Champion Trees, trees that are recorded as the largest specimen of their respective species. The "size" is determined by the height, circumference, and crown size. When we returned to the Visitor's Center we checked for a Champion Sweetgum. Turns out Congaree is home the the national champion Sweetgum, but its a little bigger with a 16 ft circumference.
As we neared camp, John and Dan spotted what they thought would be good firewood. It's an interesting sight to see a couple of guys walking through the woods carrying a small tree trunk.
By the time we made it to camp, we had four small trees amongst us. I had purchased a hatchet specifically for this, and Dan got busy making firewood out of our fire trees.
John headed home, and we hung about camp waiting for the coals to get ready for cooking. Here's a rare shot of me.
We got the hobo-sandwiches on the coals and waited as patiently as we could for dinner.
It got darker.
We filled the night with our well-practiced Barred-Owl calls and scary stories of cold weather!
With a few gooey s'mores thrown in
Dan headed home and we went to bed around 11, despite Joey's protests.
I slept fairly well, but I think I was the only one. I was in the middle, so everyone else got to keep me warm. :-) I woke around 7, threw my sleeping bag on a shivering Joey, and headed out into the day.
After getting the fire going I headed down towards the group campsite in search of the Red-Headed Woodpecker. I passed several boy scouts and scout parents hauling their gear out of the backcountry. I asked a few of them if they slept well. The answer was always the same. No. simple, curt, understandable. Those kids and their parents froze!
I didn't manage to find the Red-Headed Woodpecker, but there was a lot of traffic in the area that morning. I'll go back sometime during the week and try again. I did, however, see my first Pine Warblers. I'll spare y'all the photos because they just look like "shadow-birds" as I've come to call them. I will share this Tufted Titmouse, though!
When I made it back to camp Morgan and Joey were up.
We made breakfast, hobo-sandwiches with smoked sausage in place of hamburger. While we were waiting for the food a woman tentatively walked up to our site with a tent. A ranger had told her to go ahead and set up her tent to claim the site. She made it very clear that she was in no hurry to occupy the area, in fact, she was heading into town, and the ranger (Corinne it turned out) had assured her that we were "cool", and wouldn't mind. I can't blame her for being eager to lay claim, she had arrived at 9 the night before and had to sleep in her car! Her name was Mary, she was probably in her late 50's, and she was out traveling around, camping by herself. I want to be her if I grow up! I helped her set her tent up, talked with her for a while, and made some recommendations about the park. It I had not been teaching first thing the next morning, I might have gone back out that night to hang out with her. (I later gave Corinne a hard time for sending a "crazy lady" into our camp, and her concern when she asked, "Oh, was she crazy?" was so sincere that I almost felt bad for hassling her.) Mary headed to town, and Morgan and I broke camp as Joey sat by the fire with his beer. Morgan was in a hurry to get home for some NASCAR race. After she left I loaded the car and left Joey sitting by the fire while I went to the Visitor's Center to pick up a couple of things. Our original plan had been to do some kayaking, but after some of the events of the weekend, I thought better of it and decided it would be best to get Joey home.
Joey's place is not far from mine, so I went home to burn a CD of some photos I had promised Corinne before heading back to the park. It was about 3, and I was planning to get in some hiking that we had not gotten to. When I arrived (Ranger) Kathleen was manning the Visitor's Center with a volunteer, and Corinne was trying to deal with a group of young paddlers who had run into some issues when coming off the river from an over night trip, but was also trying to coordinate the filming of some video clips to do with the trip these paddlers had just taken. She was concerned about the video format as the NPS camera created a file type that was not compatible with what she needed. I assured her that she could download a converter, but was also quickly able to convince her that it would be much easier if she would use my camera which creates the file type she needed. She was sufficiently worried about it being a burden on me, but I was pleased to help. We got the videos recorded, then I headed back home to relax, take a shower, and make a copy of the videos.
On Corinne's invite (and so I could get the videos to her by the next-day deadline), I crashed a party the park rangers and volunteers were having for one of their ranks who was moving back home. I had, at least, met the guest of honor a couple of times. I knew a few of the rangers, and those that I didn't I knew by the time I headed home. As soon as I arrived, Joe, the law enforcement ranger, recognized me (my hair) and came up with a big grin to hassle me. I was surprise he remembered my last name, having only seen it briefly on my driver's license. The people that I had not met before made it a point to spend time talking with me. They are a very friendly, welcoming bunch. When Corinne introduced me I think she said something like, "This is Laura, I'm getting her signed up as a volunteer." After a couple of drinks, I think I consented. But, no papers were signed, I might still be able to get out of it! It's gotten to the point that I spend most of my free time there anyway, might as well make it official and help out. But, we'll get all of that worked out after spring break.
Here's the video that we recorded with Corinne speaking on some of the history of Congaree. It's pretty interesting and informative. (Posted with permission.)
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