Refuges and release valves

    Today I returned to Congaree National Park. What a difference a few days made! The Mosquito Meter at the Visitors' Center had been moved from 6 (War Zone) to 4 (Severe). Since I never felt that the mosquitoes were quite bad enough to merit War Zone status, I was a little unclear as to whether the meter (which, as you can probably guess, is just a big wooden lever whose reading is determined by the ranger who adjusts it) actually meant anything. It did.
    Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that I never stopped going to Congaree National Park. However, along with blood the mosquitoes have been sucking most of the fun out of visits. It's not that they were all that awful; they were just annoying enough to make visits more like work than fun. When you go for a stroll but you can't. ever. stop. because if you do you're going to be mobbed by bloodsuckers, well, that's not too fun.
    My chief refuges and release valves have been Congaree Swamp (national park) and Congaree Creek (heritage preserve). Both have been largely inundated from all these rains and overrun with mosquitoes. Congaree Creek has actually been closed much of the time. I had no grasp how badly I had needed these release valves. I kept hiking, sometimes at the national park, sometimes at other places. I seemed to be holding it together pretty largely.
    But my relief today at being able to saunter a bit, to be able to stop and take photos, even time-consuming panoramic ones, was tremendous, almost overwhelming. Maybe tomorrow it rains again. Maybe the mosquitoes come straight back. With autumn on the way, I don't think so. But it was so wonderful having my home away from home back again. Ahhhhhh!