Cedar Creek in Congaree National Park

PARK OVERVIEW

Congaree National Park in Hopkins, South Carolina, preserves the largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. Ironically, the land that makes up the park was once owned by logging tycoon Francis Bidler. In the early 1900s, harvesting the trees was just too expensive and difficult due to heat, insects, flooding, and lack of infrastructure. Bidler knew that much of the old-growth trees owned by others around him were being rapidly harvested, so he decided to hold his land until a time when he had the only old-growth tract left. The scarcity would make the trees so valuable that it would now be worth it to cut them down. However, by the time that happened Bidler had died and his heirs now owned the land. In the 1960s they were being pressured to harvest the trees, and by 1969 they were ready to act and eventually logged 2,500 acres.

Conservationists got involved and formed the Congaree Swamp National Preserve Association in the early 1970s. This group convinced the federal government to buy the land for preservation. The government did so, paying the Bidler’s $30 million. In 1976 President Gerald Ford created Congaree Swamp National Monument. Additional acreage was added over the years, and in 2003 the park was re-designated a National Park.

Begin your visit to Congaree National Park by stopping at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center to pick up a park brochure and trail map. There is a small exhibit area and a short park film. Afterwards, step outside to explore the forest on the park trails. The most popular is the Boardwalk Trail, a 2.4-mile loop that passes through the various types of terrain that can be seen in the park. The Weston Lake Trail also sees a decent amount of foot traffic.

Another popular activity is a paddling trip on Cedar Creek. The National Park Service keeps a few miles cleared of downed tress, and visitors can either explore the creek in their own boat or take a guided trip offered by approved outfitters. It is also possible to paddle the entire thirteen miles of Cedar Creek within the park, ending at the Congaree River. From there, it is another 12 miles on the Congaree to the first public boat ramp at the Bates Bridge. However, there are so many fallen trees across the creek that only the most adventurous explorers would attempt this, and in truth, even they should avoid doing it.

Congaree National Park has two walk-in campgrounds for tent camping. Camping in the backcountry is also allowed with a free permit.

Because Congaree National Park is in the southern United States and is often swampy, visiting any time between June and September is going to be miserable due to heat and mosquitoes. From late winter through early spring, the park is liable to be flooded. The Congaree River averages ten major floods each year, and when this happens, as much as 90 percent of the park south of the Visitor Center, which includes most of the trails, can end up underwater. Before visiting, be sure to check the United States Geological Survey’s’ water gauges for Cedar Creek and the Congaree River. Anything over 8 feet on the creek or 15 feet on the river is a flood. The website archives data for up to a year, so be sure to check a couple weeks back to see if there was any flooding, for while the water may have receded by the time you visit, the trails could still be extremely muddy.

Boardwalk Trail is underwater during a flood at Congaree National Park (photo by National Park Service)

OPERATING HOURS

The grounds of Congaree National Park are open 24 hours a day, year-round.

The Harry Hampton Visitor Center is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM except when closed on New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Congaree National Park.

FEES

There is no fee to visit the park. The only fees are for camping.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Visitor Center
allow 30 minutes

Time spent hiking and paddling within the park are up to the individual visitor.

MY RANT AGAINST THE NATIONAL MONUMENT’S RE-DESIGNATION AS A NATIONAL PARK

What I am about to say is simply to prove a point and not meant to be negative about Congaree National Park. It is an interesting, beautiful, and unique place to visit as long as you don’t have your expectations up, which is what happens when a park is designated a National Park. I’m really ranting against the politicians who pushed this change through Congress, not for any reasons of merit but instead for the Almighty Dollar. To understand where I am coming from, just imagine that the owner of the New York Yankees promotes a star player’s son directly from high school, where he was a top player, to the Yankees’ major league roster because the father-son duo will sell tickets. When people went to see the kid in high school, they were thrilled because he was so good. But when they see him on the Yankees, they wonder how in the hell he got on the team. That’s exactly the difference between Congaree Swamp National Monument and Congaree National Park.

