August 28, 2019 • 32 mins
Most people equate flooding with disaster, but it can do just the opposite sometimes—like at Congaree National Park in South Carolina, where flooding represents the circle of life. Matt and Brad go kayaking and make some new friends, and even answer some listener mail.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
As it turns out, flooding isn't all bad, No, not
at all. Most people tend to equate flooding with disaster,
understandably so, but flooding can actually do just the opposite,
sometimes too, like at Congary National Park, where floods represent
the circle of life. To borrow a line from the
Lion King. Absolutely down in this part of South Carolina,
(00:21):
flooding is as natural as barbecue, and it's a reoccurring
phenomenon that makes Congreree so special. Hi, I'm Matt and
I'm Brad. This is park Landia. We packed up our
loft in Chicago, moved into an RV with our dog Finn,
and now we're traveling the country full time visiting America's
national parks. Today we're talking about Congary National Park. In
(00:43):
South Carolina history, Congarree is a park that shows the
benefits of floodwaters. Since the park is a thousand acres
of floodplain of the Congree River, the massive trees and
(01:04):
the vegetation here depends on floods to carry nutrients into
their roots and keep the floorist floor healthy. Right down here,
this process is not a crisis, and in fact, it's
a cycle that this landscape is designed for and thrives in.
These trees were also an attractive beacon for Native Americans initially,
as well as explorers and settlers as well. Yeah, the
(01:25):
park gets its name from the Congree River, of course,
which gets its name from the Congrey Indians who lived
here um for centuries before smallpox reared its ugly little
head in the sea. Really sad, but their namesake, river
and park live on for visitors to marvel at today,
and that's great and we really respect and admire that.
(01:46):
As it turns out out, the floodplain was not as
welcoming to farmers and loggers as it was to the
Congrete Indians. Nope, the all the standing water made it
really difficult for farming in this area, and people trying
to capitalize on the abundance of huge trees by cutting
down as a log wound up with more than they
could ever chew. I mean, they couldn't get their equipment
across the terrain because it was too soft and too muddy.
(02:07):
And then when they attempted to float the fallen trees
down the river, most of them sink because they were
just so dense and heavy already. Yeah, I kind of
like it. It's I'm sure Stockton is really annoying for
these farmers and loggers, but this is like a primary,
really good example of nature saying no and like putting
a stop to this and just kind of taking back control,
(02:28):
which is beautiful and you have to really really beautiful.
I'm sure I'd be saying a different thing if I
was a farmer back then, but fortunately I'm not. And
eventually these want to be loggers were able to develop
equipment that could navigate the difficult landscape. But at this
point they had another thing stopping them, The Sierra Club.
Gotta love the Sierra Club, love them, so these tree saviors,
(02:49):
they stepped in and helped protect the region, initially as
the Congrete Swamp National Monument in even though this isn't
really a swamp at all, So that's kind of a
misnomer technically, But let's not nippick a good thing. No,
let's not. And then Congrey was upgraded to a National
park two thousand and three, making it one of the
country's younger parks. Yeah, and nowadays you don't need an
(03:13):
arc to navigate this park either. Now you don't kayaks
and canoes, do you just fine, And in fact, this
is one of the best national parks for paddling. So
I think we should just get right into it and
talk about our kayaking tripping concrete, because this is like
the star attraction here river similar to the waterway parks
in the Everglades. This is one place where you have
to paddle in order to really appreciate the essence of it. Yeah,
(03:36):
very true. There are plenty of trails here, and we'll
talk about those now terriffic they are later, But at
its core, Congrey really is a water park first and foremost. Indeed,
first though, you've got to make sure you were visiting
at the right time in order to make the most
of it and kayak without getting lost in the maze
of trees. That sounds like a nightmare. Yeah, I mean,
you know the water there, it goes from really low
(03:59):
and it can go up to ten feed higher than
its lowest point. That's completely insane. So that's what we
mean when we say timing is everything here, and there's
there's certain seasons that are ideal for kayaking and certain
seasons that are completely treacherous and impassable. So you've got
to do a little research. Call the call the Congreve
(04:19):
visitor Center before you book your trip or before you
stop in, and especially before you head out in the water,
because if the water rises above the riverbed levels, then
this completely turns the forest into a labyrinth of trees,
and that's that's not good, no, And you only want
to be a dedicated like kayaker to that area to
be able to navigate through. Absolutely. So in the wintertime,
(04:44):
that's when most of the parks flooding occurs. So that's
the time of year that it's the riskiest and you're
gonna want to be a little reticent. But do keep
in mind that river flooding can happen at any time
of year. It happens about a dozen times a year,
so it's not like a constant, regular thing, and for
the most part, Hungary is accessible, but it's just something
(05:04):
to keep in mind and be prepared for as you
map out your Hungary paddle trip. Yeah, the kayak al
fetters usually don't operate that time of the year because
as the river floods, you know, it's harder to find
those routes along the trees and it becomes that big
maze that we were talking about, um and you know,
you also have to deal with congrey summer months, which
really get really humid, really buggy, and so it's best
(05:27):
to visit in the spring or the fall. Yeah, this
is clearly a place of extremes. You either contend with
horrific flooding potentially or horrific mosquito swarms almost definitely in
the summer months, and I would rather not do with
either of those. So spring or fall our ideal. And
we did a spring trip. This was like, um, what
(05:50):
was it early spring? So temperature is very comfortable, Mosquito
levels were low in the river and stream. We're very accessible,
and I remember starting our trip here, we went into
the visitor center which had this surprisingly cute mosquito meter
they called it. It has an array of different numbers
on it, one through six, and they adjust an arrow
(06:11):
pointing at these different numbers based on the mosquito levels outside.
One obviously is the lowest and that means all clear,
two means mild, and then it goes all the way
up to six, which means war zone, and that sounds insane.
I do not want to experience that. No, you don't
want to be here when there's a mosquito wars I
can't imagine. No, no, no. Also, the park offers free
(06:32):
guided canoe trips in the spring to which is an
awesome option and yet another reason why you should visit
here in the spring and wait, just like sit winter out. Yeah.
I think we just barely missed that window. We did.
We were like a week before the canoe trips were starting,
so that that tends to happen a lot to us.
Will like barely miss something that happened, Like where were we?
(06:54):
I think it's like qualified caverns where they were going
to do they're bad, bad sports or something, and we're like,
we missed up by like three days. So great timing
on our party, story of our lives. Um. But you know,
it worked out fine though, because we were able to
book that guided kayak trip with the nearby outfitter. UM.
They brought all the boat, the equipment and took us
(07:14):
for a few hours on Cedar Lake yeah Cedar Creek
actually and right, So that worked out the best. And
even though it wasn't free and it costs a little
bit of money, I thought it was totally worth it
because this is a must do experience here kayaking, and
I loved the route we took. It was so much
fun and really beautiful. We did Cedar Creek instead of
(07:35):
Congree River, so it's a much smaller waterway that winds
directly through this dense forest filled with huge trees. Yeah,
the Congrete has the largest trees east of the Mississippi.
