Making plans for checking out Congaree week after next. Wife and I are going to do a day paddle from South Cedar Creek. We've never been in a swamp before, so we are looking forward to it.
Roy
Roy
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Congaree National Park.
- Thread starter Roybrew
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I haven't done South Cedar Creek, but I did once do the mainstem Congaree River from Cayce to Bates Landing. It's ~55 mi between access points so not a day trip, but it was beautiful and peaceful.
I'll be keeping an eye on that, thanks.
Take binoculars, there’s re many interesting and beautiful birds.
What!? Did the weather God's figure out I was coming that way? We should be there Thursday. Looks like I'll be taking my green MR Journey. Wife scared to take the wood canoe. She's afraid something might happen to it. I'm flattered that she likes it, but it sure rides better. The Subaru has issues, so I'll be bring truck and trailer. I'm looking forward to seeing the swamp.Looks like today would be a good day to paddle the hiking trails.
Thank you for the idea. Supposed to rain Wednesday and some Thursday. Of course my brother and I were camping last week and bugged out Friday morning because the forecast looked bad with storms and all kinds of apocalyptic stuff. It was a small storm and gorgeous after that. So we are going to go as planned, and then if really bad Thursday, we'll adjust.
Dreher island state park. I'll check it out. Thanks again.
Roy
Rocky Ramp Drive, Chapin, SC has a nice quiet put-in opposite the park. From there either paddle straight across via that little island to the west (see my profile pic) or, if its dicey, south to the narrows and then across there. Definitely not a full day trip. My wife and I would usually stretch it out with a nice long picnic along the way or by incorporating the several little islands northwest of the put-in.
Really hope you get to the swamp though.
The weather was nice last week when we paddled Congaree Swamp. My wife and I put in at Cedar Creek, and paddled up stream. The water gage was about 5 and a half. The current was a little swifter then I expected, but we had no trouble. 
I'm glad the water level wasn't any higher or we would've had to duck to get under the bridge. I always prefer to paddle up stream, so it's more relaxing and quiet when drifting. We veered out of the creek channel into the cypress knees once. Got back in there a little ways and figured out it was to tight to turn around and had to back paddle out. Plus the current was pushing us up and on top of shallow cypress knees. We stayed in the main channel after that.
It was fun maneuvering around and under trees. While gliding under one tree, my wife reached up and plucked a piece of bark off. She screamed and flung it away from the canoe, and started poking her paddle into the bow. She said there was a wolf spider on the back side of the bark and it is now in the front of the canoe. Glad it was up there with her.
Unfortunately we saw no snakes or gators. We think we spooked a little gator that was submerged, but can't swear to it. No mosquitoes, that was very pleasant. I would like to return and see Sparkle berry Swamp.
Roy
I'm glad the water level wasn't any higher or we would've had to duck to get under the bridge. I always prefer to paddle up stream, so it's more relaxing and quiet when drifting. We veered out of the creek channel into the cypress knees once. Got back in there a little ways and figured out it was to tight to turn around and had to back paddle out. Plus the current was pushing us up and on top of shallow cypress knees. We stayed in the main channel after that.It was fun maneuvering around and under trees. While gliding under one tree, my wife reached up and plucked a piece of bark off. She screamed and flung it away from the canoe, and started poking her paddle into the bow. She said there was a wolf spider on the back side of the bark and it is now in the front of the canoe. Glad it was up there with her.Unfortunately we saw no snakes or gators. We think we spooked a little gator that was submerged, but can't swear to it. No mosquitoes, that was very pleasant. I would like to return and see Sparkle berry Swamp.Roy
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We could hear the owls, but we didn't see them. We did have a large hawk swoop near by. It moved along and through the trees with ease.
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