March 14-15 - Congaree + Santee Rivers

If you have been reading along in the blog, you already know that our primary objective is to raise the awareness of the rivers in SC and give canoers and kayakers the information they need to feel confident about going out there and doing it themselves. That said, we admittedly went off-the-board on this trip. This one was more about finding our limits and really maximizing our seat time in the canoe.
The Congaree Blue Trail is something everyone should experience at least once in their lives. This river trail covers all but the first two and last two miles of the Congaree River, starting in downtown Columbia and ending at the Hwy 601 Landing near Fort Motte. The total distance is 50 miles (49 if you have high water and can cut off the corners, 52 if you take the long way around every bend).
Sounds like a pretty serious trip, but we had done this trip a couple of times already, so we knew we could pull it off. The first time was non-stop for 8 ½ hours (not recommended) and the second was over two days (highly recommended). But since we were playing hooky from work, we decided to challenge ourselves and spend as much time on the water as we could reasonably squeeze in. To do that, we tacked on an extra twenty miles by continuing past the end of the Blue Trail, through the Santee River, and on into Lake Marion.

Day 1
It seems to be a theme this year, but the lords of water (aka the engineers at the upstream dams) were kind to us yet again and gave us some water from the Lake Murray dam. We set out Friday morning with water flowing at about 16k, which is just about ideal for this run. You can see from the picture below that it was just enough to come up to the last step at the Riverwalk Park steps below the amphitheater.

As ideal as the water level may have been, there was one rock we couldn’t dodge and put the first scratch on an otherwise spotless boat. But she remained more than seaworthy, so we carried on. There is no better place to witness the hustle and bustle of Columbia than from a boat in the Congaree . You gotta try it! Look up Canoeing for Kids and ask them if they can schedule a guided trip for you!
Soon after we zipped under the I-77 bridge, we had our first real brush with the wilderness when a medium-sized bald eagle flew directly over us at no more than 50 feet. We didn’t even bother scrambling for camera; we just sat back and enjoyed watching him (or maybe her) cruise overhead, looking for some breakfast, no doubt. We knew we had a long way to go, so we tried to put our heads down and paddle, but we did look up long enough to see lots of deer, a muskrat or two, hawks, and osprey.
We paddled for a total of about 8 hours and decided it was time to set up camp. Our original campsite was washed out (the sandbar on river right just after mile 35), so we found a spot on the left to string up our hammocks and crash.
Click here to see our Day 1 route

Day 2
After a night of being serenaded by turkey and owls, we kicked it back into gear so we could get a jump on the 30 miles ahead of us.  The water had been turned off from the Saluda River at around noon the day before, but fortunately we were so far down the river that the water was still running strong. By 9am, we were peeling out. After a relatively short time on the water, we were approaching the train trestle, which comes at around the 48 mile mark. We hung around long enough to catch a train crossing the river (you can see on our route map were we circled back to wait for it).

A couple of more miles downriver, something felt odd about passing underneath the Hwy 601 bridge without ever slowing down. Most sane people would have stopped here, but our determination made us keep going. Passing under the 601 bridge also signaled the end of our quiet, peaceful trip. Every bass fisherman with a jon boat in the in the state of SC congregated on the Santee River on this morning for a fishing tournament. Evidently, “the stripers was bitin.’” For those of you unversed, this means that there were way too many excited fishermen out there trying to catch a striped bass or two. We are here to tell you that the only living things inconvenienced on this day were two canoers (we didn’t see a single striper being inconvenienced) trying to avoid being plowed over by the most disrespectful group of boaters you will ever encounter.
We couldn’t wait to be done with the chaos, so we ducked over to Stumphole Swamp as quickly as we could. Finally, we were on the home stretch. Off in the distance, we could see the Santee State Park, which is the most visible landmark that happens to be close to our takeout point. But, as it was so eloquently said/sung by Bob Dylan, “they say the distance is not near.” Without the help of the river current, lake paddling sometimes feels like paddling in a bowl of pudding. We found ourselves giving every last bit of energy we had left to cross the finish line. After 14 ½ hours of paddling over two days, we stretched our legs and declared ourselves the winners of our one-boat race.
Click here to see our Day 2 route

While this run is definitely more than the average paddler would want to attempt, we would strongly encourage you try to get down the entire Congaree Blue Trail, even if it takes you several days to finish. You can camp anywhere on the left side of the river once you have passed the national park boundary. You do need to get a backcountry camping permit, which you can get by calling the park. If the water is any higher than 6-7k, don’t count on there being any sandbars for camping. They disappear quickly when the water rises. It is easy to take out at the Hwy 601 bridge, but the parking lot can get covered if the level gets above 20k.
So now you know all you need to know. Now get out there and do it!

March 8 - Saluda River - Buzzards Roost to Hwy 121

We will try to keep this blog post short since we have covered most of this in our earlier trip, but did want to provide the details since this was a little bit shorter run and one we view as the preferred trip distance on this stretch of river.
Rather than paddle to the headwaters of Lake Murray, we wrapped up the trip at Hwy 121, which is about 7 miles upriver from the Kempson Bridge Landing we used last time out.
We were under some time constraints, so we chose the shorter route. What we didn't expect was a little help from Mother Nature (and the engineers at the dam) to speed things along. Water coming out of the dam was at around 4500 cfs when we put in.
As an aside, we did use the Newberry side of the river to put in this time. It is less of a descent, but it is easily 1/4 mile hike to get to the water from the parking area. If you have a heavy boat, you may have a tough time making this trek. It is much easier to set out in the water, but the hike to the water is Class V. Don't let this picture fool you.

