Camping in Colleton State Park by the Edisto River in South Carolina

The Edisto River in Colleton State Park, South Carolina - License our images here.
The Edisto River in Colleton State Park, South Carolina - License our images here.

We ended here tired after a long day on the road. This is a small park with a campground on the banks of the Edisto River. In warmer months many come here to paddle downriver, but the coldness of the fall scared them away. We only saw two kayakers braving the dark waters of the Edisto close to the sunset. 

The waters are not exactly black. The brown tint is caused by the tannins the river picks through swamps and wetlands. Regardless, the Edisto is the "black water crown jewel" of North America. Named after the extinct Edistow Indians gone since colonial times, this is the longest free flowing blackwater river in this region. 

Sunset walk after dinner. Only a few travel trailers in the campground, and the road loop is so short that we did three laps. Also walked to the rangers' office and the picnic area. Squirrels were engaged in territorial fights there. Natural survival or natural aggression? 

Zoologist Konrad Lorenz answers in one of his books from 1959:

If you take two vertebrates of one species, two animals which are unknown to each other, and put them together in a cage or test box, in 99 per cent of vertebrates there will be a fight.

Not much pacifism in the animal world. Neither in the human zoo. 

The night ended with a campfire and hot tea plus chocolate and marshmallows. Temperatures dropped fast while the stars showed up over the trees. No crickets tonight, just the sound of the cracking fire. 

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