We have both been to several National Parks on our own, but only one together! We have officially been to our first National Park of our relationship and the RV journey – Congaree National Park.
We left Charleston and made our way to Sesquicentennial State Park which we used as our home base for exploring Congaree. We really enjoyed our time at Sesqui and would definitely visit again. Even though you are right off a busy road in Columbia, you would never know it when you are at your site. We had a private wooded view off the back of Site 32 and were able to get our 31′ home level. I’m not sure that a coach much larger would have been able to easily get level in that site.
The park has biking and running trails as well as a lake. It is very well maintained and had interesting plaques all around the park explaining different features and history.
We really enjoyed Sesqui, but we were there for Congaree.
Congaree National Park is one of the newer National Parks. I really enjoyed it, but if you could only pick one National Park to visit I think there are more impressive ones out there. However, I thoroughly enjoyed our time there and it was incredible to see the Bald Cypress knees and the huge Loblolly Pines.
We visited Congaree two weeks to the day after my foot surgery so this was going to be a big test – I had only gotten the stitches out the day before. We parked the Jeep and checked out the office before heading out to explore the swamp. There is an awesome boardwalk that leads you 2.5 miles through the park and explains points as you go along. I was able to walk the whole thing and was super encouraged that my surgery will make my life much easier going forward! There are also several trails off the boardwalk, but I didn’t want to push it with my foot.
I never knew that Bald Cypress Trees had “knees”. It was crazy to see! They are supposed to help keep the trees stable. Interesting! Also, we saw some of the biggest pine trees I have ever seen. It was a super fun long afternoon exploring one of the oldest hardwood forests out there. There were many interesting things along the way too.
While Austin and I have both been to several National Parks, we are excited to see them all together as we bound around the country in our Bounder.