I mean, these things are just enormous, especially the lobally pines,
cypress trees, and the tubelos. The cypress and the tube
blows are the ones most commonly found at water level
(07:57):
and then typically with their roots buried deep underwater, right,
That's how they endure, and they don't like topple over
anything because they're so like deep underground and they can
contend with the water levels rising up, going down and whatnot.
And there are so many of these trees that they
formed the largest old growth bottom line harwood forest in
the country. This basically means huge trees that grow in
(08:19):
flood plaints like this, and they're tall, like the tree
canopy averages is about a hundred and thirty feet, which
is really hefty for East Coast trees. So yeah, there's
a lot of tree I candy here. And if you're
a tree enthusiast, like I'm, probably an amateur tree enthusiast,
I guess I appreciate them. This was great and really
fun experience. And these trees, they provide a really expensive
(08:41):
canopy for the creek, rising tall enough and thick en
up that they block out direct sunlight. Yeah, for us,
this was really helpful because it all blocked out the
rain too. Yeah, that was a huge benefit because this
was the drizzly day. It was kind of gray, so
sun wasn't really much of an annoyance, but the rain
could have put a damper on the day. And the
trees came to our rescue and it was very convenient.
(09:01):
I think here and there we felt just a little
bit of like droplets and stuff, but absolutely nothing to
freak out about, No, not at all. And I think
actually the way the really fit the vibe of the creek,
because this creek was like eerie and dark and ominous
and misty and mystical. Mystical. Yeah, it was like, um
a little it looks like kind of a haunted forest
(09:23):
to be honest right now. So I feel like having
a like gray, drizzly day just really cemented that vibe
and it made it really fun too, not like you know,
scorching hot or or anything like that. So we were
able to relax and paddle for a few hours. Along
the way, we were able to learn about the variety
(09:43):
of trees and how popular the park is for birders
as well. Yeah, apparently it's filled with owls and woodpeckers,
especially two of my faves, and you can occasionally hear
them both making noises as you paddle along the peacefully
quiet creek. There's also eight speci is of woodpeckers here.
That's a lot of woodpeckers, so many. I had no
(10:05):
idea that they're that main different pieces of woodpeckers at all. No,
me neither. I only really knew about the one with
like the red um head or whatever, you know, Like,
what are the woodpeckers like whatever he's based on. I
am aware of that species of woodpecker and nothing else.
So animated series, that's all, you know. Yeah, that's my
template for woodpeckers as far as I'm concerned, And that's
(10:26):
mine too. Great, we're on the same page. Yeah, So
prime example, Congret is educating us and enlightening us, being like, hey,
there's a whole world of woodpeckers out here. Beyond cartoon. Yeah,
and it was exciting to learn about that and hear
them too. You could he hear them off in the distance. Yeah,
that was That was really exciting. And this park is
(10:49):
actually designated as a globally important bird area too, which
is pretty impressive. The park even does something called owl Prowls,
which is I'm sure as exciting as it is is
cute sounding, and I'm dying to do this. It takes
place at night, naturally, and it's a ranger guided tour
that takes you out until was to listen for and
see owls. I'm so into that, and I'm hoping the
(11:11):
next time we're here we can do one of these
owl prowls because that would be so much fun. Yeah,
that would be amazing, right. I was also hoping to
see some river otters too, because we were told that
there was a chance of that along Cedar Creek, but no,
no luck, unfortunately. I'd love it if there was some
kind of otter prowl. Actually, I'd sign up for that
in a heartbeat. I would do that. And instead we
(11:32):
saw a bunch of torn up ground along the banks
of the creek, caused by those PEXI little wild feral rights. Yeah,
so not as cute, no, and as super invasive species.
I mean clearly taking things up, tearing them up. You know,
they dig for the vegetation and all that, right, with
no concern for the for you know, presentation, just like
(11:55):
hideous amounts of dirt on that side of the creek.
Like thanks, nice job guys. But on another note, it's
really great to get into a kayaker canoe here because
of how leisurely and relaxed it is. And it's not
strenuous like the creek was moving, but it's going so
slowly you don't even notice it. And you can easily
go upstream without even using too much muscle or strain.
(12:19):
And that's another reason why this is a great trip
for kids and families too. If you're a newbie at
kayaking or canoeing, Congary is an awesome option. Yeah, it's
a totally slow moving creek and you know, you get
to meet some amazing people. But we're going to tell
you more about that after the short break. Hi, I'm
(12:52):
Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia and today
we're talking about Congary National Park. Yes, we are so
on this kayak trip, not only was it super super
fun and enlightening to as an activity. But one of
our favorite things was we're able to meet a couple
of folks who were visiting Congrey from Columbia, South Carolina
(13:12):
for work. They were in town for i think a
conference of some sort, and they had like the first
half of the day free, or maybe the whole day free,
so they researched things to do in the area. And
Columbia is not too far from congret It's like twenty
five miles or something. Yeah, it's reasonable close enough that
they were able to take a lift or an uber
and drop them off of the river, which that's impressive.
(13:36):
It was kind of funny because like as they pulled up,
they were getting out of the vehicle and they had
their coffees and like bagels like you know, in their
bags hanging out of their mouth and stuff, and it
was just kind of funny, like I'm like that that's
what we look like when we get out of a
lift somewhere. Yeah. Probably it was funny because some people
are like, who are these people? And we were like,
you're going to be our friends. Yeah, the big bagelver
(13:57):
gade over here rolling in Yeah, and that like Brad,
he was uh like looking for things to do and
he was going to do this, and then this guy's name, Yeah,
you have the same name and not just referring to
yourself and I'm not myself. But then he told Lila
about going on a kayaking trip and she's like signed
me up to yes. I love the enthusiasm. I love
the effort they put into it, because that's kind of
(14:18):
how we travel to like whether we're um looking for
an RV space or if we're just kind of in
a town or a city or whatever, we like research
things to do in the nearby area and then put
the effort in and realize that it's doable. Like from Colombia,
the state's capital, and like a sizeable city, you're not
too far from congret you're not too far from this
(14:38):
crazy wild like kayak trip, this little adventure. And I'm
really glad that they did that and that ultimately were
able to meet them, and they were able to even
meet our dog, Finn and Chaka r r V because
they couldn't get an r V going back into town
and we were going now anyway, so we were just like,
well come on with us, Well, right, we'll do it.
(14:59):
We'll shoot for this. This is what this lifestyle is about.
Um And I remember we wanted to bring Finn on
this trip in the kayaks, but doxins plus kayaks they
don't really go well together. But it would be cute
to see him in a life. Yeah. No, not not
really at all. So these guys, Brad and Lila, like
I remember talking with them a while for kayaking and
(15:22):
just they're asking about us and vice versa, and then
they learned about Finn and they were so excited, like,
oh my gosh, like we would love to meet him.
You know, naturally everyone everyone wants to meet Finn and
a little rock star. I'm glad that it worked out
because and it needed to work out too, because when
you take a lift or a newber out to Congrey,
one thing to keep in mind is you could probably
(15:43):
get there from Columbia, but getting back it's a whole
another story. Yeah, I don't know, much more difficult, not doable,
and the service out there is not great. As with
most national parks, you don't have a great phone service,
so you gotta keep keep that at mind. Yeah, but
you know, there's more to do in Congrety than just
paddle Um and well, we had a great time with them.
