Day 5 - Conagree National Park

Conagree National Park...  First of all, it hasn't been a national park all that long, it switched from a National Monument to a Park in 2003.  It wasn't high up on our list of parks to get to, but since it is a National Park and we are trying to make it to all them, it was a necessary stop.  I suppose our timing made it that much more interesting.

When we arrive, there was one other car in the parking lot...and just us.  We got there around 8:30 am and the visitor center didn't open until 9:00 am.  So, we picked up some trail maps from the bin, got packed up, and started our hike.  

Having talked to the ranger at Kings Mountain the day before, we knew where the people got lost and about the massive search and rescue effort that had taken place the days before...and that the park was even closed to the public on some of those days.  But here we were...alone.   If you look at this news video from one of the SAR days, you will get an idea of just how chaotic it was there earlier in the week:
http://www.wistv.com/story/25376177/father-two-children-rescued-in-congaree-national-park (see the 1:04 minute video and all the cars going into the park!).

The beginning of the hike was on boardwalk.  No getting lost.  They had a bad ice storm at some point in the past, and part of the boardwalk is damaged and closed - not to be fixed until potentially this summer.  If you browse the web, you will see that the park is often flooded and impassible - even the boardwalk gets covered.  Given the forecast of the previous week of rain, rain and more rain, I figured this hike would be a no-go.  But seeing it didn't rain, it was actually a good time to do the hike.  We were very fortunate in that matter.  Even though we were alone, it was loud - the birds were all singing a song...lots of them.

Once you step off the boardwalk, it gets a little more challenging.  We would be doing the 6.6 mile Oakridge Trail loop.

This is a swamp.  There are swamp creatures. If you keep on walking it is still swamp.

Once you are in the swamp, there are very few landmarks.  There is not a lot of underbrush, and everything really does start to look the same.

It was wet enough when we were there...even it it was "dry".  

The key is to follow the red markers.  Look everywhere...they are mostly on trees.  Unfortunately, the ice storm they had took down hundreds of trees - and some markers.  Every time it floods (often), trees go down, as do the markers.

Sometimes the trail is well established.

Sometimes, there is a snake in the middle of the trail and you have to decide to step over it...or wander off the trail a little and go around it.  ICK.

Sometimes, 100' trees fall over the trail, and you have to figure out how to go under or over or around them.  All still looking for the red tags.

Sometimes, the trail looks like this.  What trail?  This was one of those times where I would stay at the last known marker, and Rob would go out to find the next one.  Once, instead of a marker on a tree - he found a snake. DAMN SWAMP!

We understand how those people got turned around.  It was not a difficult hike, but a mentally challenging one.  Upon getting back to the ranger station, they told us first hand more about the SAR.  Truly, the three were just looking to go for an hour or so hike...they didn't grab a map out of the box - BIG MISTAKE.

We had our GPS, but didn't need it.  But, it was hard to find the markers.  We both believe we know exactly the spot that they went wrong - for we did it too.  I suppose knowing that this all happened just a couple days before made the hike a little more interesting.  Certainly, this is not a hike we need to do again...in fact, it really wasn't all that great of a hike (snakes - ewwww....).  But, we made it to Conagree and can cross it off the list!

We were both happy to get back on the boardwalk.  Frankly, the chances of snakes were less there.  We saw a total of three...three too many.  And people?  Zero.

We saw a few of these red-headed woodpeckers on the trail...  Also, on the way in, we saw a very strange squirrel.  We both scratched our heads and thought it was a cross between a skunk and a squirrel.  There was a nuclear plant down the road...  Anyhow, we asked upon getting back to the visitor center and I guess it was a rare squirrel fox - I guess we should have taken a picture.  The one volunteer was amazed that we saw one.

The mosquito meter was not all that high, but they were out. I suppose we visited on a great day as it wasn't flooded, and the bugs were not absolutely horrible.  One of the rangers at Kings Mountain had asked if we were going to hike or canoe - and we said hike because we heard the story of the snakes falling into the canoe...and he said, really, this early in the season?  ICK!

We then had to get back up to Greenville for our flight home.  At the airport, I had sat next to a woman from Greenville who said to visit the riverwalk if we had time.  Indeed, it was beautiful!  We split a cup of ice cream before heading back to the airport.  The flight home was good - delays all around but not on our plane.  We had a band of three seats all to ourselves again - nice.  Also, the rental car was great...a Ford Fusion with a sunroof.

Not bad for a south-east vacation...especially when it was suppose to rain the whole time.  How many times did we get wet?  NEVER.