Congaree Swamp is a great National Monument, no doubt, but calling it a National Park cheapens the name National Park. It is not the only such disgraceful re-designation, many coming in recent years as politicians attempt to draw tourist dollars to their states (Gateway Arch National Park is another shining example). Many of these dealings are buried in legislation and get passed when politicians agree to support each others’ bad ideas. Georgia politicians are now trying to pull this crap with Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, a park where most people drive the tour road and leave without even getting out of their cars. National Parks are places where visitors can spend days, if not weeks or months exploring. Per a 2011 survey, only 15 percent of visitors to Congaree National Park spent more than 4 hours in the park. Thirty-six percent spent 1 to 2 hours, and 50 percent spent 3 to 4 hours. That’s no National Park, and that’s not just my opinion. The park consistently shows up in the Top 3 worst National Parks on anyone’s list who has visited the majority of National Parks (Gateway Arch is typically Number 1).

Politicians do this because they know renaming a National Park Service property that only locals visit to National Park will get people from around the country, even from around the world, to visit. And it works. Half the cars I surveyed during my visit were from out of state. To put this into perspective, during a visit to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Atlanta, the most visited Civil War battlefield park in the National Park system, almost every car in the parking lot was from Cobb and Fulton counties, the two main counties that make up Atlanta. The visitors weren’t even from other places in Georgia. It’s nothing more than a city park for Atlantans. There were only a couple people in the museum, and the rest were out walking their dogs or getting ready for a jog. Likewise, at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, a Ranger told me that nine out of ten visitors wouldn’t even be able to say what war the park was about. It’s just locals out walking. I’d bet my house that’s exactly the type of crowd that came to Congaree Swamp National Monument.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the National Park Service gets sued one day for wasting somebody’s vacation time. I’d be mighty pissed off if I drove all the way from California to see a National Park and found out there wasn’t much more than a few hours of activities for the typical tourist. I hiked every trail and even kayaked the entire Cedar Creek—a Ranger told me I was the only person she knew who ever did it—and I was done in five days. That was two days kayaking and three days hiking trails that I rarely saw other people on. At a bona fide National Park such as the Everglades, Great Smoky Mountains, and Acadia, I cap my stay at 15 days and still don’t finish doing everything. Somebody showing up at Congaree National Park after driving all the way from California will have the same response as Clark Griswold had when he showed up at the closed Wally World after driving across the county to see it.

The re-designation of the park came 20 years ago (I’m writing this in 2024), yet the exhibits in the Visitor Center still refer to it as Congaree Swamp National Monument. Twenty years and not a dime has been spent updating the exhibits in a NATIONAL PARK, the highest status a park in the United State can obtain. Do you think something like this would happen at Yellowstone? This tells me that not even the National Park Service agrees with the designation, and that it is just another folly that must be endured because of politics.

Outdated exhibit in the museum inside the Harry Hampton Visitor Center at Congaree National Park

The National Park Service, now saddled with promoting a “National Park” that shouldn’t be a National Park, harps on the big trees that visitors might see, as if this is an East Coast version of Sequoia National Park or Redwood National Park. I hiked every trail and paddled the entire Cedar Creek, and there were perhaps only a half dozen times where I thought, “Wow, that’s a big tree.” However, a big tree on the East Coast is not a sequoia or a redwood, trees that are so big that they boggle the mind.

Every night the 12-site Longleaf Campground was full during my mid-October visit (a great time to visit, by the way). Every morning it was nearly empty. Why? Most people I talked with said they camped there because it was the only campground around on their way to some place else. There was one mom and daughter who ended up walking the Boardwalk Trail before leaving, and that was at my suggestion. When they woke up, they had no idea what sort of park they were in. Most people just pack up and leave. And I’m not even going to mention the fact that Congaree is the only nature-based National Park that I have visited that has no campgrounds with modern restrooms or running water. Oops. I just mentioned it.

Again, all the negative comments are only meant to illustrate why Congaree should not have become a National Park. If I visited it as a National Monument, I wouldn’t have a bad thing to say. In fact, I’d be praising the National Monument for having five day’s worth of activities instead of bashing the National Park for having only five day’s worth of activities. And keep in mind that’s five days of activities for a guy who is writing about the park. A typical visitor would have to fall asleep somewhere to end up spending a full day.

Running Gut in Congaree National Park

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