I would say that this is a park more accurately described as amazing than beautiful.  It is all about a wilderness area encompassing the Congaree River floodplain forest, the largest floodplain forest remaining in the US.  Just two weeks ago, and as often as 10 times a year when the Congaree overflows its banks, this area was inundated by ten feet or more of fast-moving water. Today, old growth water tupelo and bald cypress and the occasional loblolly pine tower above acres of dorovan muck (clay mixed with decaying leaves), still swamp pools, and slow-moving Cedar Creek.  It is amazing how plants and creatures have evolved to survive here.  We paddle the creek.  We launch in that slippery mushy muck.  The air is heavy with the smell of wet earth.  We maneuver around submerged and half submerged debris and limbo under fallen trees.  All this with a watchful eye for the snakes (I spotted one just ½ mile into the paddle) and spiders and all that call this place home.  Viewed from water level, cypress and tupelo trunks appear enormous and the cypress knees that jut from the backwaters along the creek are too many to count.  Sunlight filters through the bright, spring green as the canopy overhead is just leafing out.  We spot the waving white flags of a half dozen whitetail deer as they startle at our appearance.  Birdsong mixes with the rustle of wind through the trees. We have this unique place pretty much to ourselves for these hours.  Yep, it is amazing.  There are brief moments of disappointment as the roar of jets tear through the peaceful isolation of this wild space.

We stroll the visitor center boardwalk for a nice overview of the wide range of micro ecosystems that are represented in this plain.  Not your typical mega National Park but a good reflection on man-kind that we still managed to attempt to protect it.

Probably an important note.  Oddly, there were practically no mosquitoes our entire time in the park.  Given the terrain, I suspect that is not always the case and could very well impact how much I or others appreciate the place!