Hammock Camping in a Flooded Forest

Join me for 3 days of Hammock Camping, Backpacking and Camp Cooking in the Wetlands of South Carolina.

For this off the beaten path backpacking trip, I headed down to South Carolina’s lone National Park. Located roughly 100 miles west of coastal Charleston, South Carolina, Congaree National Park is a dense wetland providing a rich habitat for dwarf palmettos, towering loblolly pines, cypress trees, wild hogs, owls, bobcats, and even the occasional alligator.

While often referred to as a swamp, Congaree National Park is actually a floodplain old growth bottomland hardwood forest.  With an average canopy height in excess of 100 feet, it’s the tallest deciduous forest in the world.  To put that in perspective, that’s taller than even the Amazon Rainforest.

For sleep and shelter I packed in a new hammock with integrated bottom insulation, a 40 degree top quilt to deal with the unseasonably cold winter temps, and my ultralight backpacking tarp. According to the forecast, I would most likely be able to skip the tarp, but I still brought it along as a backup, just in case some rain popped up at night.

My backpacking food consisted of some “real” food for camp cooking, a handful of typical backpacking snacks, and a military issued surplus MRE (meal ready to eat) for a little variety and fun.

A free permit is required for backcountry camping in Congaree National Forest, and you must specify a specific zone for each night.  To keep things interesting, I chose Zone 9 for both nights. In addition to being the largest zone, a unique thing about Zone 9 is that it has no actual trails.  This allowed be to do a bit of a “choose your own adventure” experience.  I could explore and navigate freely based on the everchanging flood zones in Congaree NP as came across them.

I had a rough plan to set up camp at a historical site know as Cooner’s Cattle Mount if I could find it.  I saw this listed on an old map, but information was scarce online. In fact,  the South Carolina Department of Archives and History report actually redacted the actual site location.  Luckily, I could simply camp wherever else I saw fit if I didn’t manage to find it.

I also used some LIDAR maps (also known as “Shaded Relief Maps” on Caltopo) to do a little historical scavenger hunting on this trip.  LIDAR is a form of ground penetrating radar that allows you to see through the trees to identify anomalies on the ground such as water flows, unnamed trails, and even the remnants of long forgotten structures.

Trailhead Used
Kingsnake Trailhead
Gadsden, SC 29052
33°49’09.7″N 80°47’16.2″W

While not actually located in Zone 9, the Kingsnake trail offers a gravel parking area and convenient access to Zone 9 after hiking south for a couple of miles or so.

Season / Time of Year
Winter – February

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

Notable Backpacking Gear Used on this Trip

The Bermuda Triangle of Backpacking – 10 Years of Exploration

For this Winter Backpacking Trip, we hiked into the Cranberry Wilderness to revisit a twin engine private plane that crashed in 1995 and went missing for 6 years, deep in the forests of a remote West Virginia mountaintop. Several people have gone missing in these remote woods as well, including a backpacker who went missing after setting out on a solo trip in 2014, as well as an experienced survivalist several years before who went into these woods never to be seen again.

For sleep and shelter, Frank and I both decided “cowboy camp” for this adventure. This is just a fancy term for camping without a tent or shelter. Just a sleeping pad on the ground with a sleeping bag. Sounds smart, right?

On the morning of November 28th, 1995, a Cessna 414, tail number N28901 took off from Braxton County Airport in Sutton, West Virginia headed for Lynchburg Regional, Virginia. After encountering low visibility due to foggy conditions, the lone pilot contacted air traffic control to request an IFR (instrument flight rules) flight plan in order to continue navigating the approaching mountainous terrain. After a period of apparent poor communications, possibly due to a radio issue, ATC lost contact with the pilot. Transponder signals ceased not long after the last communication, and the plane was never heard from or seen again until it was spotted from the air six years later.

More info on N28901 can be found in this copy of the NTSB report.

Cranberry Wilderness Cessna 414 Search Route Overview - Sintax77

Route Overview – Cranberry Wilderness Cessna 414 Backpacking Trip  – Sintax77

No permit is required to backcountry camp in the Monongahela National Forest.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

Trailhead Used: Big Beechy Trailhead, 38°17’44.2″N 80°14’55.7″W
Highland Scenic Hwy, Minnehaha Springs, WV 24954

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A Portable Mosquito Bug Zapper for Backpacking? – Enkeeo Mosquito Zapper Lantern Review

A Review of the Enkeeo Mosquito Zapper Lantern for Backpacking and Camping.

For 15% off click here and enter the code UIF34MML at checkout (offer good until 10/18/17)

The Enkeeo Enkeeo 2-in-1 Mosquito Killer Camping Lantern Tent Light is both a standard backpacking / camping lantern with 3 levels of light output, as well as a mosquito zapper.  The bug zapper function uses several blue looking LEDs operating at 360nm to 400nm that specifically targets the attraction of mosquitoes (while mosquitoes are said to not be attracted to UV light (which has wavelengths of around 10nm – 400nm), these LEDs seem to emit light just at the edge between visible light and non visible UV Light. Once attracted, a wire mesh grid operating at 1000 volts completes task.

Features and Specs, As Per the Manufacturer

  • High Light (100% lighting) ≥ 180 Lumen, ≥ 6h
  • Normal Light (50% lighting) ≥ 90 Lumen, ≥ 12h
  • Low Light (20% lighting) ≥ 30 Lumen, ≥ 20h
  • Weight: 200g/ 0.44lb
  • Dimension: φ3.46″ x 5.08″
  • Zapper-Only Mode ≥ 15h
  • Voltage Input: 5.0±0.2V
  • Current Input: 900mA±100mA
  • Full Charge Time: 2~4 hours (depends on the input current)
  • Battery: 3.7V/ 2000mAh
  • Zapper Voltage: 1000V

Items Included in the Box

  • 1 x Mosquito Zapper Lantern
  • 1 x USB Cable
  • 1 x User Manual
  • 1 x Thank You Card

New Trip Video Thursday 10/1 at 8pm! …and Viewers Choice Results

‘Canoe Camping in Virginia’ will be live at 8pm EDT on Thursday, October 1st!

Also, your votes on the video I do next are in, so tune in to find out whats coming up next!

I’m pretty excited about this camping video. It was a great trip, with great friends, and the video was a blast to make as well. I hope some of you enjoy it too 🙂