We uh that took the next day we took hit
(16:04):
the trails trails. Congrey has not a ton of trails,
not and the trails they do have are not super long.
There's not a lot of elevation here, so it's nothing
too strenuous, I think mountainous whatsoever. But you know, there's
only about twenty miles of trails here. They're all really
(16:27):
fascinating and impressive there. You know, like that boardwalk trail,
which is definitely a highlight year. It's just easy like
scenic um two and a half mile loop from the
Henry Hampton Visitor Center, Yeah, Harry Hampton Visitor Center. And
it is really nice. That's a beautiful boardwalk and very
accessible for everybody, like regardless of aid size, like physical ability.
(16:53):
The fact that it's all just this flat connected loop
that takes you through some of the most scenic areas
of the arc is really good. They did a great
job with that. And also not only is it accessible
for every type of human, it's great for dogs too.
Congrey is one of the more dog friendly parks we've
been to, and it was great for Finn being so flat.
(17:13):
He didn't get too exhausted when we um took him
along part of the boardwalk with us, so we went
through some of the woods, we went up on the boardwalk.
He became, you know, the talk of the park when
all the kids would walk by him, and we got
a little He wasn't too exhausted to continue, but I
remember taking him back a little bit sooner so we
(17:33):
can go into the back parks of the other trails. Right. Um,
we wanted to do more, and he his such tiny
little legs that he does get tired much cricket than
we do, for sure, And it's good to put him
in like a nice cool RV environment where you can
have his water and just relax or conditioning and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
And that that longer trail that we decided to do
(17:55):
was that Weston Lake trail. Um. You have to take
the boardwalk to get there. The views from the boardwalk
were amazing, especially with all the Spanish moss and the
huge trees and all these like little features like the
cypress knees, which are these like spiky looking things that
are jutting out of the earth. They're practically part of
the tree's root system. Yeah, and help these giant trees
(18:16):
stay firmly planted deep in the ground during the flooding. Right,
they look so weird, They look like alien formations, and
they're jutting up out of the ground. Some of them
are quite high, like a few feet high, and they're
spread so far out across the land that you would
never really think they're connected or part of the root
system for these trees, because they're not immediately next to
it or anything. But it's just another thing, another fascinating
(18:40):
fact you learned here. And it's no surprise that these
trees are so firmly rooted with all these cypress knees
sprawled out over the the land here. It was just
nice because, um, you know, we were there when the
floodplain had dried out, and um, we're able to do
that trail. It's about four and a half miles through
some old growth for uh you know, it's along the
(19:01):
shore of the Cedar Creek. Yeah, so that same creek
we cocked the previous day. We're able to see it
from a different perspective, which was really nice and equally beautiful.
So at the visitor center, a ranger told us that
this is also a great trail for seeing some of
the park's biggest trees. And she was not wrong. She
did not lead us a straight and unsurprisingly, since this
(19:24):
is a massive floodplane after all, things got pretty muddy
along the way. But well, you know, very worth it
and just suck it up. Get a little dirty. Yeah,
so much so that we actually lost the trail for
a little bit, and um, we started to wander off
of it, remember when, like because like the floodplane kind
of covered it, and so we had to look for
the markings on the trees. Well there was like multiple
(19:45):
marking styles and I didn't know which one is to follow.
It was confusing, and so like we started walking off
and I'm following footprints and like tragging people and the
I'm like, no, these these are going right back to
where we came from. And then so we finally got
back and then you know, our shoes with muddy at
this point, and so you know, but it's just kind
of funny because it's like it looks like a bunch
of people got lost right at it did particular point
(20:05):
because we were following footsteps, like there was a lot
of footsteps that kind of meandered off and I looked
like they went right into the thick woods. So once
we realized we were going the wrong way, I'm like,
where did these people go? I hope they're okay, not
like lost in the forest, they're actually like under the mud. No,
I'm sorry, but we found the trail pretty easily, you know,
(20:27):
once we realized, oh, this doesn't look right right. Um,
but that's part of the adventure, right. It definitely was,
and this trail in particular was an adventure trail. It
was really fun and clearly dirty. So this trail was
really hands on and you got to like scramble over
logs and crawl underlogs and get very um, just like
(20:48):
really into it, and it was fun. It's not just
like a stroll through the woods. You're actually like leaping
over things and crawling under things. And I wasn't expecting
that necessarily, but I'm really glad that that turned out
to be the case. It was really awesome. My favorite
we don't tell each other what this is, and I
(21:09):
really want to hear what your favorite part about Hungary
National Park was, Matt. Okay, I think my favorite part
was being able to go on that short hike with Finn.
I love in general, I love that boardwalk trail, and
together you and I did the entire loope, but the
segment we did with Finn was really exciting, and he
was clearly very excited and just taking it all in
(21:31):
seeing these enormous trees that made him like like a
dot in comparison. Yeah, he was lit up. That really
was an amazing time. I mean, I love any time
that we get to go on the trails with Finn um.
You know, no matter how long or how short a
period of time, I just love seeing him out in nature,
and because he's so excited and like just pulling at
(21:53):
the leash with so much enthusiasm. And it's not often
we get to do that in national parks because not
all national parks have dog friendly trails. They're kind of
a rarity um with a few exceptions, this being one
of them. So as long as you have a leash
that six ft or less than, dogs are welcome. And
(22:14):
he did a good job, and then we were able
to continue on and explore and see other aspects of
the boardwalk that went through really amazing areas and over
these swampy looking terrains, and one of my favorite sections
of that boardwalk as well to continue this boardwalk up session.
Is it kind of goes out to this edge just
overlook over broad river and it looked more it looked
(22:38):
very evergladesy to me. This body of water just kind
of I guess it was a river. It looked like
a slow moving, big broad river with was so thick
on the other side that you just couldn't see into
them at all. Just like, yeah, yeah, beautiful. I think
that my favorite part was, um, meeting our new friends.
