Guide to Congaree National Park, SC

 

So if you can't already tell from this blog we are "park people". This trip to Congaree was our 24th park. I can honestly say this park wasn't our favorite and I understand why it is one of the least visited parks. That being said it was still fun to explore and worth the visit. 

Known before you go: 

1. Congaree is one of the National Parks that is free to enter 

2. It's a little over 2 hours away from Charleston, South Carolina and it's easily accessible by the highway. This makes for a great day trip if you are staying in Charleston like we were. 

3. It's most famous for synchronous fireflies- an event that happens between mid may to early June. Be prepared for crowds if you are planning on visiting around this time. 

4. Only a small portion of the park is accessible by hiking- most of it is swamp lands or only accessible by boat. 

5. There is lots of swamp- be prepared with bug spray depending on time of year. 

We only came here for one day and we had a 2.5 year old and almost 1 year old with us. Therefore we didn't do a ton of things but I felt like we got a good taste of the park. If we ever have the opportunity to come back I would probably try to rent a canoe to explore more of the park in the boat. 

This park reminded me a lot of Everglades National Park in Florida. The trees and swamp are very similar. Apparently there are also alligators here but thankfully we didn't see any. 

Hike the board walk trail. 

If you do nothing else do this. This starts at the visitor center and goes in a 2.6 mile loop. It is smooth enough that it is stroller friendly- which is really surprising especially for the national parks. You can exit the board walk at certain points along the way and get on dirt trail hikes as well if you want to go further into the park. 

Sims trail 

When we visited park of the board walk trail was under construction so we got on the sims trail to explore more of the park. This is a very easy hike- honestly I'd classify it as a walk. There is little to no elevation gain and the path is very clear although it is dirt and not paved. It ends at Weston Lake which is very pretty. 

Overall it was a fun little day trip! I'm glad we had the chance to explore it while in South Carolina!