The forest was calling...

We had another fabulous weather day here...about 70F (21C) with sunshine and enough breeze to send some remaining leaves fluttering down.    I told the hubby I was not staying inside so he said where you want to go.  I said let's go to Congaree National Park since there probably will not be too many people there on a Monday. It is. a little over an hour from my house.    The only national park in South Carolina (even though we do have some national historic sites.)

It was a perfect day for this park.   And I was right about the people...we saw maybe 20 people in 3 hours of walking. 

Congaree is a swamp bordered by a river (I am going to walk the 9 mile round trip to the river soon!) with Cedar Creek and another creek running through it.   The boardwalk is mostly elevated above the swamp as much as 8-10 feet at some places.    There was so much color still showing here..not bright gold or reds but rusty bronze and dark gold.  The park is such a diverse area of hardwoods, cypress (with the knees growing out of the water/ground), hundred year old pines that are so big and round that it takes four people to hug the tree.  In June the fireflies arrive and there is a lottery system to get in to see them.  However, being swamp the mosquitos and other biting bugs are really awful in the summer months. 

It was so hard to pick one photo that I ended up with this collage and still was not able to show all that I wanted to share.  

 It has been a year or more since I visited but this park never fails to bring my nature loving heart so much happiness.