(22:59):
I mean they were just there was a surprise, and
it was one of those short times in life where
you you're with somebody for you know, two hours kayaking,
you're not talking to him the whole time, but um,
and then getting asked for a ride back to town,
like that's exactly what I expected it when we started
this lifestyle, um of RV living. And while that's not
(23:21):
something I say, like don't pick up like hitchhikers and strangers,
you know, at least we've got some supervised time with them,
and the kayak people had their information, so just in
case they ended up being mass murderers, we would make it,
you know, they would find out who they are. There's
details like we wouldn't be okay if they turned out
to be mass murderers, wouldn't did but at least like,
(23:44):
at least they could find out who did it, justice
would be served, So win for if you want to
kill me, and kill me, but just make sure you
leave a trail man. Um. But no, that's honestly probably
my favorite part because you get to meet new people
and something that really stuck with us and make those
connections and just like learn about them and what brought
(24:05):
them there. I remember like going when I went to Roswell,
New Mexico, where Lila's from, which is crazy. I was
so excited from Roswell. I'm like, I have a thousand
questions for you, right, and I was just like, hey,
we're in Rosbell, hope Hell is good, and you know
we'd like touch base and like check in and you know. Um,
That's that's the part of the r V living that
(24:26):
I truly love, is just meeting everybody, no matter how crazy, quirky,
normal we heard crazier and for here the better honestly, Um,
But that's a true amazing blessing that we get to
have is meeting all these wonderful people. Yeah, more of
that please. So what three things would you bring to
(24:46):
Congrey National Park. Well, I'd bring a dog leash for
Finn and the harness because we don't like to he
likes to choke himself. We just put around his color
so we actually have the harness that goes around his
legs in his chest so he doesn't choke himself on
him for him. So i'd definitely bring that. Um. Beyond that,
I would bring my kayak, which I don't have, so
(25:07):
your dream I dream kayak, you know, holidays, birthdays, whatever
the call coming up anniversaries. True. Uh, And I'd probably
bring a Phiney sized life fest because seeing him in
a life fest would be really amazing. It would be
like a t Rex, like on off four front legs,
(25:29):
just swimming and I just can'ticulous get over that. I
would love to see that. Yeah. So the three things
I would bring would be bug spray first and foremast.
Oh wow, how did I forget that? Yeah? I don't
want to be caught off guard without that. And even
the park ranger said, don't try to use like the
all natural that's where she goes it doesn't work. Literally. Yeah,
(25:52):
she was very blunt and honest about that, which I
appreciate because I, yeah, you need the you need to
be properly um bus prepared. Yeah, even like we were
there and it was um the mosquito meter was really low.
I think it was a two or something, so it
was mild. But even at mild, you're getting bitten by bugs.
They're they're they're probably year round for sure. So whatever
(26:13):
the mosquito meter says, you need to be like sprayed
down with bug spray. The other thing I would bring
would be, I think it's out of binoculars would beneficial
because this is such a birding mecca. And an oculars
and bruck because again he loves bird watching birds. Yeah,
so I would bring those because I want to see
I want to get a good look of the owls
and the woodpeckers. I don't just want to hear them.
(26:35):
I wanna be able to see them, like you know,
up close, dish or whatever. And then I would also
bring shoes you don't mind getting muddy, because, like we said,
you're inevitably going to dabble in a little bit of mud.
And there was plenty of parts of that trail that
we did where you're either directly in it or like
me tiptoeing across some logs through it, trying not to
(26:58):
fall in, trying to be balanced. Um. But yeah, don't
bring nice shoes, you dn't bring your Doc Martins, don't
bring other stuff you know you need to. Um, just
be mindful that things are going to get dirty. Well.
I think these are all great things to bring on
our dream vacation, which we should talk about next. Um.
(27:19):
I really think it would be ideal to stay somewhere
in Colombia. You know, it's the biggest city that's not
too far away, and it's got a lot of great
culture and history and chocolately surprisingly great cocktails at that
Bourbon bar. Yeah, and that was really good. Um. So
the place is called for I think it's just called
Bourbon right, So it's a very straightforward name. Yeah. Yeah,
(27:40):
probably not great for their s e O, but it's
probably fantastic memories really, I don't know for sure, but um, yeah,
Colombia was really interesting. I wish we spent more time there,
and it would be nice to go back and stay
there do more things. I would love to tour that
capitol building. I have this growing up session with capitol buildings. Yeah,
(28:02):
and we'll definitely have to make some reservations for the
owl problem. Oh and that for sure. Yeah, that's like
my number one thing when we go back to Hungary
is do more kayak trips and more hikes and stuff.
But we have to do an owl problem. I think
that sounds like the coolest and most unique ranger ranger
program and maybe also speaking of other kayak trips. So
we did the Cedar Creek, I think we could upgrade
(28:25):
and do the Congrey River next time, so bigger, longer. Absolutely.
Oh and then there's that fifty mile route that goes
from Columbia all the way down into the Concrete. We'd
have to overnight it, but your crazy self would actually
probably do it in one day. Oh, I would love.
That's a great idea, and that'd be a win win
because we want to do both of those things. We
could you know, start the day, get we get all
(28:47):
pumped up on bourbon at Bourbon Bar, then drift down
the river for fifty miles. That sounds awesome and then
maybe terrible. Yeah, you definitely have to grab a permit
from the visitors center first though. Um, but talk about
an amazing adventure. Seriously, what an Adventure. You are listening
to the park Landed podcast from my heart Radio, hosted
(29:09):
by Brad and Matt Caroline. We'll be back with more
of the Parklandia podcasts from my heart Radio. I'm Matt
and I'm Brad. You were listening to the park Landed
podcast from my heart Radio. We've been getting a couple
of questions from our listeners here at Parklandia through our
(29:30):
social media and we want to answer those. The first
question we have is from Chantel, and she asked, is
there a way that you commemorate your National park visits?
Do you have patches, photo books, or stickers? What do
you have? Yes? Me, While I definitely do that a lot,
Mainly it's my National Parks passport book that I'm obsessed with.
(29:51):
I first bought mine at Grand Tetaw National Park in
two thou seventeen, I think, and you can get it
at any visitors center in any national park across the country,
and then also in any visitors center you can get
them stamped for free, which I do. And then I
also always buy or look for stickers for whatever specific
(30:15):
National park amen and then fill up my passport book
with that as well. And I do that so much
that I'm definitely running out a room. I had to buy.
Fortunately these passport books of extra pages you can buy,
which I have had to do since you first bought it.
Two additional national parks have been named that yeah, that
as well so and one thing that I did is
(30:37):
after a match trip to the bad Lands in UM,
he really wanted to be inspired by national parks UM
and to travel to national parks, and so what I
actually end up doing was for Christmas, I built him
that National Parks wall and so basically as we traveled
to each National park UM there's two sections to travel
and travel too, and as he tried levels to them,
(31:00):
we or as we now travel to them, we move
it from one side to the other. But currently those
are all boxed up in our storage unit because we
decided to travel a little bit harder. And that's a
huge wall. I mean, this wall is probably like ft
by twenty ft um with these framed postcards and different
knicknacks we get from different national parks, and so we
(31:20):
also buy different things. So we have UM dream catchers
from some national parks, we have bat signs from others.
We have a lot of different little knickknacks that we
pick up along the way to commemorate those and to
remember them by Thank you so much for asking. We
really enjoy this interaction that we get to do with you,
and we're super excited to continue to engage with you
(31:44):
on our Facebook group park Landia Rangers or our Instagram
at park Landia Pod. Yeah. So reach out to us
any time with questions, comments, conversations, and we're more than
happy to chat with you and answer your using questions.
So thank you for listening. You've been listening to the
(32:08):
Parklandia Podcast, a show about national parks by I Heart Radio,
created by Matt Krouac, Brad Caro Wac and Christopher hasiotis
produced and edited by Mike John's executive produced by Christopher
hasiotas special thanks to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and the
rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If you're
enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcast.
