Old Growth Trees - Tumblr Posts
Back in my home home town for Christmas. That means we’re hanging out in the swamp with the tupelos. We also got the company of a Red Tailed Hawk!
Home will never lose its magic.
My most special place in the world. Congaree National Park. This place has held a very special place in my heart since my very first visit a few years ago. It’s so much more than a boardwalk through the woods. You have to truly understand the rare beauty you enter. Pictures can never capture the magic of an old growth forest. There are very few left (like count on one hand few) - especially in the southeast.
When I step into the canopy of Congaree, I enter a time machine showing me what the land here is suppose to look like. Still to this day, wetlands are in grave danger and are flattened and filled in with sand and dirt in the name of cookie cutter neighborhoods. No retaining pond could ever make up for the loss. Then when entire towns by the coast get flooded by the storm seasons, people act surprised. Floodplains and swamps are vital to the natural ecosystem of our home. Not to mention the rich habitats and diverse ecosystems they hold. It’s recently been discovered that bald cypress trees can live longer than 2,000 years. Congaree is ancient. Once you ruin a wetland, you can’t get it back- not for several lifetimes.
We drove up to Congaree tonight because we received a permit from the lottery system to view the synchronous fireflies. They only occur two known places in the world. Congaree and the Smokies. More to come on that later.
Found some new big trees today in Congaree National Park. This time it was in the oak family. As usual, pictures never do the true size of these giants justice. But I saw a collection of the biggest (non-live oak) oak trees ever today. Here’s one of the highlights.
Old growth forests are special in their own right. Add floodplain, southern swamp, and wetland elements to it, and you have such a diverse landscape. With the lack of rainfall in recent weeks, the floodplain has soaked up much water, leaving many guts and swamps with dry beds. You can see the underside of what these trees look like under water. Not to fret though, rain will come soon and so the wetland cycle continues.
I usually do not bring my camera bag with me when I’m deep in the woods, but I decided to this weekend in Congaree National Park.
Along the Balsam Trail at the top of Mt. Mitchell, I captured something - an elder of the trees laid to rest.
The South Carolina Lowcountry. My home. My heaven.