Date: 2013-12-09
To: Congaree National Park Backpacking Trip
Miles today: 0.0

In my opinion, my Appalachian Trail Journey began many years ago, and it took a giant leap forward upon my retirement.Durning the last eight months since retirement, many wonderful hiking and backpacking experiences have graced me. These include new friends, new adventures, trail magic beyond belief, a deeper faith, good health, and becoming closer to my home town children and best friend, my wife, while enjoying a general feeling of wellness. One of my pre Appalachian Trail goals was to visit all my children not living near me, and to also reconnect with family members and friends I haven't seen, in some cases, for many years.I visited my daughter and grandchildren in New York, where I discovered a whole new family of people on the husbands side of the family.I traveled to Florida to visit two more children and grandchildren and while there I also visited an Aunt that I haven't seen in forty years. While in Florida I met AWOL and had an interesting conversation and meal with him. I then travelled to Georgia to be with my sister, her husband and, her children for the first time in twenty eight years. I feel blessed and thankful for all that I have, and thankful to have been with all these folks before I start the trail. Durning the week of Thanksgiving I travelled with my my wife to visit her family in North Carolina. We were slated to spend a week there and durning the course of the week I went backpacking with my son in law. It was a well planned three day trip that took us to The Congaree National Park in South Carolina about twenty miles southeast of Columbia S.C.We left the trailhead and started hiking about 2pm Sunday. There are many large tall Bald Cypress trees in the forest, and large areas of swampy bog terrain that have boardwalks installed over them to help preserve these wetlands. In route to our camp, about three miles into the hike, we spotted eight wild feral pigs, who roam this forest, along with feral dogs, coyotes, bobcats, and deer. Alligators are said to inhabit the waters too. We hiked a total of five miles the first day, set up camp and ate, hung our food in a tree, and got to bed early because camp fires weren't allowed in this park. It had become very dark around 6pm. We were camped about 50 yards from the Congaree River and heard some loud explosions and went over to the river bank with our headlamps on to see what was going on, and there we saw a motor boat with two guys boating around and looking into the water with a large flashlight. All through the night there was a lot of howling from dogs and/ or coyotes. It felt like they were surrounding our camp and closing in, but every time I got up to use the bathroom I didn't see any critters. The temperature dropped to 25 degrees and froze some of our water. Monday, day 2 we hiked about 10 miles to the finish line back to the vechicle. I saw a large bird that day with a vast wing span, I think it was an owl.Remember "Tara" the fictional Georgia plantation in the movie "Gone With The Wind"? Monday afternoon after completing the hike we were invited to spend the night at a southern plantation. As we were driving up the front drive of this great mansion, my thoughts were of Tara; Trail Magic finds me again. The owners of the plantation are really great people. We were both given a private room where we could shower and get changed. We had dinner with the family with the meal featuring all kinds of good tasty food, including quail. We retired to the great room to be warmed by the fireplace and to enjoy good conversation. It was nice to be in a warm, comfortable bed as the whether was turning to cold rain. The next morning (day 3) breakfast was made to order, as well as hot coffee and an auto tour of the plantation grounds. We left for home after lunch about 2pm Tuesday. Thank you folks for the great hospitality you showed toward us.Nancy and I spent the rest of the week just being with family and doing family activities. Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. It was a good week.Preparation for the AT has created all of the above experiences, for which I am thankful, and I suspect they will continue the entire lenght of the Appalachian Trail. For now, I am savoring the experiences, knowing that they are a prelude to the adventure awaiting me on the trail.