Mar 20 Congaree at Stump Gut

 

John by the 27.5' circumference Bald cypress

Congaree has a special attraction for me. It took a while gel but is fully entrenched now. I think my hiking partner, Will has that same addiction. We are so fortunate to have met John Cely. This is our 4th excursion into the forest with John. He is taking us via jon boat up the Congaree River from US 601 bridge (Bates Landing) to Stump Gut. 

Guts and sloughs are floodplain waterways. They move water into and out of the floodplain. Winter is normally the wet season, often flooding the forest throughout the floodplain. We are experiencing a drought this year and have dry access to this area, an unusual occurrence. During the logging era, these waterways were utilized to extract large Bald Cypress. Often ditches were dug to connect the natural waterway system. The Bald Cypress was the prize tree here. Locals were paid to locate the giant trees to be harvested. Since Bald cypress is too heavy to float, the trees were girdled, killing the tree and allowing enough moisture to "bleed out". The following year, the tree would be cut and floated out. John promised us a number of 14' plus (circumference) Cypress. He thumped his stout Red cedar hiking stick on every big Cypress. Almost every one was hollow but alive. Thus, these giants were spared from the axe and saw. 

Traveling through the butterweed

Packera glabella, called butterweed can be seen throughout Congaree at this time of year. It looks pretty and is native to the Southeast but often is considered invasive. It's toxic so that may position it in the invasive category. I suspect cattle farmers dislike it and want to remove it. Hence the invasive tag, maybe. 

John visiting with an old friend

One of the major obstacles here is Sams Lake. This appears to be one of those oxbow lakes formed when the river changed its course. It will dry up later in the year. We needed to cross these waterways several times.

Paw paw blooms

We saw 3 patches of Paw paws. John told us that none of them fruit. I learned that although there seems to be a dozen or more trees in each patch, they were likely clonal and thus a single individual made up each patch. Since they don't pollenate themselves and the patches were far enough apart, these Paw paws don't fruit.

This Cypress earned the name as the "Lost Cypress". It has very distinct indentations, so I don't know how it could be lost. Perhaps it was just misplaced.

Red buckeye

John thumps another hollow Cypress.

Above and below is the 27.5' circumference Bald Cypress. It was a very impressive tree. This was the last stop on our circuit. John led us through the forest from the landing at Stump Gut for over 3 miles. He never looked a map or made a wrong turn. He has visited this area of large Cypress many times, including a visit just 3 days earlier. He has spent over 50 years meandering in the park and could have been in this area a 100 times.