We are making our way back north & starting our loop back towards home. It’s been a great start to our adventure!

We made our way up the east coast of Georgia and into South Carolina. We stopped for a short visit at the Congaree National Park. Once incorrectly named the Congaree Swamp, it is actually a floodplain and the park protects the last old-growth floodplain forest in the US – an area that once covered 35 million acres of the southeast.

More info on the Park

We arrived late afternoon & took a quick tour of the Visitors Center where we enjoyed the displays then the kids turned in their Junior Ranger workbooks to get their badges. We then took the 2.5 mile boardwalk trail through the forest. The old-growth bald cypress & loblolly pines don’t match the redwoods & sequoias of the West coast, they are massive by East Coast standards. And while I wouldn’t plan a family trip just to visit this small park, but it was a very cool opportunity to see this historic place, and such a cool ecosystem.

We are making our way into North Carolina & Tennessee tomorrow. We are planning a stop at the Smoky Mountains before continuing our journey towards home.