🎶 “ On the road again” 🎶 Poinsett State Park for 2 days

8am- 🧺 Laundry day! 3 loads today! Had breakfast, cleaned the RV, organized the truck, packed up and on the road by 11:15. Found a McDonald’s an hour later for our daily Diet Coke’s🥤1:40pm Arrived at Poinsett State Park. Very narrow, rough drive up the mountain to the campground! Site # 22 Beautiful pull thru site. All set up. Hung up the laundry out to dry. 😱 Don’t think this area has seen this much color 🤣.

Time to go exploring…..Ranger Andrew stopped by and suggested his favorite trail that would give us a great representation of the area. We took the Coquana Trail. About 1.6 miles. Built in 1935 around Old Levi Mill Pond, this trail is a mix of steep hills and bluffs with a mix of pine and hardwood forest. We came upon the Coquina trail side shelter which was built in 1937 by the CCC and is made of coquina (rock formed from ancient sand & seashells) and Timbers local to the area. We then walked on a boardwalk over the Shank’s Creek swamp. Stopped at the office/store and got an ice cream 🍦 to share. We sat at the lake in Adirondack chairs for probably an hour relaxing, listening & watching nature. Saw lots of turtles, bull frogs 🐸, a snake swimming right in front of us, squirrels 🐿️ all over the place (Twitter-patted), blue heron right next to us catching fish and a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly staying all around us. 🦋

Went back to campground where we stopped to meet the camp host and bought a bundle of firewood. 🔥 🪵 Walked around all the camp loops and sat outside enjoying our drinks and dinner. The campground has 24 sites with water and electrical and 26 tent sites with water.

We were hearing a lot of live explosions and then learned we were right near the Poinsettia/Townsend US Air Force Bombing Range! 💣🛩️ Learned they were A-10 Warthog planes firing! 😱 They practiced all day and till 11pm-ish! Worked on pictures & blog. ✍️ Today we traveled 104 miles.

Friday-5/12/2023 🌞7:15am Rise & Shine! Oatmeal with blueberries, coffee & tea and away we go to explore. Greeted by a small deer laying in the grass! As we headed up the road …. Sure enough there’s miles of fencing with do not enter signs about every 50ft, then the entrance with a large sign… US Air Force Bomb & Gunnery, Electric Combat Range. We could hear them but couldn’t see them.

Drove to Congaree National Park. Visited the visitor center where we got our NP stamp, Jr Ranger Badge and explored the exhibits and movies. Took the 2.6 mile walk on the boardwalk through the swamp. Lots of birds,squirrels, pink, red, blue, green Five-lined skinks, butterflies, and different kinds of dragonflies!

Amazing to see Loblolly pine trees 189 ft tall here! They are the tallest trees in SC. They can tolerate wet conditions better than other pines. Only 2 weeks ago this lower boardwalk was under water and we could see how deep it was by the mud rings around the trees…..almost eye level….about 5ft!

We tried to get tickets months ago for the lottery to see the Synchronized Fireflies that happen in this area due to the deep forest habitat but all we got to see was the trail and curtains they had up. 😔

Enjoyed a picnic in the park and now to find a Diet Coke! This in it self was an adventure Tim was not going to give up on. First of all we were out in the sticks, nothing but small country gas stations….Tim went into the first one and the guy had no idea what a fountain drink/soda machine was! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Next gas station same thing! Drive a few more miles to a little bit bigger gas station store…Tim asked and the 2 guys ..deer in the headlight look didn’t say anything but a older gentleman sitting in a chair told Tim …” they don’t have anything like that here”! OMG we are in the back country for sure. Who would have thought this was even possible! Finally we see a Dollar General and Tim comes out with a 1 liter DC bottle. While he was inside I was able to get service and found a McDonald’s 8 miles away! Yes we went…sat inside and enjoyed 2 diet cokes a piece and some yummy fries! 🍟 Satisfied we head back to the campground.

We drove around the rest of the park exploring. Came across the cabin loop. There are 5 cabins. CCC-era built, with a rustic feel to them. They were unlocked so I decided to check them out. 2 of them sleep 2, 2 sleep 4 and the big one sleeps 7 (only one with a tv)! Modern amenities inside, screened in porches, fire pits etc. really secluded.

We relaxed back at our campsite & enjoyed a taco dinner. Packed up the outside and hitched up for tomorrow is moving day and we want to get an early start. Good night all! 🌙 🌟 😴 Traveled 84 miles today.

Poinsett State Park – is best known for its botanical oddities, combining the flora of the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills, Sandhills, and the Atlantic coastal plain. In the park there’s mountain laurels draped with Spanish moss. The park is surrounded by Manchester State Forest. The park, is described as weird and beautiful”, named after amateur botanist and South Carolina native Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico and popularizer of the poinsetta.

The poinsettia made its way to the United States when Joel Roberts Poinsett (for whom the plant is named after) brought them back to his home state of South Carolina in 1828. Poinsett sent poinsettias to friends in other states, too, including John Bartram in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Before the American Revolution the land was owned by a man named Levi, who built a dam to impound water for rice cultivation. Levi’s Mill Pond was later used to power a mill. Remnants of the mill are still present, and the pond, improved by the Civilian Conservation Corps is now known as Old Levi Mill Pond. In 1813 and 1814 the land was deeded to two members of the Singleton family, who owned many plantations in Sumter County. The best remembered Singleton today, Angelica Singleton Van Buren, was First Lady of the United States.

Surveys have found 337 species of flowering plants within the park, including 65 species of trees and shrubs. Many species of animals can be found in the park, bats, copperhead snakes, cottonmouth snakes, American alligators,and bobcats.

Congaree National Park – 26,692.6-acre – Most of Congaree National Park is wilderness, 11,000 acres and protects the largest remnant of old growth floodplain forest in the US. It is bounded on both side by bluffs that mark the edge of the floodplain and help contain floodwaters that cover much of the park each year. Waters can rise fast when Cedar Creek and the Congaree River overflows.

The mud is called Donovan muck – is 8 ft thick! It filters water, traps pollution and this keeps the floodplains and the Congaree River clean. Switch cane dominates the forest floor in this area. It looks like bamboo but closely related to sugar cane. The height of the forest is due to the rich soil, frequent flooding, a long growing season and free of intensive logging. Most of the trees are over 130 ft tall. Moonshiners and bootleggers found refuge along the river back in the early 1900’s when the sale and consumption of alcohol was prohibited. The Congaree floodplain’s difficult terrain and tall trees made it a perfect place to hide stills and produce their illegal liquor.

With over 2,000 species found world-wide, there are only three species of synchronous fireflies that can be found in North America. Every year, Congaree National Park hosts synchronous fireflies for approximately two weeks between mid-May and mid-June. During this time visitors can experience an awe-inspiring display of synchronous flashing while the fireflies search for a mate. This special and unique phenomenon is extremely popular. Because these fireflies need specific habitat and conditions in order to synchronize, Congaree is one of only a few places where these conditions are present, and people can experience this natural wonder.

Poinsettia/Townsend US Air Force Bombing Range -The range consists of bombing and shooting areas regulated by a control tower, electronic warfare capabilities, and 12,500 acres used for navigation and survival, evasion, resistance, escape training. The purpose of the range is so the pilots go through the mechanics of shooting, dropping bombs, zoning in on their target and watching their parameters- making sure they’re not too steep, too shallow or too fast. Poinsett also offers an electronic warfare capability which is a program that pilots use to experience a simulated environment similar to that of combat.