Deep in South Carolina's floodplain, Congaree National Park preserves the largest remaining tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the Southeast. Towering loblolly pines and champion hardwoods rise above a maze of sloughs and oxbow lakes, nourished by periodic floods from the Congaree and Wateree rivers. The park is a living laboratory of biodiversity, offering a respite from the nearby city of Columbia.