Sunday, October 28
Oh to have a motorcycle in this Smoky Mountain country! Whatta hoot! All the winding, curvy roads with hills. It is a motorcyclist's dream! We remember many such roads when we had our motorcycle in the mid-80s and how much we enjoyed riding. Bruce was the driver and Geri sat back and took in the sights without worrying about traffic. That was Bruce's responsibility. Along the Trinity river in northern California, we could smell blackberries. The smell of fresh chipped wood on trucks in front of us wafted through the air and was another aroma we liked. We sure do miss that bike at times like this.
Our flight plan for this morning took us back across I-40 toward North Carolina with our destination of Columbia SC to visit Congaree National Park. I-40 is the same road we took coming out of the park on Friday, just the opposite direction. We determined that we had probably hit the Smokies at exactly the right time to see the peak colors. Trees on our drive this morning were mostly shades of brown with a few red leaves thrown in and the conifers setting everything off with their deep green color. Still very pretty but nothing like what we saw a week ago. Our next trip to see fall colors will be to the Northeast around Maine, Vermont and Nova Scotia. We will stay in timeshare for that trip.
We turned onto I-26 and that lead us to Columbia SC, which would be our home for the next few days.
Monday, October 29
Our destination this morning was Congaree National Park. It surprised and upset us to see a beaver laying beside the road after having been hit by a vehicle. That was a first for both of us, and a depressing one at that. We wondered why someone hadn't taken the animal for its pelt rather than just leave it lay there.
Congaree National Park is tranquil and very relaxing. We collected our stamp and took some time to walk part of the boardwalk through the forest. The forest is dense with huge trees everywhere. Vines climb gracefully toward the filtered sun, as does new growth on the forest floor. A few birds were singing, but they must have been way up in the canopy 'cause we couldn't see them.
Welcome to the largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent! Experience national and state champion trees, towering to record size amidst astonishing biodiversity. Walk, paddle or just relax within this dynamic floodplain ecosystem. Beauty and tranquility reign supreme in the midst of this natural treasure.
Along the meandering Congaree River rests Congaree National Park, a world of primeval forest landscapes, champion trees, diverse plant and animal life, and tranquility. This 22,200-acre park protects the largest contiguous area of old-grown bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the United States. Congaree's bottomland or floodplain forest is a wetland system of the Congaree River, creator and caretaker of the park's magnificent forest. Because the park experiences wet and dry periods as the river floods and recedes with season rains, the vitality of the park's forest ecosystem depends on the good health of the Congaree River.
Until the latter half of the 1800s there were more than 52 million acres of floodplain in the southeastern United States - with more than one million acres in South Carolina alone. In the 1880s the lumber industry began harvesting these forests. Many remnants that survived the ax and plow were drowned by reservoirs. In less than 50 years most of these great bottomland forests were decimated.
Congaree's trees escaped large-scale cutting due to the difficulty of logging in a wetland area and to the timber conservation ethic of Francis Beidler, whose lumber company purchased bottomland forests in South Carolina between 1890 and 1905. The limited logging activity that occurred along the Congaree River ceased in 1914. In the 1950s conservationist Harry Hampton recognized that the Congaree forest was one of the few remaining ecosystems of its kind and began efforts to protect it. Two decades later, when logging again threatened the area's giant trees, a public campaign led Congress to established Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976. In November 2003 it became Congaree National Park. Today it is a sanctuary for plants and animals, a research site for scientists, and a peaceful plan for you to explore a forest of towering trees and diverse wildlife.
The bark on these trees looked like tile laid in a precise pattern. Every now and again there was one red leaf. Most were brown. We remember this moss from our trip to Florida in 2006, and all we could think of was "don't touch this!" Because of little red bugs? We couldn't remember the reason, but we did remember not to touch it! Still, it adds a lacey feel to the setting. A couple of White-tailed deer took off in front of us at one point, squirrels were scurrying around in the trees and we saw two little tiny lizards. One thing that struck us both was the clean, fresh, piney smell of the park. Wonderful and refreshing.
Wouldn't you know that when she started loading pictures onto the computer back at the trailer, all the pictures of the lizard were deleted from the camera card by a heavy-handed Geri! She normally doesn't allow that situation, but this time she got sloppy. Won't do that again! Grrrr!
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Down Under and Hot Springs NP
