Congaree National Park

I must have been very tired because I slept almost twelve hours last night.  Woke up and the sun was getting so warm the air conditioner in WindDancer had kicked on.  Hope this means there will be no rain for a while;  it was getting tiresome.

Continuing the National Park theme, Congaree was on the list today.  This park is 26,000 acres of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in a wetland system of the Congaree and Wateree rivers.  This time of year is Mosquito Central, and my four-mile hike in the park was accompanied by much buzzing in and around my ears.  I was enchanted by the trees, though, and I was pretty much by myself on the hike so I could hear the sounds of nature too.  As you can see, it's really a swamp - some of the trail was flooded due to the recent heavy rains.

Interesting tree trunk, isn't it?

There was wildlife, too.  Birds, frogs, lizards and of course mosquitoes!  One of the signs on the trail stated there were alligators, too, but all I saw in the lake was this snake and these turtles on a log:

It was quite hot and very humid, so I was ready to get to a campground where I could clean up and rest for the evening.  I followed a sign on the interstate that said there was a campground just a mile and a half away.  Followed the sign for three miles, and no campground.  So between the internet service on my cell phone and the GPS on the dashboard I found a lovely spot where I'll spend the next few days.

Speaking of the GPS, I fear I have been traveling alone too long:  I apologized to the GPS after I accidentally knocked it off the dashboard after stopping for gas.  Fortunately it did not answer me.