Boardwalk Loop

The Boardwalk Loop at Congaree National Park is the most accessible introduction to the park's extraordinary old-growth bottomland forest, following a raised wooden walkway through swamp forest that eliminates the muddy footing and periodic flooding that characterize the backcountry trails. The elevated boardwalk allows visitors to walk directly through the swamp forest without getting wet, passing directly beneath the canopy of champion bald cypress and loblolly pine trees and into the understory of palmetto and red maple shrubs.

The forest canopy at Congaree holds more state and national champion trees — trees that are the largest of their species measured by a formula combining height, girth, and crown spread — than any other location in the United States. This density of champion trees results from the combination of the rich alluvial soil deposited by periodic flooding and the park's protection from logging that began with private conservation efforts in the 1970s before becoming a national monument and later a national park. The forest is also recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve and National Natural Landmark. Barred owls are commonly heard and seen from the boardwalk at dusk, and fireflies put on a synchronized display on the boardwalk on June evenings that rivals the famous Elkmont display in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.