(32:29):
It helps other people like you find our show. You
can keep up with us on social media. Check out
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod, and
join in the conversation in our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers,
thank you so much for listening.
As it turns out, flooding isn't all bad, No, not
at all. Most people tend to equate flooding with disaster,
understandably so, but flooding can actually do just the opposite,
sometimes too, like at Congary National Park, where floods represent
the circle of life. To borrow a line from the
Lion King. Absolutely down in this part of South Carolina,
(00:21):
flooding is as natural as barbecue, and it's a reoccurring
phenomenon that makes Congreree so special. Hi, I'm Matt and
I'm Brad. This is park Landia. We packed up our
loft in Chicago, moved into an RV with our dog Finn,
and now we're traveling the country full time visiting America's
national parks. Today we're talking about Congary National Park. In
(00:43):
South Carolina history, Congarree is a park that shows the
benefits of floodwaters. Since the park is a thousand acres
of floodplain of the Congree River, the massive trees and
(01:04):
the vegetation here depends on floods to carry nutrients into
their roots and keep the floorist floor healthy. Right down here,
this process is not a crisis, and in fact, it's
a cycle that this landscape is designed for and thrives in.
These trees were also an attractive beacon for Native Americans initially,
as well as explorers and settlers as well. Yeah, the
(01:25):
park gets its name from the Congree River, of course,
which gets its name from the Congrey Indians who lived
here um for centuries before smallpox reared its ugly little
head in the sea. Really sad, but their namesake, river
and park live on for visitors to marvel at today,
and that's great and we really respect and admire that.
(01:46):
As it turns out out, the floodplain was not as
welcoming to farmers and loggers as it was to the
Congrete Indians. Nope, the all the standing water made it
really difficult for farming in this area, and people trying
to capitalize on the abundance of huge trees by cutting
down as a log wound up with more than they
could ever chew. I mean, they couldn't get their equipment
across the terrain because it was too soft and too muddy.
(02:07):
And then when they attempted to float the fallen trees
down the river, most of them sink because they were
just so dense and heavy already. Yeah, I kind of
like it. It's I'm sure Stockton is really annoying for
these farmers and loggers, but this is like a primary,
really good example of nature saying no and like putting
a stop to this and just kind of taking back control,
(02:28):
which is beautiful and you have to really really beautiful.
I'm sure I'd be saying a different thing if I
was a farmer back then, but fortunately I'm not. And
eventually these want to be loggers were able to develop
equipment that could navigate the difficult landscape. But at this
point they had another thing stopping them, The Sierra Club.
Gotta love the Sierra Club, love them, so these tree saviors,
(02:49):
they stepped in and helped protect the region, initially as
the Congrete Swamp National Monument in even though this isn't
really a swamp at all, So that's kind of a
misnomer technically, But let's not nippick a good thing. No,
let's not. And then Congrey was upgraded to a National
park two thousand and three, making it one of the
country's younger parks. Yeah, and nowadays you don't need an
(03:13):
arc to navigate this park either. Now you don't kayaks
and canoes, do you just fine, And in fact, this
is one of the best national parks for paddling. So
I think we should just get right into it and
talk about our kayaking tripping concrete, because this is like
the star attraction here river similar to the waterway parks
in the Everglades. This is one place where you have
to paddle in order to really appreciate the essence of it. Yeah,
(03:36):
very true. There are plenty of trails here, and we'll
talk about those now terriffic they are later, But at
its core, Congrey really is a water park first and foremost. Indeed,
first though, you've got to make sure you were visiting
at the right time in order to make the most
of it and kayak without getting lost in the maze
of trees. That sounds like a nightmare. Yeah, I mean,
you know the water there, it goes from really low
(03:59):
and it can go up to ten feed higher than
its lowest point. That's completely insane. So that's what we
mean when we say timing is everything here, and there's
there's certain seasons that are ideal for kayaking and certain
seasons that are completely treacherous and impassable. So you've got
to do a little research. Call the call the Congreve
(04:19):
visitor Center before you book your trip or before you
stop in, and especially before you head out in the water,
because if the water rises above the riverbed levels, then
this completely turns the forest into a labyrinth of trees,
and that's that's not good, no, And you only want
to be a dedicated like kayaker to that area to
be able to navigate through. Absolutely. So in the wintertime,
(04:44):
that's when most of the parks flooding occurs. So that's
the time of year that it's the riskiest and you're
gonna want to be a little reticent. But do keep
in mind that river flooding can happen at any time
of year. It happens about a dozen times a year,
so it's not like a constant, regular thing, and for
the most part, Hungary is accessible, but it's just something
(05:04):
to keep in mind and be prepared for as you
map out your Hungary paddle trip. Yeah, the kayak al
fetters usually don't operate that time of the year because
as the river floods, you know, it's harder to find
those routes along the trees and it becomes that big
maze that we were talking about, um and you know,
you also have to deal with congrey summer months, which
really get really humid, really buggy, and so it's best
(05:27):
to visit in the spring or the fall. Yeah, this
is clearly a place of extremes. You either contend with
horrific flooding potentially or horrific mosquito swarms almost definitely in
the summer months, and I would rather not do with
either of those. So spring or fall our ideal. And
we did a spring trip. This was like, um, what
(05:50):
was it early spring? So temperature is very comfortable, Mosquito
levels were low in the river and stream. We're very accessible,
and I remember starting our trip here, we went into
the visitor center which had this surprisingly cute mosquito meter
they called it. It has an array of different numbers
on it, one through six, and they adjust an arrow
(06:11):
pointing at these different numbers based on the mosquito levels outside.
One obviously is the lowest and that means all clear,
two means mild, and then it goes all the way
up to six, which means war zone, and that sounds insane.
I do not want to experience that. No, you don't
want to be here when there's a mosquito wars I
can't imagine. No, no, no. Also, the park offers free
(06:32):
guided canoe trips in the spring to which is an
awesome option and yet another reason why you should visit
here in the spring and wait, just like sit winter out. Yeah.
I think we just barely missed that window. We did.
We were like a week before the canoe trips were starting,
so that that tends to happen a lot to us.
Will like barely miss something that happened, Like where were we?
(06:54):
I think it's like qualified caverns where they were going
to do they're bad, bad sports or something, and we're like,
we missed up by like three days. So great timing
on our party, story of our lives. Um. But you know,
it worked out fine though, because we were able to
book that guided kayak trip with the nearby outfitter. UM.
They brought all the boat, the equipment and took us
(07:14):
for a few hours on Cedar Lake yeah Cedar Creek
actually and right, So that worked out the best. And
even though it wasn't free and it costs a little
bit of money, I thought it was totally worth it
because this is a must do experience here kayaking, and
I loved the route we took. It was so much
fun and really beautiful. We did Cedar Creek instead of
(07:35):
Congree River, so it's a much smaller waterway that winds
directly through this dense forest filled with huge trees. Yeah,
the Congrete has the largest trees east of the Mississippi.
I mean, these things are just enormous, especially the lobally pines,
cypress trees, and the tubelos. The cypress and the tube
blows are the ones most commonly found at water level
(07:57):
and then typically with their roots buried deep underwater, right,
That's how they endure, and they don't like topple over
anything because they're so like deep underground and they can
contend with the water levels rising up, going down and whatnot.
