The Mountain Lioness: An OTTERworldly Paddle on Cedar Creek at Congaree National Park [SC]

An Otterworldly Paddle on Cedar Creek

& Harry Hampton Visitor Center

Congaree National Park
Hopkins, SC
'My Sister is Getting Married!' Roadtrip
26 August 2018

Introduction

October 18, 1976 -
Public Law 94-545: Established Congaree National Park with the purpose

"to preserve and protect for the education, inspiration, and enjoyment of present and future generations an outstanding example of a near-virgin, southern hardwood forest situated in the Congaree River floodplain in Richland County, South Carolina."

Significant attributes of the park include [Source: NPS Congaree National Park - Nature & Science]:

Unique bottomland hardwood forest communities
The impressive height of the forest canopy
Plenty of national and state champion trees

Discover South Carolina: Champion Trees are Star Attraction at Congaree National Park

Well-preserved, biologically diverse river floodplain ecosystem
Congaree and Wateree Rivers aid in carrying nutrients and sediments that nourish and rejuvenate the ecosystem
Harry Hampton began a campaign to protect the area's floodplain forests from the timber industry in the 1960s. Prior to the mass harvesting and exploitation, there were 52 million acres of floodplain forests in the Southeastern United States alone.

For an immersive experience learning more about the nature and history of the park, check out my post 'An EnDEERing Walk on the Enchanted Forest Boardwalk at Congaree National Park [SC]' - where I walked the boardwalk nature trail at dusk the night before this paddle.

Not having much time in the park, the boardwalk trail yesterday and then a relaxing morning paddle followed by dropping into the Visitor Center made for a wonderful introduction to Congaree National Park.

The Gear

Sony E-Mount 16-50mm Lens
Sony E 55-210mm (SEL55210) F4.5-6.3 OSS Lens

The Story

Rise and shine! I swiped some below-average continental breakfast from the hotel lobby before gearing up for a fun day of paddling and driving. Twenty minutes later I found myself all by my lonesome at the South Cedar Creek *Canoe* Launch. Is anyone else bothered that watercraft launches are either called boat launch or canoe launch? I'm okay with boat, but canoe is discriminatory towards the innocent kayaks.

There is a restroom (that I didn't test out so no report on the quality), a few informative signs, a huge gravel lot, and a painfully long ramp/launch down to the water.

I gracefully (lol) carry my beautiful Dagger Stratos to the end where I have to evaluate my options. The bridge gives hikers access to the Kingsnake Trail and unknown about potential river access. There's a railing to my right that descends into an engulfment of mud. And to the left (not pictured), the route to the river looked super technical when it comes to a 14.5ft kayak.

This picture gives a good indication about which route we decided on. And by we, I mean that the kayak got a choice in the matter as well.

The magical boat placement that would get my legs the least amount of muddy with a downward slope and two wonderful trees to help me push off:

The decisions don't stop there. I could either turn left or right from the ramp. I made the mistake of turning right/West. My choice was due to maybe paddling closer to the main section of Congaree National Park. It took about a minute to see the river was blocked ahead, and after a tricky launch I didn't want to get out and port the boat.

I turned around and went underneath the bridge at the *Canoe* launch. They even labeled the bridge so I would know when to exit the river. In the event I miss the bridge, I have the failsafe of hitting fallen trees in the river just a tiny bit later.

I have so much fun taking pictures of tree/wildlife reflections in rivers.

Spiders!

Man's favorite eight-legged friends were out and about! The pictures of the spiders/webs in this section are in no particular order from the paddle.

The River Widens

One of my current goals is to finally get a picture of jumping fish. I spent way too much time attempting this with close to zero success. [Best photo below] The river increased in width at this section, and there was no shortage of jumping fish. They just liked to jump anywhere where my camera was not facing.

More foliage reflections -

I stepped on land for a few moments to take care of some business and also to check out one of the cool spider webs that is pictured in the spider section.

Continuing On

After my break, I carried on along the river.

