#5 of 9 sights in Congaree
Sight · Congaree National Park
A former state champion with a 1750s backstory.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Congaree Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Congaree National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Harry Hampton Visitor Center and Boardwalk“You're approaching the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, where exhibits introduce the forest and the people who lived and worked here. Look for the wooden mosquito meter before heading out.”
Plays as you drive up to Richland County Pine in the Parkwolf Congaree Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Richland County Pine is a giant loblolly beside Congaree’s elevated Boardwalk Loop, marked as self-guided Stop 11. It stands over 150 feet tall and was once a South Carolina state champion. If you’re walking the boardwalk, pause here for one particular tree instead of letting the forest blur together.
The full Boardwalk Loop is 2.4 miles and starts at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, just past the breezeway. Stop 11 sits about 150 yards from the Sims Trail crossing and about 150 yards before Weston Lake Overlook. Follow the boardwalk’s numbered stops to find it.
A core sample is reported to date the tree to the 1750s, a couple of decades before Richland County was founded. That old age is the story behind its name as well as the reason this individual pine earned a stop of its own.
Loblolly pines can thrive in wet places where many other pines struggle, which makes this species a natural fit for Congaree’s floodplain forest. The tree’s seeds feed small rodents, and the pine provides habitat for birds.
The broad trunk and spreading root flare are the details to look for. Step back enough to include the base and a few neighboring trunks; they make the tree’s size easier to read in a photo.
Wildlife
146 sightingsAlligatorMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
237 sightingsWild BoarMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
289 sightingsBarred OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
246 sightingsCottonmouthMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
12 sightingsWood StorkMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
61 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Congaree. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBoardwalk Trail2.6 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayLevel boardwalk, old-growth trees, and a Weston Lake overlook.
ModerateWeston Lake Trail4.5 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayA 4.5-mile loop through old growth to Weston Lake.
EasyFirefly Trail1.8 mi · 1 hr · 0.6 mi awayAn easy woodland walk to Congaree's spring firefly display.
ChallengingOakridge Trail7.1 mi · 4.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayOld-growth oaks and flooded guts make this a navigation-first hike.
EasySims Trail3.2 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayA level old road to a creek bridge and park history.
EasyLongleaf Trail0.6 mi · 20 min · 1.1 mi awayA short forest link from Longleaf Campground to the Boardwalk.
ChallengingKingsnake Trail7.4 mi · 4 hr · 1.8 mi awayA flat, long floodplain walk with sloughs, bridges, and tricky wayfinding.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayWeston Lake OverlookLook for turtles beside this 2,000-year-old oxbow lake.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayMoonshine Still (Boardwalk Stop 15)A distant glimpse of an iron still from Prohibition.
Picnic area · 0.6 mi awayCongaree Picnic ShelterA group picnic pavilion with grills near the Boardwalk Trail.
Visitor center · 0.6 mi awayHarry Hampton Visitor CenterMaps, exhibits, and a film make this a smart first stop.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayWise LakeA former river channel with forested banks and a canoe approach.
Campground · 0.7 mi awayBluff CampgroundA six-site hike-in camp tucked among Congaree’s upland trees.
Campground · 1 mi awayLongleaf CampgroundWalk-in tent sites put you close to Congaree’s trails.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayCongaree National Park SignThe entrance marker comes a mile before the visitor center.Parkwolf’s Congaree ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