And there are so many of these trees that they
formed the largest old growth bottom line harwood forest in
the country. This basically means huge trees that grow in
(08:19):
flood plaints like this, and they're tall, like the tree
canopy averages is about a hundred and thirty feet, which
is really hefty for East Coast trees. So yeah, there's
a lot of tree I candy here. And if you're
a tree enthusiast, like I'm, probably an amateur tree enthusiast,
I guess I appreciate them. This was great and really
fun experience. And these trees, they provide a really expensive
(08:41):
canopy for the creek, rising tall enough and thick en
up that they block out direct sunlight. Yeah, for us,
this was really helpful because it all blocked out the
rain too. Yeah, that was a huge benefit because this
was the drizzly day. It was kind of gray, so
sun wasn't really much of an annoyance, but the rain
could have put a damper on the day. And the
trees came to our rescue and it was very convenient.
(09:01):
I think here and there we felt just a little
bit of like droplets and stuff, but absolutely nothing to
freak out about, No, not at all. And I think
actually the way the really fit the vibe of the creek,
because this creek was like eerie and dark and ominous
and misty and mystical. Mystical. Yeah, it was like, um
a little it looks like kind of a haunted forest
(09:23):
to be honest right now. So I feel like having
a like gray, drizzly day just really cemented that vibe
and it made it really fun too, not like you know,
scorching hot or or anything like that. So we were
able to relax and paddle for a few hours. Along
the way, we were able to learn about the variety
(09:43):
of trees and how popular the park is for birders
as well. Yeah, apparently it's filled with owls and woodpeckers,
especially two of my faves, and you can occasionally hear
them both making noises as you paddle along the peacefully
quiet creek. There's also eight speci is of woodpeckers here.
That's a lot of woodpeckers, so many. I had no
(10:05):
idea that they're that main different pieces of woodpeckers at all. No,
me neither. I only really knew about the one with
like the red um head or whatever, you know, Like,
what are the woodpeckers like whatever he's based on. I
am aware of that species of woodpecker and nothing else.
So animated series, that's all, you know. Yeah, that's my
template for woodpeckers as far as I'm concerned, And that's
(10:26):
mine too. Great, we're on the same page. Yeah, So
prime example, Congret is educating us and enlightening us, being like, hey,
there's a whole world of woodpeckers out here. Beyond cartoon. Yeah,
and it was exciting to learn about that and hear
them too. You could he hear them off in the distance. Yeah,
that was That was really exciting. And this park is
(10:49):
actually designated as a globally important bird area too, which
is pretty impressive. The park even does something called owl Prowls,
which is I'm sure as exciting as it is is
cute sounding, and I'm dying to do this. It takes
place at night, naturally, and it's a ranger guided tour
that takes you out until was to listen for and
see owls. I'm so into that, and I'm hoping the
(11:11):
next time we're here we can do one of these
owl prowls because that would be so much fun. Yeah,
that would be amazing, right. I was also hoping to
see some river otters too, because we were told that
there was a chance of that along Cedar Creek, but no,
no luck, unfortunately. I'd love it if there was some
kind of otter prowl. Actually, I'd sign up for that
in a heartbeat. I would do that. And instead we
(11:32):
saw a bunch of torn up ground along the banks
of the creek, caused by those PEXI little wild feral rights. Yeah,
so not as cute, no, and as super invasive species.
I mean clearly taking things up, tearing them up. You know,
they dig for the vegetation and all that, right, with
no concern for the for you know, presentation, just like
(11:55):
hideous amounts of dirt on that side of the creek.
Like thanks, nice job guys. But on another note, it's
really great to get into a kayaker canoe here because
of how leisurely and relaxed it is. And it's not
strenuous like the creek was moving, but it's going so
slowly you don't even notice it. And you can easily
go upstream without even using too much muscle or strain.
(12:19):
And that's another reason why this is a great trip
for kids and families too. If you're a newbie at
kayaking or canoeing, Congary is an awesome option. Yeah, it's
a totally slow moving creek and you know, you get
to meet some amazing people. But we're going to tell
you more about that after the short break. Hi, I'm
(12:52):
Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia and today
we're talking about Congary National Park. Yes, we are so
on this kayak trip, not only was it super super
fun and enlightening to as an activity. But one of
our favorite things was we're able to meet a couple
of folks who were visiting Congrey from Columbia, South Carolina
(13:12):
for work. They were in town for i think a
conference of some sort, and they had like the first
half of the day free, or maybe the whole day free,
so they researched things to do in the area. And
Columbia is not too far from congret It's like twenty
five miles or something. Yeah, it's reasonable close enough that
they were able to take a lift or an uber
and drop them off of the river, which that's impressive.
(13:36):
It was kind of funny because like as they pulled up,
they were getting out of the vehicle and they had
their coffees and like bagels like you know, in their
bags hanging out of their mouth and stuff, and it
was just kind of funny, like I'm like that that's
what we look like when we get out of a
lift somewhere. Yeah. Probably it was funny because some people
are like, who are these people? And we were like,
you're going to be our friends. Yeah, the big bagelver
(13:57):
gade over here rolling in Yeah, and that like Brad,
he was uh like looking for things to do and
he was going to do this, and then this guy's name, Yeah,
you have the same name and not just referring to
yourself and I'm not myself. But then he told Lila
about going on a kayaking trip and she's like signed
me up to yes. I love the enthusiasm. I love
the effort they put into it, because that's kind of
(14:18):
how we travel to like whether we're um looking for
an RV space or if we're just kind of in
a town or a city or whatever, we like research
things to do in the nearby area and then put
the effort in and realize that it's doable. Like from Colombia,
the state's capital, and like a sizeable city, you're not
too far from congret you're not too far from this
(14:38):
crazy wild like kayak trip, this little adventure. And I'm
really glad that they did that and that ultimately were
able to meet them, and they were able to even
meet our dog, Finn and Chaka r r V because
they couldn't get an r V going back into town
and we were going now anyway, so we were just like,
well come on with us, Well, right, we'll do it.
(14:59):
We'll shoot for this. This is what this lifestyle is about.
Um And I remember we wanted to bring Finn on
this trip in the kayaks, but doxins plus kayaks they
don't really go well together. But it would be cute
to see him in a life. Yeah. No, not not
really at all. So these guys, Brad and Lila, like
I remember talking with them a while for kayaking and
(15:22):
just they're asking about us and vice versa, and then
they learned about Finn and they were so excited, like,
oh my gosh, like we would love to meet him.
You know, naturally everyone everyone wants to meet Finn and
a little rock star. I'm glad that it worked out
because and it needed to work out too, because when
you take a lift or a newber out to Congrey,
one thing to keep in mind is you could probably
(15:43):
get there from Columbia, but getting back it's a whole
another story. Yeah, I don't know, much more difficult, not doable,
and the service out there is not great. As with
most national parks, you don't have a great phone service,
so you gotta keep keep that at mind. Yeah, but
you know, there's more to do in Congrety than just
paddle Um and well, we had a great time with them.