I get all of this to myself. However I am disappointed about the lack of interesting wildlife sightings. Fish, spiders, and squirrels were abundant. Several birds mocked me from the canopy where I couldn't see them. I was up for pretty much anything somewhat exciting at this point - alligator, chipmunk, turtles on a log that jump into the river when they see me coming, a wading bird snacking on some crawfish, bull shark, loch ness monster, unicorn, leopard, etc. I'm really not asking for much...

The Turnaround

It appeared my wishes had been fulfilled. At the exact location that I planned to turn the boat around in order to make my day's timeline. I saw a large gray bird with a long wingspan fly above and into a tree. Tree pictured below. I then heard noises to my right and saw something splashing in the river. Overwhelmed by both events, I look back towards the tree and cannot locate the bird, likely a great blue heron. Then I look back to the splashing zone and see nothing. Great [blue heron].

I think of the various possibilities of what could cause the splashing. It was more than just a tree branch falling into the creek or multiple fish jumping. Could it be a gator? Nah, they're quiet. And then I figured it out.

F***in' otters.

...Otters

Before today you could say that I hate otters. I used to have hundreds of koi in my backyard pond, but an otter took it upon himself to turn the pond into a get-fat-quick all-you-can-eat buffet. When he finally left my backyard, only a few fish remained, but they were too scared to eat. By the time that two otters came by a year or so later, the last 4 became lunch. Since then I have had a vengeance for otters. Now, I only have this vengeance if they are on my property.

Anyway I follow the creek a little farther, having to noisily cross past an obstacle. No signs of the freeloading, fish-loving fake-seals. I turn my boat around and place the skeg down and hold my camera at the ready - drifting quietly, unassumingly, pessimistically.

Then all of a sudden the Scrooge-like, splishy-splashy sealion-wannabes slowly emerge from behind a fallen tree. I remain quiet except for the obnoxious noises my camera likes to make.

The family of four head into the water and began playing and feeding. Okay yeah, they are cute. Fine. But I still miss my koi :(

Aaaaaand, buh-bye. One of the otters makes a noise, likely due to spotting me, and then they quickly retreat back to where they were hiding.

Splish-splash and side-eye right here.

Butterfly!

I begin my way back, and a gorgeous butterfly decides to hitch a ride in exchange for some pretty photos.

Red-Spotted Purple | Limenitis arthemis astyanax - More information at Gardens with Wings and University of Florida.

The Return

The butterfly flutters away, and that ends my fun wildlife encounters. Get excited for trees and leaves.

I thought it was neat how the leaves have all congregated in between a fallen tree/branch and the banks.

There are several folks out fishing along the banks as I return. With less stops to observe and photograph, I make it back to the *Canoe* Launch bridge in good time. Another solo woman was preparing to launch a kayak from the same area as myself.

If I didn't use a GPS watch and post to Strava, did it actually happen?

Link to Strava kayaking activity: Congaree National Park - Cedar Creek

Harry Hampton Visitor Center

Once I was all loaded up, I made the 15 or so minute drive to the Harry Hampton Visitor Center. I absolutely needed to get my passport cancellation stamp, and even though I was here the day before, I had arrived past the closing time. Yesterday (August 25) was also the National Park Service's 102nd birthday! I missed the festivities too :( NPS Birthday

I spoke with the rangers and park staff at the front desk, telling them about the otters. They asked me to record the sighting in the Wildlife log, which I never really noticed that parks had until now? Pretty cool stuff. I'm rather sad I missed seeing wild hogs though.

We also talked about the road trip that I was going on, and one of the guys apparently lived right by the high school I went to in Virginia Beach (but before I was born). It's a small world!

Cypress Knees and Cavity Nesting Canaries

National Parks always have very presentable displays at the Visitor Centers. They are modern enough with great information and interactive exhibits.

Hurdles

I couldn't get a picture of the fish jumping. The otters were scared of me.

Relevant Quote

I changed my mind about otters, so now I can change the world! I'm being both humorous and serious here.

The Mountain Lioness

An OTTERworldly Paddle on Cedar Creek at Congaree National Park [SC]

An Otterworldly Paddle on Cedar Creek

& Harry Hampton Visitor Center

Congaree National Park
Hopkins, SC
'My Sister is Getting Married!' Roadtrip
26 August 2018

Introduction

The Gear