When we set off, the water was nice and green. That was short-lived, however, thanks to a muddy creek coming in to the river about 500 yard after we got started. It was nice and muddy the rest of the way.

By the time we got to Hwy 39, the water was up to 5000 cfs, so we found ourselves sitting back and enjoying the ride; paddles across our laps for much of the trip just so it wouldn't be over so soon.

We managed to stretch it out to around 4 hours, which is easily do-able for anyone at this level. If you want to camp along the river, don't think about at this level. The several sandbars are under water. The takeout is just downstream of the Hwy 121 bridge on river left. There is a sign on the road showing the way.

And these guys were hoping we didn't make it...licking their chops as we paddled by.

Click here to see our route

Name: Saluda River - 3/8/2014
Activity type: Canoe
Description: Buzzard's Roost (Hwy 34) to Hwy 121
Total distance: 31.30 km (19.4 mi)
Total time: 4:10:28
Moving time: 3:53:30
Average speed: 7.50 km/h (4.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 8.04 km/h (5.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 12.31 km/h (7.7 mi/h)

March 1 - The Great Pee Dee River - Cheraw to Society Hill

We decided we liked the Pee Dee so much that we came back for seconds only a week later. We expected it to be somewhat different because the water was about half the flow from the previous weekend and we moved upstream, putting in at the riverfront park in Cheraw an taking out at Society Hill.
And just as we expected, it was a different experience. There wasn't as much help from the current and the low banks we saw the week before looked more like bluffs.
We won't bore you with details since most of it is a repeat. What we will tell you is that the river is actually more scenic at lower water. Even at 8k, we never encountered any shoals that spanned the entire width. At this water level, there are plenty of camping spots along the bank.

Both put-in and takeout are excellent facilities with good parking.
Click here to see our route
Name: Great Pee Dee - 3/1/2014
Activity type: Canoe
Description: Cheraw to Society Hill
Total distance: 28.72 km (17.8 mi)
Total time: 4:14:28
Moving time: 4:10:19
Average speed: 6.77 km/h (4.2 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.88 km/h (4.3 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.40 km/h (6.5 mi/h)

February 22 - Great Pee Dee - Society Hill to Mechanicsville

Having clicked off most of the routes we are already familiar with, we geared up for unfamiliar territory and made the trek to the upper waters of the Great Pee Dee River. Well, at least the upper waters of the Pee Dee in SC. We had high hopes based on the name of the river alone. I mean, they can't call it the Great Pee Dee without it being great, right? We were feeling ambitious and decided to bite off one of the longer stretches and one that was geographically about as far away from Columbia as we could find. Road time is always longer than expected since we are hauling the boat and avoid interstates.                                                                                    
We were pleasantly surprised to find an excellent landing at the takeout site at the base of the Highway 34 bridge near Mechanicsville. (Don't bother looking up Mechanicsville on the map; you probably won't find it). There was some added drama when we dropped the car at the takeout. It looked as though someone had been nice enough to set some of the brush and railing around the parking lot on fire. So, after we had doused the smoldering embers, we cruised on up to the put-in via Mechanicsville Highway just west of the Hwy 34 bridge.  
The shuttle up to the booming metropolis of Society Hill was a little less than 30 minutes. The landing at the Hwy 15 bridge is top notch with plenty of parking and two concrete ramps. It is on the southwest corner of the intersection of Hwy 15 and the Pee Dee.                                                                    
There had been a good bit of rain several days before, so the water was flowing at around 18k, about twice the normal level. The river was fairly wide, deep, and clear of deadfall. We tend to see more wildlife in the morning than in the afternoon, and we weren't disappointed this morning. We had only been paddling for a few minutes when we spotted five young deer on the left. They were wet and shiny from a recent dip in the water, and after seeing us they sprinted off of the sandbar through a swampy area and out of sight.

The higher than usual water covered up a lot of the different land and water features, which caused the landscape, though very scenic, to become a bit monotonous after a few hours. We did, however, notice a few areas along the river bank where the land had been artificially built into a mound. We wondered if maybe farmers had built these berms many years ago as places for livestock to ecape high water. Now they were just part of the landscape with mature trees growing out of them. We also passed by some round metal structures in the current that must have been part of an abandoned bridge. We can't seem to find any information on it, though.

Thirty miles and five and a half hours later we reached the takeout. This was a very long paddle, and we were grateful for the high water to help move us along. We only saw 2 or 3 fishing boats as we got closer to the landing. You can probably expect many more as the weather starts to warm up - we didn't come across any shoals, so the water would be very navigable for motor boats.

This was an enjoyable river to paddle. The landings were nice, we didn't have any deadfall to contend with, and the current was a constant help. We only wish it were a little closer to home!

Click here to see the route

Name: Great Pee Dee River - 2/22/2014
Activity type: Canoe
Description: Hwy 15 (Society Hill) to Hwy 34 (Mechanicsville)
Total distance: 49.01 km (30.5 mi)
Total time: 5:27:37
Moving time: 5:20:03
Average speed: 8.98 km/h (5.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 9.19 km/h (5.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 11.70 km/h (7.3 mi/h)