We uh that took the next day we took hit
(16:04):
the trails trails. Congrey has not a ton of trails,
not and the trails they do have are not super long.
There's not a lot of elevation here, so it's nothing
too strenuous, I think mountainous whatsoever. But you know, there's
only about twenty miles of trails here. They're all really
(16:27):
fascinating and impressive there. You know, like that boardwalk trail,
which is definitely a highlight year. It's just easy like
scenic um two and a half mile loop from the
Henry Hampton Visitor Center, Yeah, Harry Hampton Visitor Center. And
it is really nice. That's a beautiful boardwalk and very
accessible for everybody, like regardless of aid size, like physical ability.
(16:53):
The fact that it's all just this flat connected loop
that takes you through some of the most scenic areas
of the arc is really good. They did a great
job with that. And also not only is it accessible
for every type of human, it's great for dogs too.
Congrey is one of the more dog friendly parks we've
been to, and it was great for Finn being so flat.
(17:13):
He didn't get too exhausted when we um took him
along part of the boardwalk with us, so we went
through some of the woods, we went up on the boardwalk.
He became, you know, the talk of the park when
all the kids would walk by him, and we got
a little He wasn't too exhausted to continue, but I
remember taking him back a little bit sooner so we
(17:33):
can go into the back parks of the other trails. Right. Um,
we wanted to do more, and he his such tiny
little legs that he does get tired much cricket than
we do, for sure, And it's good to put him
in like a nice cool RV environment where you can
have his water and just relax or conditioning and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
And that that longer trail that we decided to do
(17:55):
was that Weston Lake trail. Um. You have to take
the boardwalk to get there. The views from the boardwalk
were amazing, especially with all the Spanish moss and the
huge trees and all these like little features like the
cypress knees, which are these like spiky looking things that
are jutting out of the earth. They're practically part of
the tree's root system. Yeah, and help these giant trees
(18:16):
stay firmly planted deep in the ground during the flooding. Right,
they look so weird, They look like alien formations, and
they're jutting up out of the ground. Some of them
are quite high, like a few feet high, and they're
spread so far out across the land that you would
never really think they're connected or part of the root
system for these trees, because they're not immediately next to
it or anything. But it's just another thing, another fascinating
(18:40):
fact you learned here. And it's no surprise that these
trees are so firmly rooted with all these cypress knees
sprawled out over the the land here. It was just
nice because, um, you know, we were there when the
floodplain had dried out, and um, we're able to do
that trail. It's about four and a half miles through
some old growth for uh you know, it's along the
(19:01):
shore of the Cedar Creek. Yeah, so that same creek
we cocked the previous day. We're able to see it
from a different perspective, which was really nice and equally beautiful.
So at the visitor center, a ranger told us that
this is also a great trail for seeing some of
the park's biggest trees. And she was not wrong. She
did not lead us a straight and unsurprisingly, since this
(19:24):
is a massive floodplane after all, things got pretty muddy
along the way. But well, you know, very worth it
and just suck it up. Get a little dirty. Yeah,
so much so that we actually lost the trail for
a little bit, and um, we started to wander off
of it, remember when, like because like the floodplane kind
of covered it, and so we had to look for
the markings on the trees. Well there was like multiple
(19:45):
marking styles and I didn't know which one is to follow.
It was confusing, and so like we started walking off
and I'm following footprints and like tragging people and the
I'm like, no, these these are going right back to
where we came from. And then so we finally got
back and then you know, our shoes with muddy at
this point, and so you know, but it's just kind
of funny because it's like it looks like a bunch
of people got lost right at it did particular point
(20:05):
because we were following footsteps, like there was a lot
of footsteps that kind of meandered off and I looked
like they went right into the thick woods. So once
we realized we were going the wrong way, I'm like,
where did these people go? I hope they're okay, not
like lost in the forest, they're actually like under the mud. No,
I'm sorry, but we found the trail pretty easily, you know,
(20:27):
once we realized, oh, this doesn't look right right. Um,
but that's part of the adventure, right. It definitely was,
and this trail in particular was an adventure trail. It
was really fun and clearly dirty. So this trail was
really hands on and you got to like scramble over
logs and crawl underlogs and get very um, just like
(20:48):
really into it, and it was fun. It's not just
like a stroll through the woods. You're actually like leaping
over things and crawling under things. And I wasn't expecting
that necessarily, but I'm really glad that that turned out
to be the case. It was really awesome. My favorite
we don't tell each other what this is, and I
(21:09):
really want to hear what your favorite part about Hungary
National Park was, Matt. Okay, I think my favorite part
was being able to go on that short hike with Finn.
I love in general, I love that boardwalk trail, and
together you and I did the entire loope, but the
segment we did with Finn was really exciting, and he
was clearly very excited and just taking it all in
(21:31):
seeing these enormous trees that made him like like a
dot in comparison. Yeah, he was lit up. That really
was an amazing time. I mean, I love any time
that we get to go on the trails with Finn um.
You know, no matter how long or how short a
period of time, I just love seeing him out in nature,
and because he's so excited and like just pulling at
(21:53):
the leash with so much enthusiasm. And it's not often
we get to do that in national parks because not
all national parks have dog friendly trails. They're kind of
a rarity um with a few exceptions, this being one
of them. So as long as you have a leash
that six ft or less than, dogs are welcome. And
(22:14):
he did a good job, and then we were able
to continue on and explore and see other aspects of
the boardwalk that went through really amazing areas and over
these swampy looking terrains, and one of my favorite sections
of that boardwalk as well to continue this boardwalk up session.
Is it kind of goes out to this edge just
overlook over broad river and it looked more it looked
(22:38):
very evergladesy to me. This body of water just kind
of I guess it was a river. It looked like
a slow moving, big broad river with was so thick
on the other side that you just couldn't see into
them at all. Just like, yeah, yeah, beautiful. I think
that my favorite part was, um, meeting our new friends.
(22:59):
I mean they were just there was a surprise, and
it was one of those short times in life where
you you're with somebody for you know, two hours kayaking,
you're not talking to him the whole time, but um,
and then getting asked for a ride back to town,
like that's exactly what I expected it when we started
this lifestyle, um of RV living. And while that's not
(23:21):
something I say, like don't pick up like hitchhikers and strangers,
you know, at least we've got some supervised time with them,
and the kayak people had their information, so just in
case they ended up being mass murderers, we would make it,
you know, they would find out who they are. There's
details like we wouldn't be okay if they turned out
to be mass murderers, wouldn't did but at least like,
(23:44):
at least they could find out who did it, justice
would be served, So win for if you want to
kill me, and kill me, but just make sure you
leave a trail man. Um. But no, that's honestly probably
my favorite part because you get to meet new people
and something that really stuck with us and make those
connections and just like learn about them and what brought
(24:05):
them there. I remember like going when I went to Roswell,
New Mexico, where Lila's from, which is crazy. I was
so excited from Roswell. I'm like, I have a thousand
questions for you, right, and I was just like, hey,
we're in Rosbell, hope Hell is good, and you know
we'd like touch base and like check in and you know. Um,
That's that's the part of the r V living that
(24:26):
I truly love, is just meeting everybody, no matter how crazy, quirky,
normal we heard crazier and for here the better honestly, Um,
But that's a true amazing blessing that we get to
have is meeting all these wonderful people. Yeah, more of
that please. So what three things would you bring to
(24:46):
Congrey National Park. Well, I'd bring a dog leash for
Finn and the harness because we don't like to he
likes to choke himself. We just put around his color
so we actually have the harness that goes around his
legs in his chest so he doesn't choke himself on
him for him. So i'd definitely bring that. Um. Beyond that,
I would bring my kayak, which I don't have, so
(25:07):
your dream I dream kayak, you know, holidays, birthdays, whatever
the call coming up anniversaries. True. Uh, And I'd probably
bring a Phiney sized life fest because seeing him in
a life fest would be really amazing. It would be
like a t Rex, like on off four front legs,
(25:29):
just swimming and I just can'ticulous get over that. I
would love to see that. Yeah. So the three things
I would bring would be bug spray first and foremast.
Oh wow, how did I forget that? Yeah? I don't
want to be caught off guard without that. And even
the park ranger said, don't try to use like the
all natural that's where she goes it doesn't work. Literally. Yeah,
(25:52):
she was very blunt and honest about that, which I
appreciate because I, yeah, you need the you need to
be properly um bus prepared. Yeah, even like we were
there and it was um the mosquito meter was really low.
I think it was a two or something, so it
was mild. But even at mild, you're getting bitten by bugs.
They're they're they're probably year round for sure. So whatever
(26:13):
the mosquito meter says, you need to be like sprayed
down with bug spray. The other thing I would bring
would be, I think it's out of binoculars would beneficial
because this is such a birding mecca. And an oculars
and bruck because again he loves bird watching birds. Yeah,
so I would bring those because I want to see
I want to get a good look of the owls
and the woodpeckers. I don't just want to hear them.
(26:35):
I wanna be able to see them, like you know,
up close, dish or whatever. And then I would also
bring shoes you don't mind getting muddy, because, like we said,
you're inevitably going to dabble in a little bit of mud.
And there was plenty of parts of that trail that
we did where you're either directly in it or like
me tiptoeing across some logs through it, trying not to
(26:58):
fall in, trying to be balanced. Um. But yeah, don't
bring nice shoes, you dn't bring your Doc Martins, don't
bring other stuff you know you need to. Um, just
be mindful that things are going to get dirty. Well.
I think these are all great things to bring on
our dream vacation, which we should talk about next. Um.
(27:19):
I really think it would be ideal to stay somewhere
in Colombia. You know, it's the biggest city that's not
too far away, and it's got a lot of great
culture and history and chocolately surprisingly great cocktails at that
Bourbon bar. Yeah, and that was really good. Um. So
the place is called for I think it's just called
Bourbon right, So it's a very straightforward name. Yeah. Yeah,
(27:40):
probably not great for their s e O, but it's
probably fantastic memories really, I don't know for sure, but um, yeah,
Colombia was really interesting. I wish we spent more time there,
and it would be nice to go back and stay
there do more things. I would love to tour that
capitol building. I have this growing up session with capitol buildings. Yeah,
(28:02):
and we'll definitely have to make some reservations for the
owl problem. Oh and that for sure. Yeah, that's like
my number one thing when we go back to Hungary
is do more kayak trips and more hikes and stuff.
But we have to do an owl problem. I think
that sounds like the coolest and most unique ranger ranger
program and maybe also speaking of other kayak trips. So
we did the Cedar Creek, I think we could upgrade
(28:25):
and do the Congrey River next time, so bigger, longer. Absolutely.
Oh and then there's that fifty mile route that goes
from Columbia all the way down into the Concrete. We'd
have to overnight it, but your crazy self would actually
probably do it in one day. Oh, I would love.
That's a great idea, and that'd be a win win
because we want to do both of those things. We
could you know, start the day, get we get all
(28:47):
pumped up on bourbon at Bourbon Bar, then drift down
the river for fifty miles. That sounds awesome and then
maybe terrible. Yeah, you definitely have to grab a permit
from the visitors center first though. Um, but talk about
an amazing adventure. Seriously, what an Adventure. You are listening
to the park Landed podcast from my heart Radio, hosted
(29:09):
by Brad and Matt Caroline. We'll be back with more
of the Parklandia podcasts from my heart Radio. I'm Matt
and I'm Brad. You were listening to the park Landed
podcast from my heart Radio. We've been getting a couple
of questions from our listeners here at Parklandia through our
(29:30):
social media and we want to answer those. The first
question we have is from Chantel, and she asked, is
there a way that you commemorate your National park visits?
Do you have patches, photo books, or stickers? What do
you have? Yes? Me, While I definitely do that a lot,
Mainly it's my National Parks passport book that I'm obsessed with.
(29:51):
I first bought mine at Grand Tetaw National Park in
two thou seventeen, I think, and you can get it
at any visitors center in any national park across the country,
and then also in any visitors center you can get
them stamped for free, which I do. And then I
also always buy or look for stickers for whatever specific
(30:15):
National park amen and then fill up my passport book
with that as well. And I do that so much
that I'm definitely running out a room. I had to buy.
Fortunately these passport books of extra pages you can buy,
which I have had to do since you first bought it.
Two additional national parks have been named that yeah, that
as well so and one thing that I did is
(30:37):
after a match trip to the bad Lands in UM,
he really wanted to be inspired by national parks UM
and to travel to national parks, and so what I
actually end up doing was for Christmas, I built him
that National Parks wall and so basically as we traveled
to each National park UM there's two sections to travel
and travel too, and as he tried levels to them,
(31:00):
we or as we now travel to them, we move
it from one side to the other. But currently those
are all boxed up in our storage unit because we
decided to travel a little bit harder. And that's a
huge wall. I mean, this wall is probably like ft
by twenty ft um with these framed postcards and different
knicknacks we get from different national parks, and so we
(31:20):
also buy different things. So we have UM dream catchers
from some national parks, we have bat signs from others.
We have a lot of different little knickknacks that we
pick up along the way to commemorate those and to
remember them by Thank you so much for asking. We
really enjoy this interaction that we get to do with you,
and we're super excited to continue to engage with you
(31:44):
on our Facebook group park Landia Rangers or our Instagram
at park Landia Pod. Yeah. So reach out to us
any time with questions, comments, conversations, and we're more than
happy to chat with you and answer your using questions.
So thank you for listening. You've been listening to the
(32:08):
Parklandia Podcast, a show about national parks by I Heart Radio,
created by Matt Krouac, Brad Caro Wac and Christopher hasiotis
produced and edited by Mike John's executive produced by Christopher
hasiotas special thanks to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and the
rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If you're
enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcast.
(32:29):
It helps other people like you find our show. You
can keep up with us on social media. Check out
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod, and
join in the conversation in our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers,
thank you so much for listening.
Parklandia News
Hosts And Creators
Brad Kirouac
Matt Kirouac
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